Arizona’s defense produced five turnovers that resulted in 23 points, and it held Hawaii to 67 yards on the ground in the Wildcats’ 40-6 season-opening victory Saturday at Arizona Stadium.
The Wildcats’ defense, under new coordinator Danny Gonzales, also had five sacks after recording only 20 all of last season.
Arizona routed Hawaii (1-1) despite having a time-of-possession deficit of 35:44 to 24:16, which was a non-factor in the game.
Big plays, including a 54-yard touchdown run by Quincy Craig, and playing with a short field after many of the turnovers, made up for the time-of-possession disparity.
Craig, a transfer from Portland State, finished with 125 yards on seven carries.
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, playing for new offensive coordinator Seth Doege, completed 13 of 23 attempts for 161 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions.
“It was a good start but a lot has to be cleaned up, a lot on my part of cleaning up,” Fifita told TNT after the game. “I’ve got to get a lot of details down, doing a better job of my timing, and getting my guys involved.”
Arizona was 3 of 11 on third-down conversions and produced 344 yards of total offense.
Hawaii’s Michael Alejado, who engineered the Rainbow Warriors’ comeback victory over Stanford last week despite an ankle sprain, was unable to finish against Arizona.
He aggravated his ankle injury with 5:22 left in the third quarter and did not return.
He was 18 of 31 for 157 yards with an interception.
After Chase Kennedy strip-sacked Alejado and recovered the fumble, Craig broke free for his 54-yard touchdown run with 12:26 remaining in the second quarter, giving the Wildcats a 14-3 lead.
Kansei Matsuzawa, who converted the game-winning field goal against Stanford last week, nailed a 41-yard field goal as time expired to cut Arizona’s lead to 17-6 going into halftime.
Fifita ended the 65-yard drive that opened the second half with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Sam Olson.
After Arizona junior Taye Brown achieved his first interception since he was a junior in high school, Fifita scored the second rushing touchdown of his career.
His 10-yard scamper to the end zone increased Arizona’s lead to 31-6 with 6:46 left in the third quarter.
Michael Salgado-Medina drilled a 52-yard field goal with 13:14 remaining after Arizona’s Julian Savaiinaea recovered a fumble at the Hawaii 24.
An interception in the end zone by Gavin Hunter that was returned to the Arizona 28 ultimately led to another touchdown for the Wildcats.
Ismael Mahdi capped Arizona’s subsequent drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.
AllSportsTucson.com’s Kevin Murphy and Steve Rivera will provide additional coverage of Arizona’s victory later.
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