It didn’t take long for Noah Fifita and the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday to put a gut-wrenching double-overtime loss to BYU last week behind them.
Though Fifita was caught holding the ball too long in the pocket for a sack on the first play at Houston, he quickly rebounded for a nine-yard run and hit receiver Tre Spivey in stride for a 70-yard touchdown. The catch and run was the longest of Spivey’s career and his fifth receiving score of the season.
Following a drive of similar length and the same result by Houston — four plays and 75 yards capped by a 52-yard touchdown to receiver Amare Thomas — Arizona (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) marched down the field for another touchdown, this time on 11 plays and covering 73 yards.
Nine of the 11 plays went for at least five yards and New Mexico transfer wideout Luke Wysong finished off the drive from 13 yards out with a nifty jab step on Houston defensive back Kentrell Webb.
Two possessions, two scores and Fifita was a perfect 7-for-7 and 116 yards not even nine minutes into the first quarter.
Just last week in Tucson against the then-No. 18 BYU Cougars, the Wildcats on their opening two possessions only managed 26 yards on eight plays for two punts.
Wysong, wynot⁉️@LukeWysong finds the end zone to put Arizona back on top. pic.twitter.com/aJ0SndnXTC
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) October 18, 2025
By the time curtains called at halftime, nine different receivers had caught a pass from Arizona’s 5-foot-10 junior signal caller, who was 13-for-14 for 171 yards (12.2 yards per completion).
On his first four carries of the game, running back Ismail Mahdi gained 33 yards. Mahdi entering Saturday had been averaging 5.7 yards per carry.
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The offensive surge was needed to just stay in the game, as Houston (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) used a 33-yard gain on fourth-and-3 at the Arizona 43-yard line to tie things up at 14-14. Quarterback Conner Weigman’s 10-yard rushing touchdown also completed the team’s longest scoring drive of the season (96 yards).
The Wildcats seemed to be piecing together another scoring drive in response, but failed to pick up a fourth-and-1 on the Houston 31-yard line and Houston rolled the other way.
Weigman rumbled for 28 yards on a QB-designed run to immediately put the Cougars in striking distance, as they cashed in their third touchdown eight plays later for their first lead of the game.
For how effective the offense operated in the first half, Arizona’s defense surrendered 121 rushing yards and 6.7 yards per carry.
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