After a dominant victory against a ranked team and a bye week, Arizona, surrounded by a sea of 45,023 red and white shirts, showcased their poise and toughness and that they were not complacent, shocking the college football world again, upsetting No. 11 Oregon State 27-24 at Arizona Stadium on Saturday night.
Arizona (5-3, 3-2 Pac-12) now has beaten an AP Top 25 team in consecutive games and it is the first time it has done so as an unranked team since 2006.
"Hats off to our team," UA head coach Jedd Fisch said following the victory. "I think our team had a fantastic resilience about themselves. ... We always say, we don't win the game in the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, we win the game in the fourth quarter and it was a pretty awesome job."
OSU, which came into the contest scoring on every single red zone trip its had this season (25 attempts), kept its streak moving on its opening drive after a 12-play, 75 yard drive resulting in a touchdown.
However, right before halftime, OSU attempted a fake field goal within the red zone and got stopped by UA safety Gunner Maldonado, marking the first incomplete red zone attempt of the season. The UA then ran off the field into the locker room pumped up being applauded by the Wildcat faithful.
Both teams traded touchdowns and field goals in the first half to tie the game at 10 apiece, in what was a shaky half by both schools.
With Arizona getting the ball to start the second half, it was clear that this stop gave the Wildcats momentum, with the UA scoring a field goal on its first drive and forcing OSU to punt on the following drive. The UA would go onto score on 3 of its 5 drives and only allow OSU to score two touchdowns on 1 of 4 drives over the course of the second half, to propel itself over the Beavers for the victory.
Arizona was led by redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita, who made his fourth career start. Fifita, who was announced as the starter over Jayden de Laura before the game, went for 25-32 passing, 275 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
"I thought Noah had a great game tonight," Fisch said. "He did a great job in managing the game. As always, we always look back and we want to take a play or two or three and learn from them, but he did a fantastic job in running the team and in a situation where the game was going back and forth that showed great poise and composure and everything we always expect out him."
Arizona’s offense was lackluster at times in the first half, but picked up the tempo in the second half, compiling a total of 374 yards with 275 of it coming in the air. With its second-worst rushing total of the year with 100, and a limited star receiver Jacob Cowing, the UA’s offense was aided by second string receivers freshman Malachi Riley hauling in a 40-yard reception and sophomore Kevin Green logging a 26-yard catch.
With about 8:46 left in regulation, Wiley who hasn’t played in a game since the game at Stanford, bolted on the left end for a 40-yard touchdown reception to give the Wildcats the lead. The fifth-year Wildcat also became the all-time leading receiver by a running back in Arizona history, passing Vance Johnson.
Wiley didn't stop there, adding another receiving touchdown the following offensive drive to put the Wildcats up by 10 points with under three minutes remaining.
"[Wiley's] a leader," Fifita said. [He] just brings a different type of swag and confidence into the huddle that can't really be emulated. ... He's a very special player with the ball in his hands, [but] even more as a leader and as a person."
Oregon State was then able to get down the field in less than minute and score a touchdown to cut the deficit to three, but was unsuccessful on the onside kick, where Arizona was able to take over and run out the clock.
On the defensive side the ball, Arizona only allowed OSU to its second-lowest total yards (407) and third-lowest rushing game of the season (135).
UA safety Gunner Maldonado led the charge, logging 10 total tackles, including six of them being solo.
Freshman lineman Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei also made a significant impact, recording a career-best four tackles against OSU, which was led by his cousin quarterback DJ Uiagalelei.
"He's a great player, [he] made some great plays out there. That's cool being able to go against family, man," DJ Uiagalelei said following the game. "I've got a lot of family in [Arizona], a lot of family at the game, so it's pretty cool."
With the consecutive upset, Arizona will likely be in the conversation to be ranked as a top 25 team. The Wildcats will now prepare for their next opponent a week from now against UCLA for the UA's annual homecoming game.
"It was a blast coaching that game," Fisch said. "I can't wait for next Saturday, that's the best part about this, we get to do it again next week."
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