Arizona ran for 168 yards (sack-adjusted) in its season-opening win over San Diego State. The Wildcats hit for 4.4 yards a run — though not the best mark in the league in Week 1, but still nearly a full yard better than what last season’s squad averaged.

The backfield rotation worked well. DJ Williams got 14 carries and turned in 88 yards and a score. Jonah Coleman got 13 carries in his collegiate debut. Michael Wiley saw six carries and three catches. Rayshon Luke also got his first four collegiate carries.

“I feel really strongly that we have four very good backs that are very capable of playing and helping us win a game,” coach Jedd Fisch said on Monday. “Coach (Scottie) Graham did a great job of making sure that every chance we had to get someone fresh in the game, he did it.

“There’s some times when you go tempo you can’t always do that, but he was able to take those guys and, when you talk about carries and catches combined, the amount of touches that each guy had was pretty close to what our goal was going to be for this game. I think what we were able to do is, throughout the game, keep giving them a fresh body that they had to tackle.”

Williams was the headliner, a strong debut for a player who arrived late in the summer and had to get caught up.

“I think DJ is gonna get better,” Fisch said. “He came, what, three days prior to the start of training camp? So he didn’t have the summer conditioning program. He didn’t have the summer strength program. So, he’s still doing a lot of extra in order for himself to be in the best shape of his life that he can be in for us. He’s a big body that plays with a good, low center of gravity. We did see that in his time at Auburn when he was rushing the football.”

But, Fisch said, he’s not the only strong body in the room. Fisch gave credit to the strength staff for getting the backs ready for the season. Sounds like we can expect a healthy rotation to continue.

“All those guys, you could see the benefit of our strength and conditioning program and Coach (Tyler) Owens and his staff,” he said. “Michael Wiley was breaking tackles more than he was a year ago. Jonah (Coleman) brought his weight down to 215 pounds and was not letting the first guy tackle him very often. It was pretty cool to see those guys, and really a credit to Coach Owens and his staff.”

A season ago, Mississippi State ranked top-30 nationally in run defense, allowing 3.6 yards a carry. In a 49-23 win over Memphis in the opener last Saturday, the Bulldogs weren’t exactly tested much on the ground — facing just 21 attempts all game as Memphis fell behind early — but did only allow 2 yards on six rushing attempts in the first half.

We’ll see if the Wildcats’ backs can keep it going in Week 2. The UA certainly has momentum.

Arizona and Mississippi State kick off at 8 p.m. PT on FS1.