There’s definitely something going on with the Arizona Wildcats. In turning football programs around they say that it’s the third year when you really start to see the fruits of your labor appear. This is the third year for Head Coach Jedd Fisch who was hired in December of 2020 to take over a program that was going nowhere but downhill under former head coach Kevin Sumlin who, after an 0-5 start in his third year, was fired and replaced with an interim prior to the hiring of Fisch. His first year they went 1-11, his second 5-7, and now in his third they are 4-3 after this past Saturday having resoundingly beaten No. 19 Washington State. They started the year 3-1 and then played two Top-10 teams in a row, Washington and USC. They lost to the Huskies only by a TD in Week 5 and took the Trojans to three overtimes in Week-6 before USC prevailed. This past Saturday they went on the road to take on their third Top-20 opponent in a row and put together a near perfect game. The 44-6 win was the largest margin of victory in program history over a ranked opponent. Fisch had this to say afterwards; “We spent the whole week preparing to have our best outing of the year today. I believe we did that against a very good team. Washington State is Top 20 in the country and we went on the road and played our best brand of football. More importantly, we as a staff are excited about the direction of the program. We know that Arizona football has gotten to a spot where [we can be competitive against anyone] in the country.”
Six points was a season low for the Cougars who got that on the very first possession of the game, a 75 yard 11 play drive ending with a Nakia Watson 1 yard run into the end zone and a failed two-point conversion. The Wildcats would score on eight of their next ten possessions while holding Washington State to four punts, three turnovers on downs, two interceptions—both of which led to TD’s—and one fumble. The Wildcats were dominate in every statistical category: 1st Downs, 26-12; Passing, 342-199; and Rushing, 174-35; all the while successful on their 3rd down attempts almost 60% of the time while holding the Cougars to under 40% and hanging onto the ball for well over a quarter’s worth of extra time. As the AP pointed out in their Recap for ESPN; “Washington State entered [the game] 117th in the FBS in rushing [and] for the second straight week . . . couldn’t get their rushing attack going [prompting Coach Fisch to comment] I liked everything about the way our defense played today.”
Starting his third game in a row in place of Arizona’s starting QB Jason de Laura—coincidentally Washington State’s starting QB at the beginning of the 2020 season—Freshman Noah Fafita connected on 79% of his passes for 342 yards and although he never connected in the end zone he didn’t throw up any picks either. What he did do was move the chains and keep the Cougars defense committed to preventing a passing TD all the while creating plenty of opportunities for a trio of Wildcat RB’s composed of Sophomores Rayshon Luke and Jonah Coleman and Senior DJ Williams to rush 33 times collectively for 178 yards and five TD’s on the ground, one each for Luke and Williams and three for Coleman. At just 5’ 11”, the Doug Flutie, Russell Wilson sized Fafita connected two or more times with seven different receivers and is proving every week that you don’t have to be the average height of the top five PAC-12 QB’s at 6’ 2” to run an efficient offense.
The AP offered the following as the Takeaway of the game. “Arizona: The Wildcats may look back at this win as a pivotal moment in the early [years of] Fisch’s tenure. After two overtime losses and a near-upset of USC last week, they will now have the full attention of the rest of the Pac-12. Washington State: A season that started so promising has gone sideways in a hurry. After their first loss of the season last week at UCLA, the Cougars looked out of sorts in all facets.” Arizona’s schedule doesn’t get any easier but at least they won’t have to play Oregon State in Corvallis as they head home to the desert. Washington State’s schedule eventually settles back down but not after a trip to Eugene to take on what could be a very pissed off No. 9 Oregon Squad who will be in the mood to make a point after losing a close one to the Huskies.