Three BOLD Observations From Arizona's Win Over KU

The rushing attack had its moments but with the team falling behind by 10 points, Seth Doege went away from rushing the ball. Still, Arizona managed to rush for 165 yards on 29 carries with running back Ismail Mahdi leading the team with his 61 yards on the ground.

Although the offense had its ups and downs with five sacks that killed a handful of drives, Fifita still managed to ride the wave and put together enough offense to get the job done and lock in the sixth win of the season.

Late in the fourth quarter with the game under three minutes remaining, a missed 30-yard field goal by Kansas gave the Wildcats a shot in the arm and a chance to either tie, or win the game on a final drive.

Throughout the season, Arizona’s offense has been one of the worst offensive units when it comes to third down conversions converting at a 37% clip. 

Although the Wildcats struggled on third down, yet again by going 5 of 13, UA came up with a massive third down conversion late in the fourth quarter to keep the game-winning drive alive.

The rushing attack started slow, running back Quincy Craig had the biggest plays of the game with a 18-yard run to convert a third and three situation and then a 24-yard run to score the game winning touchdown.

With the game in the books, we at Arizona Wildcats On SI have put together our three observations from Arizona’s comeback win over Kansas.

Three Observations

Third Down Defense

• It was not pretty on the offensive side of the ball for most of the afternoon, but Arizona's defense kept the team in the game long enough for the offense to eventually prevail with a game-winning drive in the final minutes of Saturday's win over Kansas.

• The defense had some lapses in the first half, but really stayed strong in the second half as they held the Jayhawks to just three points in the final two quarters.

• One of the reasons being the third down defense for Arizona as Kansas went just 6-for-17 on third downs on the day. This has been one of the keys to victory for Arizona all season is third down defense and it excelled Saturday afternoon in that area at home to reach the six win mark on the season and a bowl game.

Noah Fifita

• Over the last two games, Fifita had been playing his best football of the season going 35 of 45 on his passing attempts while racking up 482 yards passing and six touchdowns. He seemed to finally be comfortable in the offensive system and had a line that was playing at a high-level.

• However, it was an up and down game for Fifita against Kansas as he went 16 of 31 totaling 158 yards and recorded two passing touchdowns. One of the major issues for him against Kansas was getting sacked five times.

• The offensive line had key pieces missing in the second half but Fifita walked into a couple of sacks by panicking in the pocket.

• Still, he was able to lead the game-winning drive and put his team in a position to walk away with the win. In all, it was a solid game for him in what could’ve been an underwhelming performance.

Quincy Craig

• It was not pretty on the offensive side of the ball for most of the afternoon, but Arizona's defense kept the team in the game long enough for the offense to eventually prevail with a game-winning drive in the final minutes of Saturday's win over Kansas.

• The defense had some lapses in the first half, but really stayed strong in the second half as they held the Jayhawks to just three points in the final two quarters.

• One of the reasons being the third down defense for Arizona as Kansas went just 6-for-17 on third downs on the day. This has been one of the keys to victory for Arizona all season is third down defense and it excelled Saturday afternoon in that area at home to reach the six win mark on the season and a bowl game.