Arizona opened the season with a 61-39 win over New Mexico last Saturday, but it came with areas needed to be improved by the Wildcats heading into Week 2 this weekend.

The primary focuses of improvement for Arizona this week was on the defensive side of the ball as well as penalties, primarily unsportsmanlike conduct penalties or "selfish penalties" as head coach Brent Brennan labeled them as following Saturday's win.

Despite the Wildcats defense having their struggles in the season opener, they did show improvements in the second half that they'll look to take into this second game against Northern Arizona Saturday night under the lights of Arizona Stadium.

The entire offense was the bright spot of the win over the Lobos, led by the Big 12 Player of the Week in Tetairoa McMillan who set the program single-game record with 304 receiving yards. He also became the early favorite for the Biletnikoff award following his historic performance to open the season.

Who: No. 21 Arizona (1-0) vs. Northern Arizona (1-0)

Kickoff: 7 p.m. (MST)

Where: Arizona Stadium | Tucson, Ariz.

TV and channels: ESPN+

Radio: 1290 AM | XM: 85

All-time series: Arizona leads 16-2

Odds: Arizona (-35.5), O/U (61.5)

Head coach: Brian Wright (1-0 | 1st season at NAU)

Conference standing: 2nd (1-0, Big Sky)

Total offense: Arizona - 12th (627.0 YPG) | NAU - 10th (452.0 YPG)

Scoring offense: Arizona - 10th (61.0 PPG) | NAU - 2nd (64.0 PPG)

Total defense: Arizona - 117th (470.0 YPG) | NAU - 4th (168.0 YPG)

Scoring defense: Arizona 117th (39.0 PPG) | NAU- 5th (6.0 PPG)

While Arizona did beat Northern Arizona to open last season 38-3, some players still remember the 21-19 loss to the Lumberjacks at home just a few years ago.

"It pops into the back of your head, and I think that's just college football," Dalton Johnson said. "Anyone can beat anyone any given day."

This will be the final week for the Wildcats to fine-tune their mistakes before heading on to the road to face Kansas State and Utah in back-to-back games the next two weeks.

The big things for Arizona that will need to be address this weekend will be on the defensive side of the ball, particularly the defensive line as well as limiting the penalties.

One other aspect of the game for Arizona that has to be address before conference play is who steps into the No. 2 and No. 3 wide receiver role. It was a historic performance from McMillan in the season opener and he was able to consistently get open enough to where Noah Fifita kept feeding him the ball, but the other wide receivers combined for just four receptions with none of them catching more than one pass.

Chris Hunter, Jeremiah Patterson, Malachi Riley and Montana Lemonious-Craig all caught one pass each in the win over the Lobos.

Fifita took responsibility for not getting the other players involved in the passing game following last weekend's win over New Mexico.

“We have many options at the receiver position as well as the tight end position,” Fifita said. “I take full responsibility for that, not spreading the ball around enough. Obviously (McMillan) was hot so being able to feed him was enough to get the victory. But moving on, I got to do a much better job building chemistry and making sure the receivers know I trust them and making sure they trust me."

While he only caught one pass, Patterson did make an impact in special teams as he returned four kickoffs for 104 yards. The junior college transfer is expected to take over the primary slot role held by Jacob Cowing last season and could step into the No. 2 role if he gets the opportunity.

The talk all offseason throughout spring camp and training camp was the depth in the wide receiver room, so it is possible it's a different player who steps up behind McMillan most weeks. The tight ends are also expected to play a role in the passing game for Arizona, including Keyan Burnett who caught one pass for 27 yards in the season opener.