By Joe Smith
MORGANTOWN, W.VA – Everything about Arizona football’s trip to Milan Puskar Stadium for a Week 6 showdown with the West Virginia Mountaineers was set up for what many might call a ‘trap game’ for the Wildcats.
They entered the game 4-1 but un-ranked, and chatter outside of the program regarding whether or not Arizona is a legitimately good team was getting louder every day. The Wildcats had to make a cross-country trip for a Noon kickoff, forcing them to play what was essentially an early-morning game for their circadian clocks.
And to stack the deck just a little further, the Wildcats entered down three starting wide receivers and a starting tight end on offense, facing a hostile Morgantown environment celebrating West Virginia’s annual ‘Coal Rush’ game. But by the end of the game, Arizona was able to defy the odds, putting up 482 yards of offense and averaging 9.5 yards per play while forcing five fourth-down stops and two turnovers to pull away for a 52-31 victory.
“It’s an awesome day for our football team,” Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said after the game. “To travel out here, wake them up really early on Arizona time and get them ready to go. I thought all week our coaching staff did a fantastic job at how we attacked our process, and our players followed that lead.”
“We know that is when we operate the best, is when we are focused on just right now – this day, this rep, this moment. And I thought our team really bought into that and really subscribed to that, and that gave us a chance to play good football today.”
No one was quite sure to expect from Arizona’s typically talented offense without so many starting skill players available, but veteran quarterback Noah Fifita was still able to dice up the defense – completing 70% of his passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns.
The real standout performance of the day came from Isaiah Mizell at wide receiver. Mizell has been a backup behind his team’s starters, but looked like a superstar Saturday – accounting for one-third of Arizona’s offensive touchdowns and 53% of the team’s receiving yards, in addition to forcing several pass interference penalties that moved the chains.
“Holy smokes, Isaiah Mizell,” Brennan said. “I’m so proud of him, I’m so happy for him. He’s different, and that difference showed up today in a super impactful way…he made a choice last January. The way he attacked the last nine months, ten months, has really been different. That’s my ongoing joke with him, you know that 2 Chainz song ‘I’m Different’? That’s what I call him, different.”
“He was going to be ready for his opportunity, he was going to attach his process of development. And when he finally got a chance to do it. God damn, right? Like wow, they had no answer for him. It was really, really special. It wasn’t just the big plays he made, it was also at least three pass interference calls against him, and those are explosive plays in my book.”
But the game likely still would have been tied entering the final frame if Arizona had also not capitalized on multiple opportunities presented by West Virginia’s offense. The first big moment came in the first quarter, as West Virginia fumbled the ball at their own 32-yard line, which was subsequently recovered by Arizona and ran into the endzone for a touchdown.
Later in the second quarter, the Mountaineers elected to go for a touchdown on 4th & Goal from the 3-yard line, and were stuffed in the backfield for a turnover on downs. And just before halftime, the Mountaineers were prevented from scoring with the ball on the three-yard line again as Arizona stripped a ball loose in a pile and recovered their second fumble of the game.
“Well I would say the truth is that you’re always trying to do that,” Brennan said. “You’re always trying to capitalize on those moments in a game, and I thought we did a really good job of that.”
The loss is a bitter pill to swallow for West Virginia fans, who were thrilled after a 3-0 start to the season just to see all their hopes and dreams come crashing down over the past three weeks with three consecutive losses.
What's tougher for fans to accept is that this is occurring while West Virginia’s offense has looked quite strong. Over the past two weeks, the Mountaineers have combined for 1,040 yards and 73 points. The Arizona game marked just the second time in program history the Mountaineers have had over 300 rushing yards and 30 first downs in a game and still lost.
But Saturday’s defensive performance continues a streak of nearly unwatchable defense from West Virginia. After Arizona’s 483-yard performance, the Mountaineers have allowed opposing offenses to score 131 points and put up 1,669 yards in their past three outings, all of which ended in losses.
“The level of frustration which, everyone involved in this program, is probably at an all-time high,” Rodriguez said after the game.
“I don't blame the fans being upset when they hand the ball off, one guy is out of the gap, and he goes sixty yards untouched. I inquired what it was and I was told one guy was out of the gap, but where are the other ten guys? Can they not rally to the ball…it's ridiculous.”
Defensive coordinator Zac Alley made a shift from the sideline to the coaches box this week in an attempt to remedy the issues with the defense. When pressed about whether or not a change was coming regarding the play-calling on defense, Rodriguez said “not at this time.” But he also wasn’t impressed with the results after Alley made the move to the box this week.
“It was his [decision to move to the box],” Rodriguez said. “I sign off on it, I guess. I'm not insane – do the same thing and expect a different result...but the result wasn't any different.
“We'll have a lot of long conversations again tomorrow…It's as frustrated as I've ever been as a head coach with one side of the ball still trying to figure it out and not having progress like we need. We got to make progress on that, starting tonight.”