No. 20 Arizona rallies from halftime deficit, leans on running game to beat Northern Arizona

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Quali Conley ran for 112 yards, Noah Fifita threw for 173 yards and a touchdown and No. 20 Arizona overcame a four-point halftime deficit to beat Northern Arizona 22-10 on Saturday night for its ninth consecutive win, tying the school record for consecutive victories.

The Wildcats (2-0) extended the longest active win streak in FBS by outscoring the Lumberjacks 16-0 in the second half after trailing 10-6 at the break. The nine straight wins matches the school record set in 1974-75 and matched in 1997-98.

Conley, a transfer from San Jose State, led the way as Arizona gained 188 yards on the ground. Receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who had a school-record 304 yards and four TDs in the 61-39 season-opening win over New Mexico, was limited to two catches for 11 yards.

Northern Arizona (1-1) finished with only 198 yards of total offense, 91 after halftime. Quarterback Ty Pennington threw for 84 yards on 14 of 24 passing and added 39 on the ground.

Arizona forced a turnover on downs in Northern Arizona territory to open the second half and converted that into points as Jeremiah Patterson scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Fifita for a 13-10 lead with 12:06 left in the third.

The Wildcats’ Chubba Ma’ae tackled running back Darvon Hubbard in the end zone for a safety with 11:33 left in the fourth, upping the lead to 15-10. And after getting the ball back, Arizona made it 22-10 on a 56-yard scoring run by Kedrick Reescano with 9:32 remaining.

Arizona only led 3-0 after the first quarter after settling for a red zone field goal on its first drive and punting the next two. Northern Arizona took a 7-3 lead with 10:24 left in the half on a trick play, with receiver Isaiah Eastman throwing a 25-yard TD pass to tight end Xander Werner.

A Fifita interception led to more points for the Lumberjacks, with Marcus Lye converting on a 38-yard field goal to make it 10-3 with 6:20 left in the first half.

The Wildcats cut Northern Arizona’s lead to 10-6 with 32 seconds left in the first half on a 48-yard field goal from Tyler Loop.

The takeaway

Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks, who shocked Arizona in Tucson in 2021, dropped to 10-55 all-time against FBS schools. They have never beaten a ranked FBS opponent.

Arizona: A week after scoring on 10 drives and putting up the eighth-most yards in school history, the Wildcats had fewer yards in the first half (147) than on their first two drives in the Week 1 win over New Mexico.

Up next

Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks continue a three-game road trip with a visit to Utah Tech on Saturday.

Arizona: The Wildcats hit the road for the first time, taking on Big 12 conference foe Kansas State on Friday in a nonconference game scheduled before they left the Pac-12.