Arizona fell behind SMU 24-0 and halftime and was unable to complete a comeback in a 24-19 Holiday Bowl loss on Saturday. The Wildcats fell one win short of a record-tying 10th in program history. Arizona finished the season with a 9-4 record.
Arizona was playing without star defensive backs Dalton Johnson, Genesis Smith and Treydan Stukes, who all chose to opt out of the Holiday Bowl. SMU, led by quarterback Kevin Jennings, had 187 yards passing in the first quarter as the Mustangs built a 14-0 lead.
SMU opened the second quarter with a touchdown drive to extend the lead to 21-0. A field goal with 29 seconds left in the first half extended the SMU lead to 24-0. SMU outgained Arizona 328-132 in the first half.
Arizona dominated the second half, but SMU got stops when they needed them and had an interception. Three Arizona interceptions of Jennings gave the Wildcats an opportunity for several scores.
Fifita threw a 28-yard TD pass to Javin Whatley in the third quarter to cut the Arizona deficit to 24-6. Down 24-0, Arizona went for two to make it a three-possession game. Fifita later threw TDs to Cameron Barmore and Tre Spivey.
The Fifita touchdown pass to Barmore came with 33 seconds remaining in the game. SMU recovered the onside kick. Arizona was out of timeouts and SMU ran out the clock. Fifita completed 28 passes in 43 attempts for 265 yards with three touchdowns and one interception and had 73 rushing yards.
Jennings completed 21 passes in 32 attempts for 278 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. T.J. Harden had 10 carries for 40 yards and two TDs and Yamir Knight had seven receptions for 104 yards for SMU.
Arizona outgained SMU 309-64 in the second half. The Wildcats converted twice in five attempts on fourth down and a pair of times in three red zone trips. Arizona was in too big a hole to rally from. Two missed two-point conversion attempts and the decision to go for it on fourth down when they could have kicked a field goal also doomed Arizona.
Arizona made great adjustments in the second half, but the 24-point deficit was too big to overcome. SMU took the 14-0 lead in the first quarter with six completions of 18 or more yards. The Mustangs only had one completion of more than 15 yards for the rest of the game.