Arizona Football Talk: Defensive Outlook

Welcome! To another edition of the Arizona Wildcats Insiders Podcast featuring your host Troy Hutchison, who will be delivering a daily podcast discussing everything happening surrounding Arizona athletics, giving you an inside look at all the programs on campus.

Hutchison has been covering Arizona for the last seven years with his coverage spanning all-across UA’s campus from football and men’s basketball to Title IX sports. Plus, with so many former Wildcats playing at the next level in their prospective sports there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats excelling outside of Tucson.

Arizona (1-0) opened its 2025 season off on 34-point thumping of Hawaii where the WIldcats saw the offense put up 40 points while rushing for 183 yards between three running backs. In all, UA racked up 344 yards and were able to score 33 points in the red zone as a unit.

On the defensive side of the ball, Arizona slowed down the Hawaii rushing attack and held the Rainbow Warriors to 67 rushing yards and 290 total yards. The defensive effort led the Wildcats Wildcats not giving up a touchdown and holding UH to six points in the game.

Aug 30, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats defensive lineman Tre Smith (3) tackles Hawaii Rainbow Warriors quarterback Micah Alejado (12) during the third quarter of the game at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

It was the first time the Wildcats hadn’t given up a single touchdown to an FBS opponent since Arizona’s 27-3 win over Houston last season, which ended up being the team’s final victory of the season.

"It drives me crazy that we gave up 67 yards rushing," defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales told the media during his weekly press conference.

The 67 yards rushing is the lowest amount of rushing yards the Wildcats’ defense has allowed since the 2023 season when Arizona held Washington State to 35 yards in an impressive 44-6 road win.

Although it was a good game on paper for the defensive unit, if you look closely at the statistics, Arizona allowed Hawaii to go 3 of 8 on third down attempts in the first half and allowed 179 total yards.

"I hate the term 'bend but don't break,' and I think three of the 12 series, we were that, which drives me absolutely freaking bonkers,” said Gonzales.

Overall, Hawaii ran 76 plays to the Wildcats' 56 plays on offense. If you look at the way the defense played and took a deep dive into the performance, there were a handful of plays where the Warriors could’ve come away with more points if they executed a few plays better.

"The amount of mistakes we made, we won't beat good teams doing that,” said Gonzales.

Aug 30, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats defensive lineman Dominic Lolesio (42) celebrates after a tackle during the third quarter of the game against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

The performance by the defense was the lowest amount of points Arizona has given up to an FBS opponent in a season-opening game since the 2010 season, when Mike Stoops’ team beat Toledo 41-2 on the road.

However, when you look at the offenses in the Big 12, you have high-powered teams like TCU, ASU, Texas Tech, Kansas and others that will be able to score on a defensive effort that the team put together on Saturday against Hawaii.

So, like the offense. Arizona put together a solid defensive effort, but the unit still has a lot of room to grow if it wants to get back to bowl eligibility.

Please share with us our thoughts on the defensive effort the Wildcats put together against Hawaii in the team’s 34-point victory. To do so, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.