Arizona erased a 14-point first quarter deficit, scoring 24 unanswered points and but could not hold on in a 33-27 double-overtime loss to No. 18 BYU on Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.
Noah Fifita’s final attempt on fourth-and-7 in double-overtime went off the hands of Javin Whatley in the back of the end zone.
Both teams had field goals in the first overtime, and BYU went on to punch it in for a touchdown in the second overtime.
BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who rushed for 89 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, put the Cougars ahead 33-27 with a 4-yard score. His 2-point conversion pass attempt was tipped incomplete.
Fifita needed a touchdown and 2-point conversion to lift Arizona to a win.
Arizona managed a first down on a fourth-and-1 run by Quincy Craig, whose 2-yard run put the ball at the 14.
Fifita had an incomplete pass, 3-yard completion to Whatley, and he scrambled for a yard before the incomplete pass to end the game.
“We had chances to ice the game, we had chances to keep the momentum on our side. We were bringing momentum back, and we missed on those opportunities,” Fifita said.
Arizona head coach Brent Brennan praised the team’s effort in the loss.
“We just battled the first-place team in the Big 12 for four quarters and two overtimes, and we never backed down. Now, we didn’t get the result we want, but those kids play their hearts out, and that is something to be excited about,” he said.
While Brennan was encouraged with how the Wildcats overcame an early 14-point deficit, he acknowledged the shortcomings on both sides of the ball in overtime.
“The hard part is it at the end of the game, we had a chance to end it offensively, and we had a chance to end it defensively, and neither side of the ball did,” he said.
Including the two overtimes, Arizona was 2-for-5 in red zone. The field goal Arizona scored in the first overtime came after a nine-yard touchdown run by Kedrick Reescano was nullified by a holding penalty.
“I think it’s a combination of BYU being a good football team, and I think it’s also a combination of just us not executing on the level we need to when we get down in the red zone,” Brennan said of Arizona’s red zone issues. “Obviously, we had opportunities. We score a touchdown in overtime that gets called back. So, those are things you can’t do if you’re going to win big-time football games like tonight.”
Fifita, who completed 25 of 45 passes for 219 yards for two touchdowns with an interception, assessed where the offense is at midway through the season.
“We’ve had our glimpses, but a lot of inconsistency on our side of the ball, a lot of ups and downs. So, we’ve got to be able to find that consistency,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to continue to grow with each other, and grow in the scheme. I think we’ve taken steps, but I don’t think we’re close to our potential in this offense.”
Treydan Stukes, who had an interception and eight tackles, assessed the defense.
“We’ve had some good games, we’ve had some games where we gave up more yards than we wanted to, and at the end of the day, for us, it’s holding the other team to one less point we score. So we’re just going to go back to the drawing board,” he said. “Keep trusting our coaches, keep trusting the people that are on the field. I think we’ve shown flashes that we can be a dominant defense, and we just need to keep executing at a high level to get there.”
After BYU (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) took a two-touchdown lead to open the game, the Wildcats (4-2, 1-2) scored 17 points before halftime and increased their lead to 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Arizona was up 17-14 in the final minutes of the third quarter when Dalton Johnson intercepted a pass at Arizona’s 26-yard line, setting up a 74-yard drive capped by a 36-yard touchdown run by Kedrick Reescano that extended Arizona’s lead to 24-14.
BYU’s Will Ferrin kicked a 24-yard field goal with 4:08 remaining, capping a 15-play, 69-yard drive that took 7:06.
Arizona’s offense had a three-and-out and Parker Kingston had a 26-yard punt return to give BYU the ball at the Wildcat 47 with 2:55 left.
The Cougars drove for a touchdown with their game-tying drive prolonged by two pass interference calls on Thomas Dansby.
Bachmeier, whose fumble at the 5 earlier in the drive was recovered by a BYU lineman, scored on a 2-yard run with 19 seconds left. Ferrin made the extra-point to tie the game at 24.
BYU struck first with a 28-yard touchdown run from LJ Martin, giving the Cougars a 7-0 lead with 8:55 to go in the first quarter, and added another touchdown with a 75-yard pass from Bachmeier to Kingston to extend their lead to 14-0 later in the quarter.
It was the first passing touchdown Arizona had given up all season.
Arizona responded with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Fifita to Kris Hutson, cutting BYU’s lead to 14-7 near the end of the first quarter.
Hutson, the Washington State transfer, had nine receptions for 106 yards.
A weather delay between the first and second quarters caused by lightning in the area paused the game for 75 minutes.
On the ensuing drive following the delay, BYU attempted a fake punt, but failed to convert, and Arizona took over on the Cougars’ 44-yard line.
Arizona then drove the ball to the 6-yard line, and Michael Salgado-Medina kicked a 24-yard field goal to cut BYU’s lead to 14-10.
In the final minutes of the half, BYU’s Ferrin missed a 42-yard field goal, and Arizona took its first lead of the game at 17-14 with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Fifita to Chris Hunter.
NOAH FIFITA
TAKE A BOW pic.twitter.com/PTPv3d0UpV
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) October 12, 2025
Arizona looked like it was primed to score on the opening drive of the second half, but the 14-play, 71-yard drive ended on 4th-and-3 from BYU’s 6-yard line when Isaiah Glasker intercepted Fifita’s pass in the end zone.
The weather delay was the second weather delay at Arizona Stadium this season, with the previous weather delay at home occurring in 2009.
Arizona plays at Houston (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) next Saturday at 9 a.m.
FOLLOW @KEVINMURFEE ON TWITTER! 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.
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