In the waning moments of a 42-18 beatdown of Utah in Tucson last year, Arizona coach Jedd Fisch had one more trick up his sleeve.
With 45 seconds left in the contest, the Wildcats up 35-18 and Utah out of timeouts, it was assumed Arizona would kneel the clock out, but what they did next surprised everyone.
After quarterback Noah Fifita went to the bench after a good day — 22 of 30 passing for 253 yards and two touchdowns — in came Jayden de Laura with about four minutes left.
de Laura began the 2023 season as Arizona’s starting quarterback, but an injury in the fourth game of the year forced Fifita into action. Fifita played so well in de Laura’s absence, leading Arizona to a 10-3 record and an Alamo Bowl win, that he remained the starter even when de Laura was healthy.
So when de Laura went back onto the field with 45 seconds left, Fisch wanted to reward him for being a team player, sticking with Arizona and handling Fifita’s ascension with grace.
“I wanted Jayden to go out with a touchdown pass this season. I think that he deserves that and I thought it was awesome that on what could be a senior day for him … and as a captain, I thought it was pretty awesome that he could go out there and throw a touchdown,” Fisch said.
Three receivers streaked down the field, de Laura found Tetairoa McMillan in single coverage and McMillan hauled in a pass for a touchdown.
Arizona thoroughly dominated Utah from the first snap — the Wildcats led the Utes 28-0 after the first quarter — and de Laura’s last-minute score just twisted the knife a little more as Arizona beat Utah for the first time since 2015.
Fisch pointed to Utah calling timeouts on Arizona’s penultimate drive with about three minutes left to get the ball back, then going on a pass-heavy touchdown drive, going for two and following that up with an onside kick facing a 25-point deficit with less than a minute left.
The real motivation behind the touchdown pass, however, was probably to give de Laura his moment.
Arizona’s last-minute touchdown pass has been the hot topic among Ute fans leading up to Saturday’s showdown, but a lot has changed in Tucson since that day.
Fisch and his staff left Arizona in the offseason, taking the Washington job after Kalen DeBoer took over at Alabama following Nick Saban’s retirement.
de Laura, who threw that touchdown pass, is no longer at Arizona. The only main actor still there from the play is McMillan.
Still, does that play stick with Kyle Whittingham as he prepares his team to take on Arizona?
“You know what, it’s their right. It’s our job to defend them, and whatever they want to do they can do,” Whittingham said this week on his ESPN 700 coaches show.
“And so I’m not a guy that whines about stuff like that, so I’m going to say that, would I have done that? No … The onus is on us to stop them, bottom line, so whatever play they call, we’re responsible to stop it and we didn’t do it.”
Utah’s coaches might not be zeroing in on that specific play this week as much as the shellacking on the whole — one that Whittingham called “one of the worst games that I can remember” on his coaches show — to motivate their players this week.
“They got us pretty good last year, so we hope to play much better this year than we did last year,” Whittingham said.
It’s safe to say Utah still remembers what it felt like last year. Even running back Micah Bernard, who didn’t play in the game due to injury, is using it as motivation this week.
“Always mentality for payback,” Bernard said. “I mean, I didn’t get to play in that game and I want to play now. They did some things that got them the victory, but we going to do some things to get our victory. It’s at home and it’s a blackout, so we’re going to have some fun and we’re going to come away with the W.”
It’s still a very consequential game for both teams, but after a slow start to the season for Arizona, it’s not the Top 25 matchup we thought it might be when the schedule was released.
The high-flying Wildcat offense of last year has not established itself yet this season. Some transfer portal losses such as running back Jonah Coleman, in addition to players such as wide receiver Jacob Cowing declaring for the NFL draft, have made an impact.
It’s not a total rebuild, though, and the Wildcats kept their two best players — Fifita and McMillan. Arizona is 2-1 and the passing offense is No. 24 in the country with 287.7 yards per game, but there’s a little bit of trepidation in Tucson after the Wildcats only scored 22 points against Northern Arizona, then followed that game up with a 31-7 loss at Kansas State
The loss to the other Wildcats — luckily for Arizona, counted as a nonconference game — neatly summed up where the Wildcats are at offensively. Fifita threw for 268 yards, 138 of those to McMillan, but threw an interception and led only one touchdown drive.
After that first scoring drive, Arizona couldn’t find the end zone again. Add that to the middling performance against Northern Arizona, and some alarm bells started going off.
One issue is that, while McMillan has been elite this season (453 yards on 23 catches), the Wildcats need more out of their other receivers, who have combined for just 201 yards.
Fifita, who was one of the nation’s most accurate passers last season, hasn’t played to the level he did last year, either, and the play calling from new offensive coordinator Dino Babers has left much to be desired.
Arizona’s tight ends were the talk of fall camp in Tucson, but through three games, they haven’t been as involved as most expected, with Keyan Burnett ranking fourth on the team in receiving yards with just 49 on three catches.
Running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt’s eligibility issues leave him doubtful to play against Utah, meaning the vast majority of the carries will go to Quali Conley.
Conley is averaging 6.1 yards per carry (265 yards and four scores), but saw his production crater against Kansas State (14 carries for 48 yards and one touchdown) due to Arizona passing the ball 42 times compared to running it 19.
The big question ahead of this Saturday’s game — were Arizona’s offense struggles the last two weeks indicative of a growing trend, or after a bye week to sort things out, will the Wildcats look like their 2023 selves against a Utah defense that has been mostly dominant this season?
Arizona certainly has the talent, and all it takes is one game to put it together.
Whittingham looked at the tape of what Kansas State did against Arizona, and could use some of that in his game plan this week.
“K-State ran the ball really effectively. It was 200-plus yards and I think Arizona only had 40, 50, 60 yards of rushing and that’s damaging when you can rush for a bunch and not give up much in the run game. That allows you to control the game a lot of the time, and that’s exactly what K-State did,” Whittingham said.
“K-State did a really nice job defensively mixing up coverages, bringing pressure, dropping eight effectively. They got good pressure with a three-man rush at times, and so they had a good plan going in and slowing ‘em down, but to me the big key was their ability to control the football through the run game.”
Controlling the time of possession was something that Utah excelled at against Oklahoma State (42:26 to 17:34) and doing the same thing against Arizona would be huge.
Arizona’s defense is allowing 172.7 rushing yards per game, but some of that is due to rushing quarterbacks — Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson ran for 110 yards and New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier rushed for 130.
If Isaac Wilson starts at quarterback again for Utah, keeping the ball for long periods of time will be key — the Utes don’t want to get into a shootout with the Wildcats.
Wilson’s running ability was a factor against Oklahoma State — he converted two fourth downs with his legs and ran 48 yards on third-and-11 — and this week, he may have more opportunities to run, considering Arizona’s struggles to contain quarterbacks this season.
Bernard also has another big opportunity ahead of him as he tries for his fourth consecutive 100-plus-yard game. Arizona’s secondary has been the bright spot for the defense so far — the Wildcats have allowed just 175 passing yards per game — so a heavy dose of the run game might be just what the doctor ordered for the Utes.
Utah fans finally have a true “night game,” with an 8:15 p.m. MDT start and a “Dark Mode” game, with fans and the team wearing black. It should be a good atmosphere on Saturday night.
“It just seems to be electric at night and I don’t have a great answer for it, but it sure is an advantage for us, a definite advantage,” Whittingham said.
