After exploding for 61 points in the season opener against New Mexico, the offense has taken a pretty significant step back for Arizona in comparison to expectations heading into this season as well as in comparison to last season.

The Wildcats have yet to score more than 23 points in each of their last four games. They're still averaging over 418 yards of total offense on the season, but it has been both red zone and third-down offense that has held the total points back for Arizona over the past several games.

The big change made during the bye week and into the game against Utah two weeks ago was the change at play-caller as tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Matt Adkins took that role over for Dino Babers.

Adkins talked about what Babers has meant to him since coming over to Arizona.

"There is really no way to make up experience in this industry," Adkins said. "As a young coach, I am working to get as much experience as I possibly can. (Babers) has been through so many things, been through so many challenges and been through so many times where things were awesome that he constantly has a good perspective for me. He also sees it through a bit of a different lense, so sometimes it is great to get a perspective that is different than your own."

Across 12 trips to the red zone, Arizona has scored six touchdowns with four field goals. Meanwhile on third downs, the Wildcats rank No. 115 in the country converting 32 percent of their conversions.

The continued goal among the coaching staff has been find to consistency on the offensive side with the defense having done its job the past couple of games.

"We are straining as a coaching staff to try and get as much detail into our players as possible," Adkins said. "At some critical moments that's not showing up."

In the loss against Texas Tech last Saturday, Adkins talked about the offense showing up, just not finishing drives. He counted drives to the 25-yard line as red zone trips where Arizona had seven of them and only converted one of them into a touchdown.

"We are doing good stuff," Adkins said. "There are pockets where we are playing good football. It's just a matter of getting that more consistently."

After throwing only six interceptions last season, Noah Fifita has already thrown six picks this year through five games including his first career game with multiple interceptions this past week against Texas Tech. One issue for him so far this season that the coaching staff is continuing to work through is going through all of his progressions.

"I know that at times, he needs to just trust the progression and trust where his eyes should be and trust the information that the defense is giving him," Adkins said. "All of those things are huge conversations going on with us behind closed doors. There is not another guy I would want to play quarterback for us... I feel confident he is going to move in the right direction."

We knew what Tetairoa McMillan was capable of heading into the season. The question was going to be who would step up alongside him. We have seen flashes of it from the other pass catchers, but no one has shown up on the field consistently to this point in the season.

Adkins talked about the importance of Fifita distributing the football to balance out the offense.

"One of my biggest emphasis right now is distribution of the football and making sure the football is going to the right guy because it should," Adkins said. "I can't tell you how stupid I would be if we don't profile (McMillan) in this offense. He deserves that and we should be doing that, but we need to make sure that ball is distributed across everyone whether that is running backs, tight ends or the other wide receivers. For us to be the healthiest offensively, we have to get the ball distributed more."

One of the aspects that helped Fifita and the passing game last season was the run game opening up the play-action passing game. Despite losing some of its top rushers from last season as well as Jacory Croskey-Merritt this year, Arizona is still averaging 5.5 yards per carry led by now Quali Conley and Kedrick Reescano.

Conley has also been heavily involved in the passing game, including seeing eight targets against Texas Tech. He has caught the second most passes on the season only behind McMillan.

"Most of those plays were check down reads," Conley said. "Noah is going through his progression and just checking down to me. I was making sure I'm a valuable option to Noah so I would do my protection, get out and make sure I'm there if Noah needs me."

The one player to potentially look to see more involvement from in the coming games is TE Keyan Burnett who caught five passes for 76 yards and a touchdown in a career game in the win of Utah. His snap count hasn't been super consistent but if it can take a step forward, he has the chance to emerge as a consistent No. 2 option for Fifita moving forward.

"He's ready to explode," Adkins said. He's been banged up, so there's been some ebb and flow there. It's been a point of emphasis of our offense and its' a point of offense for for me to get him in the right spot so that he can show consistently what he's capable of doing. We have a great player and I'm confident that the best football is ahead of him."

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