Arizona's offense explodes in dominant road win over West Virginia
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The Arizona Wildcats offense exploded on Saturday morning in Morgantown, West Virginia, with Brent Brennan's club ultimately coasting to a 52-31 victory to move to 5-1 on the year.
The Wildcats topped 50 points for the first time since a 52-17 road win at Colorado in Week 7 last year, while quarterback Noah Fifita had his 11th career 300+ yard passing game - which moves into second place in program history behind Nick Foles.
Arizona (5-1, 2-1 in Big 12) had a modest 24-17 halftime lead and didn't put West Virginia away until very late in the third quarter. The Mountaineers, who posted a whopping 303 rushing yards, answered the Wildcats multiple times with quick drives, but eventually ran out of steam as Arizona's depth proved too much for Rich Rodriguez's team to handle.
Below is a look at three key takeaways from Arizona's second straight dominant victory in the Big 12:
The Isiah Mizell Game
No Gio Richardson, no Tre Spivey, no Chris Hunter III, no problem for Arizona's wide receivers. Even without the talented trio, Arizona managed to generate an effective passing attack - thanks largely to sophomore Isaiah Mizell, who finished with a career high six catches for 183 yards and a touchdown.
Arguably the play of the game came with less than a minute to go in the third quarter, when on 3rd-and-7 West Virginia sold out on the blitz and Fifita found Mizell in the middle of the field - and the sophomore exploded up the seam for a 72-yard touchdown, giving the Wildcats a 38-24 lead.
Mizell more than doubled his season total in receiving yards on the night, and he and Brandon Phelps (four receptions, 88 yards, one touchdown) solidified Arizona's wide receiver depth as the best in the conference.
Cam Chapa is a bad man
The evolution of junior safety Cam Chapa has been a joy to watch this season. Chapa, a transfer from Northern Colorado, contributed in Arizona's first three games before really breaking out in Week 4 with an interception and quarterback hit against Washington State.
That led to him drawing the start at West Virginia, and he responded with a whopping 15 combined tackles - more than doubling his season total - with ten of the solo variety and one tackle for a loss.
West Virginia ran the ball a nearly unfathomable 76 times on Saturday, and Chapa spent the entire game stepping up and making plays, helping to limit the Mountaineers to a pedestrian 4.0 yards per carry.
He was also great in pass coverage, contibuting to WVU's Michael Hawkins struggling with 11 completions on 28 attempts without a touchdown.
Chapa is one of Arizona's biggest success stories of the year, and he'll continue to be a huge part of Dany Gonzales' defense this season.
Problematic defense on 3rd/4th down
Arizona did a lot of things well defensively on Saturday - slowing down West Virginia's vaunted running attack and getting key stops in the red zone - but where they really struggled was on later downs.
The Mountaineers finished the game 9-19 on third down and 2-7 on fourth, keeping drives alive and bending the Wildcats defense throughout the game. Ultimately West Virginia outgained Arizona - 522 to 482 - and the lack of stops on third down will really eat at Gonzales over the next two weeks before the Wildcats play next.
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Andy Patton is a college basketball writer with deep ties to both Gonzaga and Arizona. A Gonzaga alumnus who graduated in 2013, he has hosted the Locked On Zags podcast covering Gonzaga basketball since 2021 and has co-hosted the Locked On College Basketball podcast since 2022. His years covering the Bulldogs have also given him extensive familiarity with Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, who spent more than two decades on Mark Few’s staff at Gonzaga before taking over the Wildcats in 2021. Andy has worked in sports media since 2017, with experience covering nearly every major sport. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for USA TODAY from 2017–21, where he also spent time covering the USC Trojans and Oregon Ducks, and previously served as lead writer for College Sports Wire. He has also covered the NBA, NHL and MLB for various TEGNA outlets, including KREM in Spokane, 12News in Phoenix and KING 5 in Seattle. Andy now lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife, daughter and dog.
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