Three Takeaways: November 17
11/17/2025 4:06:00 PM | Football
Saturday’s game matches two of the best QBs in the league
Director of Sports Journalism Jerry Hill gives his three takeaways from Monday's weekly press conference with head coach Dave Aranda discussing Saturday's 55-28 loss to 13th-ranked Utah and this week's matchup between the Bears (5-5, 3-4) and the Arizona Wildcats (7-3, 4-3). Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. Saturday at Arizona Stadium in Tucson and will be broadcast by TNT:
- MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH: When Utah went with a zero blitz, bringing everybody on the pass rush, the Bears "could never quite get a throw and a catch to exploit that," Aranda said. "We're a drop away, a miss away, a play away, from an eight-yard slant going 80 yards for a touchdown. If we could have gotten that early in the game, I think it's a different game. It's just so frustrating. . . . Those are plays that we've got to make, versus how they're playing us. We were able to connect with Kole (Wilson) on one or two, but there were a whole lot more out there, just fade balls from the slot position. Just make this play. Let's make this, let's execute this. I think to get it back to that level would be good for everybody."
- QUARTERBACK BATTLE: Saturday's game pits two of the best – if not the best two – quarterbacks in the Big 12. Baylor's Sawyer Robertson has thrown for a national-leading 3,210 yards and 29 touchdowns, while the Wildcats' Noah Fifita just broke Arizona's career passing touchdown record and has a 6-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio this year with 2,494 yards, 24 touchdowns and only four picks. "The quarterback does a great job throwing the ball down the field," Aranda said of the 5-foot-10 Fifita. "They've got guys that go up and get it. It's more of a vertical passing game. This is probably the first time, maybe since Arizona State, that a team is going to drop-back pass just on the first or second down. Most teams' quarterbacks are going to run or they're going to do some kind of RPO action. They're going to just sit back there and throw it."
- KEEP IT IN CHECK: In the aftermath of the fourth-quarter scuffle that resulted in Baylor receiver Ashtyn Hawkins and Utah cornerback Elijah Davis both being ejected for fighting, Hawkins will miss the first half against Arizona. The sixth-year senior was having a monster game for the Bears, hauling in seven passes for 119 yards and averaging 17.0 yards per catch. "I thought Ashtyn was really playing yard," Aranda said. "There were catches that he made where he's playing really full speed. But what really showed was there are catches the other guys made, and he was racing to get blocks, and he was sacrificing himself to get blocks. I just think in the moment, he has to control his emotions. You have to be all the way in and then all the way out at the same time. And we're still working with him on that. You just represent so much more. There is so much more at stake than just what you feel at that particular time."
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