Arizona had an interesting performance in Saturday's win over Northern Arizona. The Wildcats struggled to find momentum and rhythm on offense while the defense came through to help secure the 22-10 victory over the Lumberjacks. So, it is not surprising then that PFF assessed the game and delivered more positive grades on the defensive side of the ball. Here's a rundown of the top grades handed down from PFF plus an overview of the snap counts. Plus, I have some takeaways from what the numbers mean as we assess the Wildcats through the first two weeks of the season.

OFFENSE

Top 5 overall grades

1. WR Devin Hyatt - 90.2 (5 snaps)
2. RB Kedrick Reescano - 73.1 (8 snaps)
3. RB Quali Conley - 70.3 (47 snaps)
4. TE Tyler Power - 68.0 (19 snaps)
5. OL Alex Doost - 67.2 (4 snaps)

Top 5 individual grades

1. OL Jonah Savaiinaea - 90.2 (pass blocking)
2. OL Leif Magnuson - 87.9 (pass blocking)
3. WR Devin Hyatt - 84.5 (passing/receiving)
4. RB Quali Conley - 81.2 (passing/receiving)
5. OL Wendell Moe - 74.6 (pass blocking)

Snaps played

1. QB Noah Fifita - 61
2. OL Leif Magnuson - 61
3. OL Wendell Moe - 61
4. OL Jonah Savaiinaea - 61
5. OL Ryan Stewart - 61
6. OL Grayson Stovall - 61
7. TE Keyan Burnett - 56
8. WR Tetairoa McMillan - 49
9. RB Quali Conley - 47
10. WR Montana Lemonious-Craig - 39
11. WR Jeremiah Patterson - 23
12. TE Tyler Powell - 19
13. WR Malachi Riley - 18
14. TE Roberto Miranda - 15
15. WR Chris Hunter - 12
16. RB Kedrick Reescano - 8
17. RB Rayshon Luke - 6
18. WR Devin Hyatt - 5
19. OL Alext Doost -4
20. FB Kayden Luke - 4

DEFENSE

Top 5 overall grades

1. DL Tre Smith - 79.3 (44 snaps)
2. DL Chase Kennedy - 78.7 (44 snaps)
3. DB Treydan Stukes - 76.6 (57 snaps)
4. DL Stanley Ta'ufo'ou - 76.0 (13 snaps)
5. LB Taye Brown - 75.8 (57 snaps)

Top 5 individual grades

1. LB Taye Brown - 86.5 (run defense)
2. DL Stanley Ta'ufo'ou - 84.7 (pass rush)
3. DB Gensis Smith - 80.8 (tackling)
4. DL Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei - 78.9 (pass rush)
5. DL Chubba Maae - 77.7 (run defense)

Snaps played

1. LB Taye Brown - 57
2. CB Tacario Davis - 57
3. CB Marquis Groves-Killebrew - 57
4. LB Jacob Manu - 57
5. DB Genesis Smith - 57
6. DB Treydan Stukes - 57
7. DL Chase Kennedy - 44
8. DL Tre Smith - 44
9. DL Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei - 43
10. DL Chubba Maae - 34
11. DB Owen Goss - 30
12. DB Dalton Johnson - 27
13. LB Sterling Lane II - 22
14. DL Isaiah Johnson - 13
15. DL Lance Keneley - 13
16. DL Stanley Ta'ufo'ou - 13
17. DL Cyrus Durham - 1
18. DL Dominic Lolesio - 1

BREAKDOWN

• Let's first take a look at some of the overall numbers for the Wildcats through two games. UA is still holding strong overall with an 89.9 grade overall this season, which is good enough to sit at No. 25 among all FBS teams according to PFF. The offense ranks 27th with an 80.2 overall while the defense is at No. 55 with a 77.1 PFF grade.
• It's no shock that the defense received higher marks than the offense in Week 2 including registering an 86.5 in the run defense category. The Wildcats only had a higher number three times last season in games against NAU, Colorado and Oklahoma. UA received its highest pass rush grade ever from PFF with an 82.9 in the win over the Lumberjacks. UA only reached as high as 76.7 in that category last year when it played NAU.
• Defensively, the Wildcats scored best as a group in the tackling category with nine players scoring above a 70.0 in that area.
• As we begin to see some trends, defensive back Genesis Smith has been the defensive player to receive the most consistent praise from the staff at PFF when it comes to players who have been on the field often. His overall defensive grade of 80.3 puts him at No. 29 among all FBS safeties, but only six players above him have played as many snaps as he has. His coverage grade of 83.6 puts him at No. 20 nationally in the PFF grades with only four players above him having played as many snaps as he has.
• The defense was again active with 30 total pressures and 22 hurries against the Lumberjacks on Saturday according to PFF. UA only had eight missed tackles as well.
• Receiver Devin Hyatt registered a very high score of 90.2 after finishing with one catch for 30 yards against NAU, but it has to be considered that he only played five snaps in the game skewing the grade just a bit.
• Offensively, there weren't a ton of positive grades handed out as 16 of the 20 players who saw the field for UA scored below a 70.0.
• The Wildcats scored well in the pass protection category with Jonah Savaiinaea and Leif Magnuson both earning above an 87.0 in that area.
• Despite being held to just 11 yards receiving against NAU, Tetairoa McMillan remains the top-graded receiver in the Big 12 and No. 9 overall with an 87.6. Only two players ahead of him have been targeted as much (19 times).

It a short week for No. 20 Arizona as it will be hitting the road to face No. 14 Kansas State in the final non-conference game of the 2024 season. Strangely enough, this is two conference opponents getting a chance to play against each other without it counting against their Big 12 records. Last week, UA struggled in an underwhelming 22-10 win over NAU in a game where it found itself trailing 10-6 at the half. But, the ground game led by Quali Conley was able to pick up the slack and help lift the team to a win.

Meanwhile, KSU was trailing at the half 20-10 against Tulane in a tough road game. The Wildcats battled back in the second half and outscored the Green Wave 24-*7 the rest of the way. Kansas State was led on the ground by running back DJ Giddens, who totaled 177 yards of total offense with a touchdown on 23 touches to help his team complete the comeback win.

The last time these two Wildcats faced off was in 1978 when Arizona rocked KSU 31-0 in Tucson. In the seven total matchups, UA has never gone on the road to Manhattan. SO, this will be a first of many for not only the team, but the program as well.

GAME INFO

Who: No. 20 Arizona (2-0) at KSU (2-0)
Kickoff: 5 p.m. (MST)
Where: Bill Snyder Family Stadium | Manhattan, Kans.
TV and channels: FOX (11)
Radio: 1290 AM | SiriusXM: 83, 84
All-time series: Arizona leads 5-1-1
Odds: Kansas State (-7), O/U (56.5)

We will be posting all the weekly content in this thread and this will be used as a space to talk about the Top 20 showdown in Manhattan. Please join the conversation and ask questions that you may have about these two Wildcats.

Arizona basketball has released its 2024-25 non-conference schedule on X with the three key matchups/events to look forward to are on the road at Wisconsin, home against Duke, the Battle for Atlantis and a neutral site game against UCLA in phoenix. Here's the video of the players guessing the opponents:

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Arizona's non-conference schedule:

Red-Blue Showcase (Oct. 4 Tucson) and (Oct. 11 Glendale)
(Exhibition) Eastern New Mexico (Oct. 21)
(Exhibition) Point Loma (Oct. 28)
Canisius (Nov. 4)
Old Dominion (Nov. 9)
@Wisconson (Nov. 15)
Duke (Nov. 22)
Battle for Atlantis (Nov. 27-29)
Southern Utah (Dec. 7)
(Neutral site) UCLA (Dec. 14)
Samford (Dec. 18)
Central Michigan (Dec. 21)

The Big 12 hasn't released its conference schedule at this moment. But, that is how the Wildcats' non-conference will shape up for the 2024-25 season. Of these games, which ones are you looking forward to the most? And which one scares you the most?

Yesterday the AP Poll came out a day early and despite the Wildcats' underwhelming effort against NAU in a 22-10 win over the Lumberjacks, Arizona didn't drop in the rankings and stayed put at No. 20 with Louisville jump three spots at No. 19 in front of UA.

Meanwhile, Kansas State moved up to No. 14 with its comeback 34-27 win on the road over Tulane. KSU was trailing 20-10 at the half and outscored the Green Wave, 20 to 7 in the second half. The Wildcats were led by running back DJ Giddens, who collected 177 yards of total offense while touching the ball 23 times to go along with a touchdown.

Arizona's offense look anemic at times against NAU and saw Noah Fifita struggle with 173 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception. It was the running combination of Quali Conley and Kedrick Reescano that got the job done for the Wildcats with their combined 183 yards on the ground.

In all, Arizona ran the ball for 188 yards on 29 carries and put away the Lumberjacks on a 56-yard TD run by Reescanoi for his first collegiate touchdown of his young career.

Arizona will face No. 14 Kansas State Friday night at 5 p.m. (MST) with the game being televised on FOX.