Arizona’s 1st Big 12 home game is here

With Arizona competing in the Big 12, new fanbases are in line to experience a college football game under the lights of Arizona Stadium this fall and in the years to come. While followers of Pacific Northwest and California schools will no longer trek to Tucson as conference opponents, newcomers include traditional football hotbed areas like Texas and the Midwest.

On the field, Arizona’s matchup with Texas Tech on Saturday will be a bit of a different experience, too — at least in terms of what the Wildcats have seen first-hand the last two games. Rather than a bruising, physical opponent specializing in defensive playmaking and running the football like Kansas State and Utah, the Red Raiders are “outstanding on offense,” according to UA head coach Brent Brennan, and run a tempo, no-huddle offense.

Texas Tech ranks eighth in college football with an average 77.3 plays per game this season; Kansas State is 87th and Utah is 32nd. Arizona is 126th in college football with 60 plays per game. 

“These guys are going to be on the ball snap, and that’s something that’s going to be really hard to prepare for,” Brennan said. 

Brennan said, “Utah and Kansas State were extremely different with so much quarterback run and just the general physicality Utah plays with.” 

Although Texas Tech is giving up a Big 12-worst 34.4 points per game, the Red Raiders are averaging nearly 42 points per contest behind their “talented and physical running back” Tahj Brooks, who Brennan called “a total stud.” 

“They do a great job of utilizing him and giving him options to make plays for them,” Brennan said of Brooks, who leads the conference in rushing with 551 yards. 

The Red Raiders are quarterbacked by the “incredibly efficient” junior Behren Morton, who has a 14:2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Morton’s top target, wide receiver Josh Kelly, is Top 5 in the Big 12 with 487 receiving yards and three touchdowns. 

To counter Texas Tech’s finesse spread attack, the Wildcats could conceivably use its “dollar” package with seven defensive backs; that package was used for the first time this season against Kansas State. Even though nickel back Treydan Stukes is unlikely playing due to a leg injury he suffered at Utah, the Wildcats have a formidable secondary with Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week in Tacario Davis, free safety Gunner Maldonado, strong safety Dalton Johnson, cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew, do-everything defensive back Genesis Smith, safety Owen Goss and cornerback Emmanuel Karnley, who had two pass breakups in his first-ever start at Utah, among others. 

Arizona has the talent and players to win a track-meet, high-scoring game against Texas Tech, but dominating time of possession and keeping TTU’s playmakers on the sidelines as much as possible “always factors in when you’re playing against a tempo team,” Brennan said.

“Sometimes it plays out that way and then sometimes it doesn’t even matter,” Brennan said. “It really just depends on how efficient you are moving the football when you get a chance to, and are you able to score points? Like any good football team that you play, you have to play good in all three phases if you want a chance to win.”

Kicking field goals? Approach shots on a Par 4? Same thing, according to Arizona senior kicker Tyler Loop. Loop “developing like a golfer” and improving his club-head speed — err, leg speed has led to his rise as one of the top kickers in UA history. 

“Same thing. You want to develop leg speed,” said Loop, a Dallas-area native.

“Being as efficient as possible with my form, while stacking up leg speed, has been the difference for me,” he added. “I always compare kicking to golf.” 

Since signing with Arizona in 2020, Loop has been learning from NFL kicker and ex-UA teammate Lucas Havrisik, who Loop called a “phenomenal ball-striker.” Even when Havrisik is a free agent and training in Tucson, the ex-Wildcat coaches Loop. Havrisik holds the record for the longest field goal (57 yards) in program history, because he mastered “transferring his weight through the ball,” Loop said. 

Low scores happen when a golfer plays to their strengths and doesn’t get overzealous. The result of the kicking operation can change on a day-to-day basis, but learning what works can take place during pregame warmups. 

“One of things I’ve really learned over the last year, is kicking is not about being a perfect kicker, but it’s about being a great adjuster,” Loop said. “You can go out in pregame and how you’re hitting, just have to accept, ‘Today, I have a little bit more of a draw on my ball.'” 

Against Utah, Loop tied his career-high with three field goals, including a 33-, 47- and a 53-yarder. Loop’s two extra points against Utah extended his perfect PAT rate at 115 for 115 over his five-year career. He was named the Lou Groza Star of the Week following his performance at Utah. 

All 24 of Loop’s kickoff attempts this season are touchbacks. Loop’s 84.8% career field-goal rate is the second-best among active college kickers with at least 50 attempts. Late in the fourth quarter against Utah, Loop pulled out a driver (a potential career-long field goal) and attempted a 56-yarder but barely missed. 

“Having coaches that trust you, that’s a special thing. … It’s freeing that you’re able to operate knowing that you spent all of this time working and perfecting my craft,” Loop said. “Just seeing that pay off and the trust and relationship with coaches and players, it’s a fun thing.” 

Arizona junior running back Rayshon “Speedy” Luke is redshirting this season after playing in four games and will preserve an extra year of eligibility.  

The 5-9, 172-pound former four-star recruit could return for the postseason (the NCAA ruled in August that any postseason or bowl games will not count toward a player’s eligibility one way or the other), but he’ll miss at least the final eight games of the regular season after recording 10 touches for 65 yards.

“I don’t know, you gotta talk to him,” Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. “We talked about it. This is a decision he and his family made, so we respect it, and he’s going to be a great teammate, great scout-team player and help us prepare every week. He’s a great kid and he’s doing great in school. We respect it.”

With Luke now out of the rotation, the Wildcats have three scholarship running backs available: senior Quali Conley, sophomore Kedrick Reescano and redshirt freshman Brandon Johnson, who has not played since signing with the UA last season. New Mexico transfer running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt’s eligibility was flagged by UA compliance and the NCAA, and the sixth-year senior hasn’t played since the season opener. 

Tucson native and freshman walk-on fullback Kayden Luke (no relation), nicknamed “Big Red,” played 20 offensive snaps in Arizona’s first four games of the season and had one carry for 4 yards in the Wildcats’ win at Utah.

With Rayshon Luke and Croskey-Merritt out of the rotation, “this gives a chance for Big Red to do some stuff or even Brandon Johnson,” Brennan said.

“I still feel really good about that room. Obviously we’ve been hit by some surprises this year, but it’s next man up,” said Brennan. “It’s an opportunity for someone else to get a chance to play and show us what they can do.”

Kayden Luke joined Arizona in the summer as a walk-on after leading the state in rushing with 2,307 yards and 29 touchdowns at Canyon del Oro High School. Luke, who was also state championship-winning wrestler at CDO, led the Dorados to an undefeated record and an Arizona Class 4A football state championship last season. 

“His high school tape is so fun to watch, because he’s so physical and he’s one of those guys who loves playing football,” Brennan said of Kayden Luke. “That’s one of the things you try to identify in today’s day in age in football is, ‘Does this player love football?’ Because a lot of young men love getting recruited, but they don’t really love football. You’re trying to identify that in the recruiting process. There’s no question that Big Red loves playing football.” 

Arizona star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan is just over 700 yards away from breaking the program’s all-time receiving yards record, but it’ll be an uphill climb for him if his second-half production continues. 

Here’s how McMillan has fared in each quarter of Arizona’s four games this season:

• First quarter: 12 catches for 194 yards and two touchdowns
• Second quarter: seven catches for 167 yards and a touchdown
• Third quarter: seven catches for 95 yards and a touchdown
• Fourth quarter: three catches for 47 yards.

McMillan has not caught a second-half touchdown since his record-setting performance in the season opener against New Mexico. He also has 14 catches for 322 yards whenever the Wildcats are between their own 20-39-yard line. McMillan was a red-zone threat last season with 14 catches for 96 yards and 12 touchdowns; this year, he has a catch for 17 years and a touchdown. 

“Maybe it’s people saying, ‘He’s just like everybody else. He puts his pants on one leg at a time just like everybody else,’ and they treat him normal,” Arizona offensive coordinator Dino Babers said. “Then they get in the game and go, ‘Oh my God, he’s not normal.’ Then, they come out and make adjustments.

“We’re going to make adjustments as well, but maybe it’s that,” he added. “You gotta see more numbers before you can predict exactly what’s going on.” 

Although McMillan didn’t have a full training camp and preseason after a leg injury, “he’s in great shape, but he also plays incredibly hard and blocks hard,” Brennan said.

“We have him running all over the field and moving him to different positions,” Brennan said. “We’re asking a lot from him also.

“T-Mac is such a great player, you want him on the field all the time. You also need to spell him, so you can have his best at the end of the game when it’s needed. I’ve fought that my whole life with great wide receivers.”

Against the worst passing defense in the Big 12 in Texas Tech, which surrenders an average of 309.4 yards per game, and four games under his belt, McMillan could be due for another stat-stuffing game. 

Considering their history and geographical locations, one non-Arizona State rival for the Wildcats in the Big 12 could be Texas Tech. Excluding ASU, Texas Tech is the closest Big 12 school to the UA — a nine-hour drive through the towns of Las Cruces, Alamogordo and Roswell in New Mexico before the shoulder of West Texas.

Arizona and Texas Tech were also members of the Border Conference together for two dozen years from 1932-56 until the Red Raiders withdrew from the conference before becoming a Southwest Conference member in 1960. Texas Tech won eight Border Conference titles; the Wildcats won three in 1935, ’36 and ’41. Texas Tech was known as the “Matadors” for the Spanish Renaissance architecture on the campus in Lubbock until 1936, after a sportswriter called them Red Raiders for their scarlet uniforms. 

Arizona is 5-26-1 all-time against Texas Tech — 1-16-1 in conference play, with the only victory in 1935. After a tie the following season, the Red Raiders won 15 straight against the Wildcats.

The Wildcats and Red Raiders most recently played in 2019, with Arizona winning 28-14. That was the first — and ultimately only — game of an originally planned home-and-home series; the game in 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arizona’s final touchdown of the night in that 2019 matchup capped a 99-yard drive — all garnered on rushing attempts. Then-UA star quarterback Khalil Tate totaled 314 offensive yards and two touchdowns while running back Gary Brightwell had 21 carries for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Current Oklahoma State quarterback Alan Bowman quarterbacked the Red Raiders as a second-year player (he’s now in his seventh college season). 

Due to the uncertainty of the pandemic in 2020, Arizona linebacker Colin Schooler, who also played in the UA-TTU game in ’19, entered the transfer portal and transferred to Texas Tech for his final two seasons of eligibility; he’s currently playing professionally in Italy. Former Arizona defensive coordinator Marcel Yates, who was fired by the UA later in the 2019 season, is now in his third season as a defensive backs coach at Texas Tech. 

Arizona is looking to beat Texas Tech in back-to-back games for the first time ever.