Arizona Football Talk: Fifita's Game Against KSU

Friday night in Tucson was a Wildcats brawl as Arizona (3-0, 1-0) faced off against Kansas State in the final non-conference game of the regular season. UA started hot, jumping out to an impressive 17-3 lead over KSU but a few missed field goals and holding calls caused the team some points right before half.

Despite the great first half, Arizona saw its lead vanish fast with KSU (1-3, 0-2) breaking off a 75-yard touchdown run and then scoring another touchdown after a blocked punt. From that point on, it was a defensive grinder with UA prevailing 23-17 over Kansas State.

One of the most important drives of the game came in the fourth quarter with just over 12 minutes when UA marched 58 yards downfield, eating up 7:30 of the clock on 14 plays, but had to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Michael Salgado-Medina to put the team up by six points.

Although it wasn’t pretty, Arizona controlled the line of scrimmage by racking up 235 yards rushing on 43 carries. Leading the charge for the Wildcats was running back Ismail Mahdi, who totaled 189 yards while averaging 8.6 yards per rushing attempt.

Although it was Mahdi that put up all the rushing yards, it was quarterback Noah Fifita that was able to find the end zone twice with his legs. Fifita managed to rush for 48 yards 15 rushing attempts.

Arizona could’ve had a more productive day on the offensive side of the ball, but penalties hurt the Wildcats’ offense with the team collecting 7 flags for 56 yards with most of the issues coming on the offensive line with holding calls.

Not only did Fifita put up 48 yards on the ground, but he was able to go 16 of 33, totaling 178 passing yards. Again, holding calls caused that number to be lower than it was and took a touchdown pass off the board for the team.

Outside of the 75-yard rushing touchdown by KSU, Arizona’s defense controlled the line of scrimmage and had a dominating performance, holding Kansas State to 105 yards on 24 carries.

Meanwhile, the secondary was lights out for Arizona and held quarterback Avery Johnson to 88 yards while going 12 of 29 on his passing attempts. Plus, Johnson wasn’t able to get his wheels going and was forced into (-16) yards rushing.

It was a 180-degree turnaround for the defense that struggled last season against Johnson, who rushed for 110 yards and passed for 156 while scoring two touchdowns.

The change at defensive coordinator, with Danny Gonzales taking over, seems to be paying off for Arizona. Gonzales was able to mix things up all game, losing against KSU and put the opponent into situations where you knew exactly what they were going to do.

The final score of a 6-point win doesn’t show how much Arizona dominated this game.

When you take a deep dive into the stats, UA had 219 more yards of total offense, had 13 more first downs, ran 26 more plays and over 13 more minutes of time of possession.

It was the little things with penalties, a blocked punt and two missed field goals that managed to keep Kansas State in the game til the end.

So, has Arizona improved as a football team?

Yes, but Arizona will have room to grow by cleaning up the small details of the game if the Wildcats want to improve as a unit.

It was one of those games where Arizona was able to run the ball at a high level and yet still left some points on the field due to penalties and missed opportunities. We at Arizona Wildcats On SI broke down the performance by Fifita and gave him a final grade for the game.

Quarterback Break Down

Grade: B+

Noah Fifita

Coming into the season, Fifita stated several times that he wanted to improve his ground game and start to use his legs more as an offensive threat. Against Kansas State, he was able to put up a career-high 48 yards on 15 rushes and found the end zone twice.

Not only did Fifita put up 48 yards on the ground, but he was able to go 16 of 33, totaling 178 passing yards. Again, holding calls caused that number to be lower than it was and took a touchdown pass off the board for the team.

Was there plays on the field that could’ve been made and put the game away earlier for Arizona?

Yes, however, Fifita scored two touchdowns to give his team the lead and didn’t throw an interception and didn’t turn over the ball. He is playing smart football and has been hurt at times with holding calls on his offensive line.