Play calling, penalties punish Arizona Wildcats in loss to No. 15 BYU

Costly decisions not to kick field goals came back to bite Arizona, as No. 15 BYU pulled away late in a 28-17 Cougars win in Provo.

Second-half penalties and passive play calling further killed the Wildcats in Saturday’s game, as Arizona struggled on both sides of the ball coming out of the break.

Five penalties for 40 yards cost the Wildcats in the second half and disrupted any chance of the Wildcats’ offense building momentum.

The play calling was even more questionable. In two instances, Arizona should have kicked a field goal but first opted to punt on 4th and 10 from the BYU 36 while down four in the closing seconds of the third quarter.

The punt was a waste as it went for a touchback, giving the Cougars the ball back at the 20.

“Our defense had just pinned them back there inside the five. There was a bunch of like weird substitution stuff going on … And we had done a great job, and we just had a good field position. I was disappointed that we didn’t do more with that possession because we did get the ball in plus territory. My thought was ‘let’s do that again.’ And now I’m playing the field position game. Right? Like how many possessions are left in this for us? And we just didn’t execute,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan told reporters after the game on his decision not to kick a field goal in that situation.

“Like we were one yard into the end zone on that kick. Right? I’m thinking because then we came out, and they started from the (20-yard line). But they went three and out again. Our defense stopped them again, so, I was hoping to create another short field for Noah (Fifita) and our offense.”

On the ensuing possession after forcing a BYU punt, Arizona called a three-yard out on 4th and 4 from the BYU 21 with 8:24 remaining. After a review, Rodney Gallagher III was ruled down short of the first down-marker, giving the Cougars the ball back with again nothing to show for the Wildcats.

“I felt like because we were chasing it a little bit there, and time was short in the game, I just have a lot of faith in Noah,” Brennan told reporters after the game on his decision not to kick a field goal in that situation. “And he delivered a strike. But like I said, BYU made a great play, a great tackle in space, and stopped us short of the sticks.”

BYU then burned Arizona’s secondary on the following possession to create the afternoon’s first bit of separation.

BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier threw a 61-yard pass to BYU freshman receiver Legend Glasker, and two plays later, Bachmeier tossed a 12-yard touchdown to wide receiver Kyler Kasper, a Chandler native. The score put BYU ahead 28-17.

A BIG 61-yard pass puts @BYUfootball knocking on the door! 👀 pic.twitter.com/kyaztZiI2V

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 12, 2026

Bear Bachmeier finds Kyler Kasper in the end zone for a @BYUfootball TD! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/T4wYbYn7Y2

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 12, 2026

After having to replace five NFL defensive backs from last year’s squad, Arizona’s secondary again struggled Saturday. It was namely Quinn Olson who got beat badly repeatedly.

Olson, the free safety who was a walk-on but was granted a scholarship last week, showed his lack of experience after struggling in the first half of last week’s win. He had a bad missed tackle early in the third to set up a BYU score and earlier thought a slant was a bubble screen. The lead caught a slant and took it to the endzone.

Frischknecht ZOOMS into the end zone to put @BYUfootball back in front! pic.twitter.com/oDd4cQeIJE

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 12, 2026

The Wildcats did a decent job of stacking the box and limiting the BYU run in the first half, holding reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin to just 25 yards on four carries, while Bachmeier was kept to five yards on three rushing attempts.

BYU fed Martin and Bachmeier immediately in the second half to retake the lead. Martin had more carries (five) on the opening drive of the second half than the entirety of the first half.

Martin had a total of 16 carries in the second half and finished with 98 yards.

Bachmeier ended his afternoon with 37 rushing yards on six carries. He was 16 of 26 through the air for 217 yards and three touchdowns.

Arizona’s offense stalled for much of the second half and was kept off the scoreboard. Fifita was forced to spread the ball around after leading receiver Gio Richardson exited in the second quarter due to an injury after he was tackled out of bounds by BYU linebacker Cade Uluave.

Fifita finished 23 of 31 for 230 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Fifita also had 38 rushing yards, only Kedrick Reescano (15 carries for 49 yards) had more among Arizona players Saturday, as Arizona failed the establish the run game.

Arizona running back Ismail Mahdi did not play after being ruled eligible to play earlier this week, but linebacker Max Harris did.

Once Richardson was ruled out of the rest of the game, the rest of Arizona’s receivers struggled to get open in Richardson’s absence.

Arizona controlled much of the first half and if not for a few costly mistakes, could have been up a couple of scores at the break.

The Wildcats had 21:29 of possession to BYU’s 8:31 in the first half, and the Cougars’ defense could not get off the field.

Jay’Vion Cole had a chance at a pick-six but dropped the ball, Matthew Lado had a costly hold that would have put Arizona nearly at midfield and moments later Fifita threw an interception to Uluave.

Arizona started the game with an excellent first drive that was 12 plays, and 75 yards but BYU’s offense did well to adjust the rest of the game.

QB1 with a little okey doke 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/Kc2ocpmspR

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 12, 2026

In addition to outscoring Arizona 14-0 in the second half, and going to the ground game, the Cougars upped the pressure on Fifita.

Following Arizona failed fourth-down conversion, BYU sacked Fifita twice to seal Saturday’s game.

Fifita was 16 of 20 for 141 yards in the first half but just 7 of 11 for 89 yards in the second half.

Up next for Arizona Wildcats

Arizona now has a nonconference game vs. Northern Illinois at Casino Del Sol Stadium on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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