Late game heroics by Tetairoa McMillan weren’t enough for Arizona to overcome an 18-point fourth quarter deficit in a 31-26 loss to West Virginia at Arizona Stadium on Saturday.
Arizona cut West Virginia’s lead to 31-19 when Noah Fifita threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to McMillan with 8:52 remaining. West Virginia went 3-and-out on the following possession, and Arizona capitalized with a 49-yard pass from Fifita to McMillan, putting Arizona on the Mountaineers’ 6-yard line. Fifita scrambled for a 3-yard touchdown a few plays later to make it a 31-26 game with 4:35 to go.
West Virginia got a first down on third-and-7 from its 37-yard line with two minutes remaining and ran out the clock for the win.
“I love how we battled in the fourth quarter,” Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. “…We have lots of work to do and I think that we have a chance to have a good football team. We just can’t prove it yet, and that’s the hardest pill to swallow.”
Arizona head coach Brent Brennan: I think we have the chance to have a good football team, we just can’t prove it yet, and that’s the hardest pill to swallow. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/Xq4jBPn1o7
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) October 27, 2024
Arizona (3-5, 1-4) has lost four straight games since a 23-10 win at Utah on Sept 28.
West Virginia entered the game Saturday missing starting quarterback Garrett Greene, left tackle Wyatt Milum and some key players on defense to injury. The good news for the Mountaineers was that they were facing an Arizona team struggling on offense with extensive injuries of its own, going without team captains Jacob Manu, Treydan Stukes and Gunner Maldonado on defense.
Brennan said the coaching staff needs to “dive hard into attention to detail.” He also said an early fumble in the red zone and injuries factored into the loss.
“I think there’s some little things that can have a big impact on the outcome that weren’t good enough tonight,” he said. “But, I also think, in the big picture of things, there is an impact on not having three team captains available for a game. There’s is an impact with the injury thing when some of our people aren’t available to us.”
Brent Brennan expands on why he thinks Arizona hasn’t yet become the good football team he thinks it can be. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/BajvDbn9u3
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) October 27, 2024
He thought West Virginia’s fake field goal that resulted in a touchdown following Arizona’s turnover in the first quarter and struggles on offense led to the Wildcats being down three possessions midway through the third quarter.
“I think, early on, the fake field goal — they got us on that. They schemed us. We were trying to go for a heavy block look there, and we were short on that side of the formation, so credit to them and their coaching staff,” he said. “Then, I think there was some lack of efficiency offensively, and, so, because we weren’t consistently moving the ball, and because they were ending up with lots of good field position, they were in situations where they were able to have short fields and capitalize on those opportunities.”
Brent Brennan on why he thought the team fell behind 3 possessions to West Virginia. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/CIMGNhpVst
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) October 27, 2024
McMillan had 202 yards on 10 catches and one touchdown.
Fifita said having more plays designed for McMillan in the week leading up to the game led to other receivers going uncovered, including a touchdown pass to tight end Sam Olson in the third quarter.
“Obviously, when you have a player of his caliber, he (McMillan) was able to get a lot of other things opened up,” Fifita said.
Fifita was 21 of 32 for 292 yards and two touchdowns.
Noah Fifita talks about drawing more plays up for Tetairoa McMillan, taking it one play at a time and the attitude of the team. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/V13O7cZF0x
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) October 27, 2024
It was all West Virginia (4-4, 3-2) in the first quarter. The Mountaineers possessed the ball for over 12 minutes, taking a 10-0 lead. Arizona had only five plays.
West Virginia scored a 45-yard field goal on a long opening drive. On Arizona’s first possession, Quali Conley fumbled, and West Virginia recovered on its 19-yard line, setting up an 81-yard drive for the Mountaineers capped off by a 14-yard rushing touchdown from Leighton Bechdel on a fake field goal on 4th-and-2.
Arizona opened the second quarter with a scoring drive of over seven minutes it finished with a 1-yard rushing touchdown from Conley to cut West Virginia’s lead to 10-7. On the following possession, Nicco Marchiol connected with Hudson Clement on 4th-and-goal from the 3-yard line to extend West Virginia’s lead to 17-7 with under three minutes remaining in the first half. The touchdown was set up by a 55-yard run from Jahiem White that advanced the Mountaineers to the Arizona 8-yard line.
West Virginia extended its lead to 24-7 with 7:59 remaining in the third quarter off a 20-yard rushing touchdown from CJ Donaldson Jr. A 23-yard touchdown pass from Fifita to Olson cut West Virginia’s lead to 24-13 late in the third quarter after Tyler Loop missed the PAT. Marchiol’s 54-yard touchdown pass to Traylon Ray extended West Virginia’s lead to 31-13 early in the fourth quarter.
Arizona plays at UCF (3-5, 1-4) Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News & the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.
