What do you say about a team that struggled – um, mightily and surprisingly – on the defensive end, yet won by 22 points?
You say, there’s a lot to improve on and move on. No. 21 Arizona has no other choice after its 61-39 victory over overachieving New Mexico on Saturday night in a game that almost went into two days (Saturday night into a Sunday morning). It lasted just a minute under four hours.
(Move on, there is no video replay here)
We all knew Arizona would be that team that could easily score 40-plus points against most teams and maybe lots more against teams when it is a 30-point favorite.
But give up nearly 40 points against a suspect UNM? At home?
“It’s hard to win a college football game,” said Arizona first-year coach Brent Brennan, who became the first coach to win his UA opener since Rich Rodriguez in 2012.
Saturday night was clearcut proof. Arizona struggled to shake the Lobos – until the second half.
Brennan admitted in his interview with his in-house media that “we have a lot of work to do.”
You think?
Heck, UNM had a lead midway through the second quarter, and you wondered: “how is this happening?”
“The hardest thing to do during training camp is to play live football and to tackle live, because you’re just concerned about losing a good player and not getting them to the game,” Brennan said. “And I think that part of it is a hard part of it. I thought they settled down really nice in the second half, forced a couple turnovers.”
And then the race was on to see how many points Arizona would win by – but it didn’t come until the second half, after Arizona took a slim 27-24 lead into the half. UNM had a 24-17 lead just minutes earlier.
Then came a talk to tell the team to, um, relax.
“The biggest thing I talked to them (about) was stop worrying about the outcome and worry about right now,” Brennan said. “Stop looking at the scoreboard. Just play football. It’s like, we’ve got a game tonight. Everyone can play. Some teams are better than others, some teams have better players than others, but everybody can play.”
Then, Arizona adjusted, and New Mexico did what it did last week against Montana State – faded.
And Arizona flourished.
It also had its golden parachute in Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan, who had a record-setting night on a national stage.
- 10 catches
- 304 receiving yards (school record for receiving yards and fifth in Big 12 history since 1996)
- Four touchdowns.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
He was not made available after the game. Wow!
Every time he touched the ball you wondered what magic he’d present. Heck, even in non-catches (one questionable) he looked amazing. He’d make the catch and then prove to be Houdini, escaping tackles or zig-zagging his way for extra yards.
“Those big explosives were just incredible,” Brennan said, referring to the yards after the catch. “Outran the whole secondary on the big one down the sideline. He’s an awesome competitor, and he’s also not satisfied. He thinks he can play better. It’s what you hope for.”
It’s everyday common for Fifita, his partner who gets him the ball. The two have a symmetry that’s unbelievable.
“If people were listening to my interviews all offseason, they probably thought I was being overdramatic,” Fifita said. “But he came in and proved once again he’s the best player in the country, and his statistics show it. You’re putting me on the spot, but I think this might be his best (performance).”
It did receive praise from the local and national observers all night.
Now, it’s about finding other players to shine – Brennan admitted that – and finding its footing on the defensive end.
“Our defense is fantastic,” Fifita said. “People say what they want about them, but you know that they’re fighters. No worries about that. We know that when we struggle, they’re going to pick us up as well.”
That might come more down the road. It’ll have to, given the lofty goals. And just how many times can the Fifita-McMillan parachute come through?
