Arizona Football: 3 takeaways from shootout loss to Hawaii

2. Arizona boasts a ballhawking defense this season

In 2018, the Arizona defense managed to generate only eight fumble recoveries and seven interceptions over the course of the entire season. The unit showed vast improvement in the first contest of 2019, as they took the ball away from the Rainbow Warriors six times to keep the scoreline from getting further out of control.

Given how much time Hawaii possessed the football on Saturday, turnovers were one of the few things that gave Arizona much of a chance. On a day where the offense struggled to play to its most dynamic potential, the Wildcats defense came through in a massive way to ensure that the Rainbow Warriors were unable to run away with the showdown on the island.

After the fourth interception by the Wildcats, it changed the dynamic of the game as Hawaii opted to pull McDonald from the game. In came Cordeiro, who was able to steer the Rainbow Warriors offense back on track.

If not for their defense, though, Arizona would be staring at a far wider margin of defeat to set up the new year. While a perfect record is now out of reach in 2019, the Wildcats will need their defense to continue sniffing out the pigskin if they are going to make waves in the Pac-12 South this season.