Arizona took on the SMU Mustangs of the ACC in the Holiday Bowl on Friday night on FOX. The Wildcats were coming off a 9-3 campaign under head coach Brent Brennan, and ranked No. 17 in the country, while SMU entered the season with an 8-4 record. Last year, it was a Syracuse beating Washington State 52-35 in this bowl game.
Arizona and SMU had only met twice in program history, splitting their games, and the most recent match up being Arizona winning 28-6 in 1985. On Friday night in San Diego, it was Arizona coming up short with a 24-19 loss to SMU. Here are the top three takeaways from the game.
Arizona Hit Late By Opt-Outs
Hours before the Holiday Bowl kicked off, reports started to surface that Arizona defensive backs Treydan Stukes and Dalton Johnson, along with junior safety Genesis Smith, would be opting out of the game against SMU. The three elected to sit out of the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft. They are each projected Day 3 (rounds 4-7) of the NFL Draft, but they had combined for 6,700 snaps at Arizona. It was a brutal loss before the game to lose their top three defensive players for a defense that was one of the best against the pass in the country. Entering the game, Arizona ranked 4th nationally in pass defense, allowing 155.9 yards per game, leading the nation in opposing quarterback rating at 95.16. The Wildcats had intercepted 19 passes, leading to an FBS-best plus-16 turnover margin.
And SMU took advantage, as Kevin Jennings threw for 248 yards in the first half, helping lead SMU to a 24-0 halftime lead. On the ground, T.J. Harden had two rushing touchdowns in the first half as well.
While Arizona’s defense did step up in the second half, picking off Jennings three times and holding him to only 30 passing yards and zero points allowed, it was just too big of a hole for the Wildcats to dig out of.
Noah Fifita On the Run
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita found himself on the run most of the first half, as Arizona’s offensive line really struggled with the SMU pass rush, especially handling defensive ends Isaiah Smith and Cameron Robertson. Fifita was on the move and never got comfortable. And with Arizona playing from behind, they had to get some semblance of a passing game going, and never did in the opening 30 minutes. In the first half, Fifita was just 7/13 for 43 yards.
Now, the second half was a much better for Fifita, he put together some solid, lengthy touchdown drives, but once again, it was too late and too much of an uphill climb for the Wildcats. He finished a very respectable 28/43 for 265 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
Arizona scored its final touchdown in the final minute and actually had an on-side kick to try and get the ball back, but an SMU recovery resulted in the Mustangs holding on for the win.
SMU Gets Its Big 12 Win
SMU came into the game as the more motivated and focused team, which was obvious from the start. And after losing two games in the non-conference to Big 12 teams, they got their win in a third attempt against a Big 12 opponent. SMU lost to Baylor 48-45 early in the season, along with a 34-25 defeat vs. TCU a couple of weeks later. But the Mustangs were firing on all cylinders in the opening 30 minutes, which turned out to be enough.
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