- Slug: Sports-Arizona Football McMillan, 620 words.
- Photo available (thumbnail, caption below).
By Saleh Awwad
Cronkite News
TUCSON – For a half Saturday, it appeared Arizona wasn’t quite ready for the Big 12 Conference as the Wildcats struggled against New Mexico in the debut of coach Brent Brennan.
Before the night was over, however, the Wildcats demonstrated that the offensive firepower of sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita and junior wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan will be all that the team’s new conference can handle as the Wildcats gave Brennan his first victory at the helm.
With a handful of NFL scouts in attendance, McMillan – affectionately known to his teammates and UA football fans as “T-Mac” – hauled in 10 passes for a school-record 304 yards, scoring four touchdowns as the Wildcats trounced the Lobos, 61-39.
The performance earned McMillan Big-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors in the school’s first game as a part of the conference. He also was named Associated Press national player of the week.
There was reason to believe that Arizona might enter the Big 12 without its two star players after coach Jedd Fisch’s exit to Washington after last season.
Instead, Fifita and McMillan decided to stay after Brennan came over from San Jose State, and the Wildcats were ranked fifth in the Big 12 preseason media poll. Utah, another former Pac-12 team, was ranked first in the poll.
UA’s students and fans came out in numbers with 44,748 in attendance to celebrate the move to the Big 12.
“I thought our fans were great, the ZonaZoo was rocking. They stayed for almost the whole game,” Brennan said. “We need the city of Tucson to rally for this team so that we can counter the home-field advantages that we’re gonna play when we get into the Big 12.”
After a back-and-forth first half, Arizona put together an overwhelming second-half showing, outscoring New Mexico 34-15 over the final 30 minutes.
Despite the rocky start, Arizona picked it up and played winning football when it mattered most.
“I thought in the second half we made some good adjustments, the guys rallied, came together and played for each other, and the result was good,” Brennan said.
While the Wildcats did step it up defensively, it was the combination of Fifita and McMillan that ultimately overwhelmed the Lobos.
Then the Wildcats put the game away down the stretch with their run game.
After rushing for just 28 yards on 3.1 yards-per-carry in the first half, Arizona ran for 177 yards, averaging 10.4 yards per carry in the second half.
Coincidentally, it was New Mexico transfer Jacory Croskey-Merritt who led the Wildcats on the ground with 106 yards and a touchdown. Another transfer, running back Quali Conley, who followed Brennan from San Jose State, added 90 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries.
Conley credited much of the team’s rushing success to the guys up front on the offensive line. He also had praise for Croskey-Merritt.
“The o-line, without them we wouldn’t be here,” Conley said. “Me and Jacory are just like brothers. Every time he eats, I’m happy. Every time I eat, he’s happy. So it’s just all love going around.”
Arizona currently has three projected NFL 2025 first-round draft picks on the roster including McMillan, junior offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea, and junior defensive back Tacario Davis.
Davis was ejected from Saturday’s contest after two personal foul penalties and the Wildcats struggled with penalties, surrendering 100 yards to the Lobos on yellow flags.
“The other thing I learned is that we need to eliminate the selfish penalties,” Brennan said. “That extended at least two (New Mexico) drives, maybe three, so we got some learning to do.”
The No. 20 ranked Wildcats are set to host the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (1-0) on Saturday Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Then the Wildcats enter Big 12 play for the first time at No. 17 Kansas State (1-0), followed by a more familiar road trip to No. 11 Utah (1-0).
For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
