Arizona football notebook: Wildcats eager to atone for ‘self-inflicted sins’ at BYU
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
It’s a cliché to say that Arizona was a few plays away from pulling a major upset last week, but sometimes that’s actually the truth. The Wildcats feel like that was the case in their loss at BYU, believing that nearly all of the mistakes made are correctable.
For the UA offense, penalties on the first two drives after halftime prevented it from carrying over the momentum it had in the first half when it built a 17-14 lead and held the ball for more than 20 minutes.
“We go out there in the second half and just have these self-inflicted sins,” offensive coordinator Seth Doege said Tuesday. “You have four drives in the second half and two of them … you shouldn’t have to battle (back) from 2nd and 20, 1st and 25.”
Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales felt Arizona played “absolutely outstanding” until midway through the fourth quarter. That’s when, after coming up short on 4th down in the red zone, a big play by BYU’s offense flipped the field and it went up two scores not long after.
“If we’re going to be elite, we go out there and get a three and out,” Gonzales said.
It was the second year in a row Arizona couldn’t finish against BYU, having squandered a 10-point lead in the 4th in 2025 before falling in 2025. A week later it lost at Houston.
“Last year we let one (loss) turn into two,” Gonzales said. “If we are who we think we are, we’ll come out ready to play. The only thing (the loss at BYU) means is we can’t win all 12.”
Secondary rounding into form
Arizona has started the same five defensive backs each game but one of the safety positions has seen heavy rotation. Lee Mollette has started twice and logged about 60 percent of the snaps while Gavin Hunter has gotten plenty of run and Oregon transfer Daylen Austin made his UA debut at BYU. A three-headed approach may continue to be the norm at that spot.
“I think we used that rotation kind of how we’re going to use it,” Gonzales said. “Daylen is really, really elite in coverage, and until we get three or four games under his belt in tackling and physical, because he didn’t go through spring and all that stuff, and then you’ve got Lee and Gavin who have very similar skill traits, very physical. We’re going to kind of use those guys in situational football, and it’s really because all three of them have the ability to blitz and be really twitchy off the edge.”
Austin was injured in spring and limited in fall camp.
“It was good to get him to run into a couple, but you could tell he was a little rusty on a couple of them,” Gonzales said. “There’s a reason that Oregon didn’t want him to leave, and so I’m excited he’s here.”
BYU scored three passing TDs against the UA, only the second team to do so since Gonzales took over the defense. Dwight Bootle was beat over the top on a 61-yard pass that set up the Cougars’ final score, while on the first TD that tied the game at 7 a miscommunication between Jay’Vion Cole and Malcolm Hartzog left the receiver wide open.
“Our best players can’t make mistakes,” Gonzales said. “But the three guys that are playing in the NFL, they made a ton of those mistakes in the first few games last year.”
Doege still confident in receivers
When Giovanni Richardson went down with an injury at BYU, one that is expected to sideline for Saturday’s game against Northern Illinois, Noah Fifita lost his top target. Richardson had already caught five passes in the game and 14 for the season, twice as many as any other UA player.
Fifita, who was 23 of 31 for the game, completed 10 of 14 passes after Richardson was injured but there was a different feel to that passing attack without that go-to guy. Doege is confident that one or more options will pop up in Richardson’s absence.
“We have quality players in that room, and somebody’s gonna step up, and somebody’s going to take charge,” Doege said. “Noah has confidence in all those guys. I’d like to give a give a little more opportunity to (Tre) Spivey, try to find ways to get him the ball, target him a little bit more. I think Brandon Phelps deserves to play more, because every time he’s on the field, something good happens, and he’s really smart. He’s a very good route runner. He’s really tough. He’s blocking his tail off, so I’m excited about him.”
West Virginia transfer Rodney Gallagher stepped in for Richardson and had five catches—“a lot of those plays were designed for Gio,” Doege said—and figures to start on Saturday.
“I thought Rod did a great job of just stepping in, not getting a ton of reps all week. For me as a coordinator, I got to find ways to get those guys the football where they can be successful. I think it was easy with Gio because you could just call it. He was going to find the grass versus zone, and he was going to win versus man. Well, we still have those capabilities in that receiving room, but also think I need to do a better job getting those guys in a position to have success.”
Mahdi should be in mix vs. NIU
Following their successful petition for a temporary restraining order to become eligible, Arizona brought linebacker Max Harris and running back Ismail Mahdi on the trip to BYU. Harris logged 29 snaps and looked very much like the player who was third on the team in tackles a year ago, but Mahdi did not play.
Expect that to change in due time. Doege said Mahdi was more than capable of getting carries last week, it was all the other parts of the gameplan he wasn’t up to speed on since he didn’t become eligible until Wednesday.
“Can I just give him the ball in mid zone, can I give him the ball on counter, can he do that? Absolutely, he’s Mahdi,” Doege said. “But there was also some protection. There was also some quarterback runs where he was a second puller, all that kind of stuff. Where’s the ID? You were getting every single different type of front, and so we just didn’t feel as confident that he was ready for all of that yet. Mahdii is a rep guy, and he’ll tell you that. Mahdi’s a rep guy, and so we need to get him reps for him to be his best.”
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos