Takeaways from Arizona's Massacre of Colorado

Brent Brennan got his fourth Big 12 win and finally took care of a team that his Wildcats are significantly better than.

Noah Fifita and the Arizona offense torched the Buffaloes through the air from the jump. Tre Spivey continued to hit pay dirt by taking his first catch 57 yards to the house, shaking off a few defenders along the way, to open up the scoring.

Defensively, the Wildcats created short fields for the offense. Colorado made a change under center at halftime, going from Kaidon Salter to Ryan Staub and later Julian Lewis, but it didn't make any difference. The Wildcats' front seven swarmed the Colorado backfield and forced mistakes and took advantage.

It's good to see Arizona back in the win column in statement fashion after a couple of tough losses. Here are a few takeaways from Arizona's fifth win.

Arizona's Front Seven Thrived

The Wildcats' pass rush again didn't put up massive numbers in the stat sheet, but they did a ton to impact the Colorado backfield.

They finished the night with three sacks and five quarterback hits, but they were chasing Colorado's quarterbacks all night long. Chase Kennedy made a huge play in the first quarter, stripping Salter of the ball on a sack to set up a Fifita touchdown pass one play later.

The big concern entering the game was how Arizona would defend the run, specifically against Salter at quarterback. The Buffaloes have not run the ball well this season, but Salter has made plays for them with his legs.

Well, not on Saturday. The Wildcats held him to just 27 yards rushing on the night and had six tackles for loss in the game. The Buffaloes ran for 129 yards on 42 carries (3.1 yards per carry) in the game, and wound up having to throw more than they would like.

The pressure also allowed the defense to create more turnovers. Three interceptions and two forced fumbles gave the Wildcats every chance to score quickly and easily, and they did just that.

Noah Fifita Spread the Ball to Perfection

One of the keys to this offense under offensive coordinator Seth Doege is sharing the rock. To replace a weapon like Tetairoa McMIllan, Fifita needed to get all of his new weapons involved often.

On Saturday, he did that well. After starting the game with another long Spivey touchdown, he shared the wealth. Four different receivers caught touchdown passes from Fifita in the first half.

The junior quarterback never looked panicked or nervous when throwing downfield. It could be because the guys were wide open, or it could just be who he is as a quarterback.

The offensive line held up fine during the game, although Fifita did get hit and see some pressure in his face at times. He was sacked once and hit another three times. But it didn't affect his accuracy downfield.

Fifita finished the night 11-of-19 passing for 213 yards and four touchdowns, and most of that production came in the first half. With the Wildcats up 38-7 at the half, Doege turned to the ground game in the second half.

Fifita completed passes to six different receivers and hit on three passes of 30 yards or more, all of which were touchdowns. Kris Hutson caught the most passes with five catches for 37 yards and a touchdown on a rifle to the back corner of the end zone from Fifita with a perfect ball.

Arizona has been doing this through the air for a few weeks now, but it was good to see it happen in a win on the road with very little resistance. It's a confident boost to an offense that could probably use it after the past two games. It should carry over to next week against a Kansas pass defense that isn't very good either.

Arizona's Secondary Still Having Trouble Downfield

On paper, it's easy to say the secondary had a good night. Colorado had to play three different quarterbacks because they were struggling with the pressure and turning the ball over.

They completed 20-of-35 passes for 170 yards, tossing two touchdowns and three interceptions between the three of them.

There are some hidden misses here, though, for the Buffaloes. One play before Kennedy's strip sack, Salter missed a wide open Sincere Brown, who had two steps on his defender and would have scored easily.

Colorado also had a drop on a deep ball and more overthrows where Arizona defensive backs were just a step late.

Julian Lewis entered the game and uncorked a 59-yard bomb to Omarion Miller early in the third quarter, finally connecting on one of those deep balls, but the game was well in hand already.

With a veteran core in Dalton Johnson, Treydan Stukes, Ayden Garnes and Genesis Smith, it's a bit disheartening to see free runners downfield. It didn't hurt the Wildcats because of how well they played elsewhere, but against a better team and better quarterback, it will.

Overall, it was a good performance from them. Nabbing three interceptions doesn't come easily, unless you're Garnes and it's thrown right to you.

Danny Gonzales will definitely go through the film to get it sorted before Kansas comes to Tucson next week.