Arizona didn’t just talk about stopping Cincinnati’s run game Saturday night. It actually did it.
The Wildcats held the Bearcats to 74 rushing yards in a 34-7 win, shutting down an attack that had been rolling into Tucson at 270 yards per game and had topped 100 yards on the ground in six straight games dating back to last season.
“They wanted to run the ball,” UA coach Brent Brennan said afterwards. “We knew that, and we said no. We’re not going to do that tonight.”
That performance is part of a bigger shift for Arizona. A year after finishing in the middle of the pack against the run, both nationally and in the Big 12, the Wildcats are now near the top. Through five games, they’re allowing 79 rushing yards per game, a pace that would rank eighth-best in school history.
Saturday’s result also wasn’t a one-off. Cincinnati was the second top-30 rushing offense Arizona has faced this season, and the Wildcats had already taken a major bite out of No.
16 BYU, holding the Cougars to almost 90 yards below their 235.5-yard average. There are three more top-30 rushing offenses left on the schedule, beginning with West Virginia this week.
That matchup brings a huge challenge. The Mountaineers, coached by former Arizona boss Rich Rodriguez, rank third in FBS at 294 rushing yards per game. That number even clears the ground production Rodriguez’s Arizona teams posted from 2012 through 2017, when the Wildcats averaged 239.7 rushing yards per game and reached 307.3 per game in 2017, a school record.
West Virginia is running the ball 53.8 times per game and has found the end zone on the ground 17 times. Arizona has given up four rushing touchdowns, and two of those came in garbage time against Northern Illinois and Cincinnati.
The numbers look a lot different from last season, when Arizona’s run defense had some rough stretches. The Wildcats did hold No. 27 ASU to 100 yards in the only top-30 run defense they saw a year ago, but mobile quarterbacks and physical rushing teams still had their way at times.
BYU piled up 258 rushing yards in a double-overtime win in Tucson, then Houston followed with 232 the next week. Kansas went for 170, Cincinnati had 190 and Baylor added 181 in a five-game run where all of those opponents cleared 150 yards.
That came against a defense that was far stronger against the pass. All five starting defensive backs eventually got drafted or landed on NFL rosters.
This year’s secondary is still finding its footing, but Arizona’s front seven has been sharp from the start. The biggest reason for the run-game turnaround is simple: depth.
Against Cincinnati, the Wildcats rotated 17 defensive linemen or linebackers, and 13 of them played at least 10 snaps. No defensive lineman was on the field for more than 32 of the 58 snaps, continuing a rotation defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales has been using since 2025.
So far this season, only seven Arizona defensive players have played more than half of the snaps. That keeps the front fresh late in games, while offensive linemen stay on the field far more often and become easier to wear down as the game goes on.
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Arizonas Defensive Front Faces A Much Bigger Test This Week
Arizonas defensive front earned some deserved recognition after helping set the tone in last weeks win over Cincinnati, when the Bearcats were held to 74 rushing yards. The performance drew praise for a unit that has clearly made stopping the run a priority, something head coach Brent Brennan has stressed and linebacker Chase Kennedy pointed to as a key part of securing the victory.
The challenge now gets a lot steeper. West Virginia arrives with one of the nations most productive ground games, and Arizonas front is about to find out whether last weeks breakthrough can carry over against a much bigger test. If the Wildcats can again control the line of scrimmage, it would go a long way toward proving that their recent defensive surge is more than a one-game snapshot. [Read more 🡒]
Arizonas Late-Season Surge Could Set Up A Bowl Shot At Revenge
Arizonas 34-7 win over previously undefeated Cincinnati turned heads in a hurry, mostly because it was built on the kind of formula that travels well in November. The Wildcats leaned on a strong running game and a run defense that held the Bearcats to a season-low 74 rushing yards, a sign that this late-season surge is being powered by more than just one hot afternoon.
Next up is a conference date with West Virginia on TNT, and Arizona still has plenty to sort out before any postseason picture comes into focus. Even so, the Wildcats are tracking toward a bowl appearance that would add another layer of intrigue to the finish, especially with a matchup that would bring back a familiar opponent from last winter. [Read more 🡒]