304 yards for receiver Tetairoa McMillan casts attention on Arizona football, new coach Brent Brennan

Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the first quarter against the New Mexico Lobos Saturday in Tucson, (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

TUCSON – For a half Saturday, it appeared Arizona wasn’t quite ready for the Big 12 Conference as the Wildcats struggled against New Mexico in the debut of coach Brent Brennan.

Before the night was over, however, the Wildcats demonstrated that the offensive firepower of sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita and junior wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan will be all that the team’s new conference can handle as the Wildcats gave Brennan his first victory at the helm.

With a handful of NFL scouts in attendance, McMillan – affectionately known to his teammates and UA football fans as “T-Mac” – hauled in 10 passes for a school-record 304 yards, scoring four touchdowns as the Wildcats trounced the Lobos, 61-39.

The performance earned McMillan Big-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors in the school’s first game as a part of the conference. He also was named Associated Press national player of the week.

And he already ranks second all-time in the Big 12 for single-game receiving yardage, behind only the 314 yards by Baylor’s Terrance Williams against West Virginia in 2012.

Hello, Big 12.

The 6-foot-5 receiver broke the Arizona single-game receiving record held by Jeremy McDaniel, who caught 14 passes for 283 yards against California in 1996.

Having coached at the collegiate level since 1998, often as a wide receiver coach, Brennan has seen a lot of impressive performances, but nothing quite as impressive as McMillan’s night.

“Not like that, similar,” he said. “I think we had one close to that with Brandin Cooks at Oregon State, but T-Mac is obviously special.”

Brennan coached wide receivers at Oregon State from 2011-2016. Cooks, the eventual first-round NFL draft pick, put together several outstanding games during his time with the Beavers.

However, none quite as dominant as McMillan’s, especially what he did after the catch. McMillan gained more than half of his yards (176) after the catch against New Mexico.

McMillan entered the season among the top-three contenders for the 2024 Biletnikoff Award, which is named after Hall of Fame wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff. The award honors the best college football receiver each season.

No Arizona receiver has ever brought the award home.

Fifita noted that he warned everybody what was coming from McMillan, his childhood friend and teammate.

“I think if people were listening to my interviews all offseason, they probably thought I was being overdramatic,” Fifita said. “But I think he came in and proved my point perfectly. (He’s) the best player in the country and his statistics show that.”

There was reason to believe that Arizona might enter the Big 12 without its two star players after coach Jedd Fisch’s exit to Washington after last season.

Instead, Fifita and McMillan decided to stay after Brennan came over from San Jose State, and the Wildcats were ranked fifth in the Big 12 preseason media poll. Utah, another former Pac-12 team, was ranked first in the poll.

UA’s students and fans came out in numbers with 44,748 in attendance to celebrate the move to the Big 12.

“I thought our fans were great, the ZonaZoo was rocking. They stayed for almost the whole game,” Brennan said. “We need the city of Tucson to rally for this team so that we can counter the home-field advantages that we’re gonna play when we get into the Big 12.”

After a back-and-forth first half, Arizona put together an overwhelming second-half showing, outscoring New Mexico 34-15 over the final 30 minutes.

Despite the rocky start, Arizona picked it up and played winning football when it mattered most.

“I thought in the second half we made some good adjustments, the guys rallied, came together and played for each other, and the result was good,” Brennan said.

While the Wildcats did step it up defensively, it was the combination of Fifita and McMillan that ultimately overwhelmed the Lobos.

Then the Wildcats put the game away down the stretch with their run game.

After rushing for just 28 yards on 3.1 yards-per-carry in the first half, Arizona ran for 177 yards, averaging 10.4 yards per carry in the second half.

Coincidentally, it was New Mexico transfer Jacory Croskey-Merritt who led the Wildcats on the ground with 106 yards and a touchdown. Another transfer, running back Quali Conley, who followed Brennan from San Jose State, added 90 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries.

Conley credited much of the team’s rushing success to the guys up front on the offensive line. He also had praise for Croskey-Merritt.

“The o-line, without them we wouldn’t be here,” Conley said. “Me and Jacory are just like brothers. Every time he eats, I’m happy. Every time I eat, he’s happy. So it’s just all love going around.”

Arizona currently has three projected NFL 2025 first-round draft picks on the roster including McMillan, junior offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea, and junior defensive back Tacario Davis.

Davis was ejected from Saturday’s contest after two personal foul penalties and the Wildcats struggled with penalties, surrendering 100 yards to the Lobos on yellow flags.

“The other thing I learned is that we need to eliminate the selfish penalties,” Brennan said. “That extended at least two (New Mexico) drives, maybe three, so we got some learning to do.”

The No. 20 ranked Wildcats are set to host the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (1-0) on Saturday Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Then the Wildcats enter Big 12 play for the first time at No. 17 Kansas State (1-0), followed by a more familiar road trip to No. 11 Utah (1-0).