Through the first part of the season, Arizona's offense has looked like it has been lost in the desert searching for an oasis with no water in sight. That didn't change much come Saturday night as the Wildcats' offense struggled to put anything together.

Despite a strong defensive effort, the Wildcats couldn't overcome their lackluster offense falling 28-22 to Texas Tech.

On the offensive side of the ball, Arizona struggled to say the least. The Wildcats totaled 422 yards while going 3 of 14 on third down attempts.

Meanwhile, quarterback Noah Fifita had a tough night completing just 57-percent of his passes for 301 yards while throwing two interceptions.

During the 2023 season, Fifita threw six interceptions in 10 games played. SO far, in five games during the 2024 season, he has thrown six interceptions to just seven touchdown passes.

The nail in the coffin came with Arizona trailing 21-18 when Fifita hit Tetairoa over the middle of the field. However, McMillan got hit from behind and fumbled the ball giving it back to Texas Tech.

In all, Arizona turned the ball over three times and missed one kick, which proved to be too much for this struggling offense to overcome.

In all reality, if it wasn't for a strong defensive effort and the leg of Tyler Loop, the Wildcats would've been out of this game by the time the fourth quarter rolled around.

Loop started the game going 4-for-4, which was a career-high in made field goals for him. However, on the fifth attempt with the chance to give his team the lead, he pulled a 48-yard kick wide left.

Arizona's defense was able to create energy for the team holding the Red Raiders to 332 yards and just 118 yards rushing yards on 29 rushing attempts. And when the team needed it most, the secondary was able to come up with two critical turnovers when UA needed it the most.

The two turnovers were created by defensive backs Dalton Johnson and Genesis Smith, who were able to pop the ball out from running back Tahj Brooks.

Those two plays became the biggest moments in the game for the Wildcats as the energy completely flipped back onto the Arizona sideline after trailing 18-3 at the end of the first half.

But, when a defense is on the field for long periods of time, eventually the defense will crack and give up a big play down the stretch. That happened on the go-ahead field goal for Texas Tech with a pass completion to Caleb Douglas for 32 yards.

Coming into the game, Texas Tech had been giving up an average of 34.3 points per games. Saturday against Arizona, the Red Raiders' defense held the Wildcats to 22 points in a flat offensive effort.

Arizona will hit the road and travel back to Utah as the Wildcats will face No. 17 BYU on Oct. 12, with a kick off time set for 1 p.m. (MST) on FOX.

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