Arizona Football Talk: Top Performers UA-OSU

Hutchison has been covering Arizona for the last seven years with his coverage spanning all-across UA’s campus from football and men’s basketball to Title IX sports. Plus, with so many former Wildcats playing at the next level in their prospective sports there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats excelling outside of Tucson.

Last time on the field, Arizona (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) came out flat on the road against No. 14 Iowa State, falling behind by 22 points before finding the end zone before half. The theme of game week against Oklahoma State for the Wildcats was starting on the right foot and getting back to basics.

Well, the Wildcats were able to flip the script from last week and jump out 14-3 over OSU (1-4, 0-2) with a balanced attack that saw an even split of 35 rushing yards and 35 passing yards on the first drive of the game.

From that point on, it was all Arizona as the Wildcats were able to get back on track with a solid 41-13 win over Oklahoma State.

The breakout star of the game for Arizona was wide receiver Tre Spivey, who was questionable coming into the day with an unknown injury but gave it a go anyway.

Spivey hauled in three catches for 80 yards and managed to score the first two touchdowns of the game to help the team get the offense going.

As a whole, the Wildcats saw six receivers record a catch, showing off the depth of the group that has been heavily criticized for their 11 dropped passes coming into the game.

Getting the ball to the playmakers fell on the shoulders of quarterback Noah Fifita, who was looking to have a bounce-back game himself after struggling against ISU.

Against OSU, Fifita had his ups with five touchdown passes and his downs with two turnovers that slowed down the offensive unit.

Still, Fifita was able to pass for 376 yards while going 28 of 38 on his passing attempts, which is an improvement from not only last week but from what we have seen this season.

The defensive unit for Arizona felt like it made mental mistakes against ISU last week and wanted to get back on the field. Now, the Wildcats' defense was able to get stingy against a Cowboys team that is going through a defensive change with a new coordinator.

Danny Gonzales’ unit was able to break out the turnover sword three times thanks to an interception, a fumble recovery and a game sealing pick that led to the success on the field.

Although we saw Arizona get back on track against the Cowboys, there was still a unit that struggled and it was once against the special teams squad that saw another missed field goal by Michael Salgado-Medina, a muffed punt (Arizona recovered) and a poor punt.

Still, that was the lone and major dark cloud from what was a highly successful game for the majority of the Wildcats' defensive and offensive units.

Now that the game is in the books, we at Arizona Wildcats On SI have put together our three helmet sticker performances of the game.

Helmet Stickers

Tre Spivey

• Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey had caught two touchdowns in the first four games of the season, but he had totaled just five receptions combined in that span. 

• In Saturday's win against Oklahoma State, Spivey hauled in three passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns in a true breakout game for the transfer from Kansas State. 

• The Wildcats and quarterback Noah Fifita continue to seek who is the true No. 1 receiver on this offense for the rest of the season. Spivey continues to make his case as a deep threat as well as a receiver who can make defenders miss in open space for Arizona.

Arizona’s Secondary

• After giving up 243 yards passing to Iowa State and six explosive plays, Arizona’s secondary was able to have a bounce back game holding OSU to 69 yards passing, marking the third time this season the group has held an opponent to under 100 yards passing.

• Plus, it's the fifth straight game that the Wildcats haven’t given up a passing touchdown, which means Arizona is the only FBS team in the country not to allow a passing TD.

Luke Wysong

• The Wildcats were missing punter returner Jeremiah Patterson for the game and it was Luke Wysong, who filled in and was able to have a few solid returns and recovered a muffed punt.

• Plus, on offense, Wysong racked up five catches for 92 yards and took a 47-yard reception to the house for his touchdown on the day.

Arizona will stay at home as the Wildcats will host No. 23 BYU (5-0, 2-0) with a 5 p.m. (MST) kickoff time, which will be televised on ESPN.