Oklahoma State at Arizona
On a day when Arizona got out in front early and seemed to easily stay ahead in spite of their stumbles and missed opportunities, Wildcat Junior QB Noah Fafita had one of the best games of his career connecting on 28-of-38 for 376 yards, 5 TD’s, and 1 interception. On the year Fafita has thrown for 1,341 yards, 13 TD’s, and just 3 interceptions. The same exact number of TD’s and picks as No. 1 Ohio State’s QB, except Noah has a few more yards. The Wildcats got out to a 7-0 lead on the first possession of the game at the end of an 11 play 75 yard drive ending with Fafita’s first TD pass of the day—this one to Sophomore WR Tre Spivey. Both teams would be held to a three-and-out on their next possessions followed by an Oklahoma State Field Goal to make it 7-3. But Fafita and Spivey would connect again in the end zone on the Wildcats next possession to go up 14-3 to end the 1st Qtr.
The second period started with both teams missing a field goal attempt and then the Cowboys being forced to punt after just four plays and sitting 4th and 11 at their own 38 yard line. Just six plays later, aided by an Oklahoma State holding penalty and two great passes by Fafita—one for 25 yards to Senior WR Kris Hudson and the other a 47 yard TD pass to Senior WR Luke Wysong—the Wildcats would extend their lead to 21-3. After holding Oklahoma State to a three-and-out Fafita would get picked off on just the second play of Arizona’s next drive giving the Cowboys really good starting field position on the Arizona side of mid-field. Seven plays later and having managed less than twenty yards Oklahoma State had to settle for a Logan Ward field goal attempt from 46 yards out which was good, making the score 21-6. With just over a minute left the Wildcats would match those points with a field goal of their own to end the first half with a 24-6 lead.
The first eleven minutes of the second half was just a comedy of screw ups and errors starting with an interception, three punts, two fumbles, and then a three-and-out before, with just four minutes remaining, the Wildcats would score back-to-back TD’s on two more Noah Fafita passes to end the 3rd Qtr up 38-6. Arizona would hold Oklahoma State in check with back-to-back three-and-outs to start the final quarter but would have their Junior backup QB Braedyn Locke get picked off by Freshman CB Ladainian Fields who ran it back 55 yards to the house to make it a 38-13 game with well over eight minutes left to play. Eating up about half of that time on their next drive the Wildcats would add three more points to the board on a Michael Salgado-Medina 57 yard field goal—the longest of his career—at the end of a 9 play 36 yard drive to go up 41-13 where it would stay.
Fafita threw multiple times to eight different receivers with the top five collecting 346 of the team’s total 433 yards in the air and Senior WR’s Luke Wysong and Javin Whatley along with Junior WR Chris Hunter all collecting a TD each while Sophomore Trey Spivey picked up two early. One the ground, not much happening—32 rushing attempts for just 46 yards total. The Oklahoma State passing game struggled most of the day and collectively were 13-of-28 for just 69 yards, no TD’s, and 1 interception by their Freshman starting QB Zane Flores. They were slightly better on the ground, 31 attempts for 89 yards, but also without finding the end zone. Arizona is right in the middle of the pack in the Big-12 and gets to stay at home again for their next game this coming Saturday–but against much stiffer competition in No. 18 BYU.
Colorado at TCU
After their latest 35-21 loss at TCU and sitting 2-4 it’s looking like Coach Prime and his Buffaloes are quickly headed towards 2-6 with back-to-back games coming up against No. 22 Iowa State and Utah. Colorado did take the lead in this one as they did last week, but only after both teams muddled their way through the first quarter with an interception of a Colorado pass followed by a missed TCU field goal to keep it scoreless. The Buffaloes would finally break through to start the 2nd Qtr scoring on back-to-back TD’s to go up 14-0 while holding the Horned Frogs to a three-and-out on their first go at it. But on their very next possession TCU would finally put together a cohesive drive including four pass plays by Junior QB Josh Hoover before running the ball into the end zone himself to make it a 14-7 game. Colorado’s Senior QB Kaidon Salter would get intercepted for the second time on the 2nd play of their subsequent drive by Senior Safety Bud Clark who would return it to the Colorado 33 yard line. On the second play after the pick Josh Hoover would hit Senior WR Eric McAlister with a 23 yard TD pass to even the score at 14 a piece. With time running out Salter would get intercepted for the third time in the game to end the half.
Minus the interception and missed field goal the 3rd Qtr was similar to the first in the sense that nobody scored a single point. TCU would go out in front 21-14 early in the 4th Qtr on a 10 yard TD pass from Hoover to Sophomore TE Lafayette Kaiuway. Five plays and 50 yards later Salter would connect with Junior WR Omarian Miller with a 31 yard TD pass to tie it back up 21-21. Colorado would hold TCU at bay with back-to-back three-and-outs but would be forced to punt on their own possession sitting 4th and 4 at their own 23 yard line. TCU would go ahead 28-21 on Hoover’s third TD pass of the game—this one 18 yards to Joseph Manjack followed by another Horned Frog score after their own punt hit a Colorado player on the helmet. They recovered the live ball and found the end zone again seven plays later for a 35-21 victory on Hoover’s fourth TD pass of the game and second to McAlister.
For TCU, Junior QB Josh Hoover connected on 23-of-33 for 275 yards, 4 TD’s, and no interceptions while also rushing 8 times for another 20 yards and their only score on the ground. Seniors Eric McAlister and Joseph Manjack led the receiving corps with 65 yards each on nine receptions and three of the four TD’s with Sophomore TE Lafayette Kaiuway hauling in the other one. For Colorado, Senior QB Kaidon Salter was 18-of-29 for 217 yards, 2 TD’s—both to Junior WR Omarian Miller—and 3 interceptions while also carrying the ball 7 times for 11 yards and their only rushing TD. On the ground, collectively they gained 126 yards on 35 carries. In addition to the three picks they also fumbled the ball three times and lost it once. They trailed by three in first downs, by just 26 in total yards of offense, led in rushing yards, had fewer penalties as well as possession of the ball for a few minutes more than TCU. If not for all of the mistakes, like last week, Colorado could have won this one. Regarding that, Coach Prime had this to say afterwards; “Truly disappointing. It’s one thing to lose. Then it’s another thing to feel like you beat yourselves. ..We were beaten in Houston. These other games, we had opportunity, ample opportunity to win the games.”