The venue is constantly changing, but Arizona’s inconsistent, inefficient offense has remained the same.

The Wildcats once again failed to complete their drives after penetrating deep into opponent territory, reaching the end zone on their first drive and not again until a 41-19 loss at No. 14 BYU on Saturday afternoon was too late.

Arizona (3-3, 1-2 Big 12) got inside the Cougars’ 30-yard line on six of its first nine drives, but like last week’s 28-22 home loss to Texas Tech, the offense collapsed. The Wildcats gained 51 yards on 19 snaps inside the 30, compared to 338 on 65 plays outside the 30.

The UA was 11 of 19 on third down, a big improvement from its 3 of 14 performance a week ago, but the misses on third down included another interception Noah Fifita on a throw into the end zone. That came in a 7-7 game at second quarterback.

Fifita turned the ball over four times, including twice on Arizona’s first three snaps of the second half, turning a 14-7 halftime deficit into a 24-7 lead. The redshirt sophomore was 26 of 52 for 275 yards with a touchdown, but also a career-best three interceptions and a fumble, and has thrown nine picks against eight touchdown passes this season.

BYU (6-0, 3-0) was held to under 400 yards by an Arizona defense that was already without senior defensive backs Shooter Maldonado And Treydan Stukes but then lost the junior linebacker Jacob Manu to a targeted ejection after four plays. The Wildcats held the Cougars to 4 of 11 on third down and got another early stop on fourth down, but were vulnerable to big plays, with BYU racking up 224 yards on 12 chunk plays.

The deficit was seven at halftime, and Arizona’s first two drives of the third quarter lasted a total of three plays, with two of them resulting in turnovers. Fifita was intercepted on the first snap after his throw Sam Olson was picked off at home and then lost a fumble on third down.

BYU needed one play to make it 21-7 after the BYU QB interception Jake Retzlaff hit Chase Roberts on a 9-yard TD pass, but after the fumble recovery, the Cougars settled for a field goal and a 24-7 lead.

The Wildcats gained five yards on their first three drives after halftime before adding 22 yards on their fourth drive, but that was enough to cut the deficit to 24-10 on a 47-yard field goal Tyler Loop with 6:30 left in the third. Arizona got to the BYU 30 again before faltering, with Fifita falling while trying to go for a 3^approx and 8.

The Cougars added another field goal to make it 27-10 with 1:47 left in the third, and Arizona tied the score at 2 again with a 21-yard loop field goal with 9:02 left, but that came at the end of an 18-game drive that lasted more than seven minutes. The Wildcats had 1^st and score at the BYU 8, but threw three times in a row and only managed five yards.

BYU then ended the game with a 1-yard TD run LJ Martin 5:38 left.

Arizona finally returned to the end zone on a 2-yard run with 2:58 left Quali Conleyhis 6th^Th achieved the best result of the season, then scored two goals and did not convert to make it 34:19. It got the ball back with 2:49 left after recovering a BYU fumble, but turned it over on downs.

The icing on the cake was a pick-six from BYU Isaiah Glasker With 1:02 left after Fifita ran for his life on a 4 in his own end zone^Th and 10 and vomited a dead duck.

The Manu shutout came on the fourth play of the game and helped BYU quickly get into the UA red zone. But then the Wildcat defense stepped up with reinforcements Kamuela Ka’aihue—who came for Manu – and Dominic Lolesio Each tackle earned a loss before Retzlaff made an incomplete throw from the end zone at 4^Th and 4 from the 5th

It was Arizona’s seventh fourth-down stop of the season, Utah State’s fifth.

UA then marched all the way downfield on its opening drive, gaining 100 yards en route to a 7-0 lead. The extra five yards was the result of a penalty on 3rd^approx and 4, which negated a play that wouldn’t have resulted in a first down, and instead Fifita found McMillan for a 39-yard catch.

Three games later, Fifita joined Montana Lemonious Craig for a 14-yard TD pass, also on third down.

BYU made it 7-0 early in the second quarter on a 20-yard TD pass from Retzlaff Parker Kingstonthe score came one play after the Cougars converted a 4^Th and 3 from UA 35.

Arizona was just outside the red zone on its second drive, but Fifita was intercepted by BYU Tanner wall at the 1-yard line. It was the eighth straight game with a pick for Fifita.

The Cougars capitalized on that UA mistake and took a 14-7 lead on a 33-yard TD pass from Kingston with 6:30 left before halftime Martin playing a trick game. Kingston took a return pass from Retzlaff and then hit Martin, who had run a wheel route.

Arizona’s third drive again reached the BYU 30 but failed again, this time falling short by 4^Th and 2 when Quali Conleys The 2-yard gain – confirmed by the chains – was then wiped out on the replay.

The UA returns home for its next two games, hosting Colorado on Oct. 19 for Homecoming and West Virginia on Oct. 26 for Family Weekend. The Wildcats’ next game is already sold out and will be another day game at the earliest in the year They have been playing at home during the day since 2016.