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Mark Stoops will review his defensive unit's performance on Monday, and he'll note that the Arizona Wildcats gave up their first touchdown of the season Saturday against Toledo.

Well, technically.

The score came from 3 yards from the goal line. The Rockets returned a Terrell Turner fumble 9 yards to the 3 in the fourth quarter.

"Coach said he's not going count it against us when he does the defensive review," strong safety Cam Nelson said.

The fluky short field — and a 3-yard Stephen Williams touchdown reception from Aaron Opelt — was the only thing to snap Toledo out of its red-zone funk.

"We were dead-set on not letting them score," Stoops said. "I think if they didn't get the ball on the 3, we had a good chance to do that.

"It doesn't sting."

After not allowing a touchdown in a 70-0 laugher against Idaho, the Wildcats were intent on doing it again. While the Rockets finished with three field goals and that touchdown, the UA defense played a solid game.

The Rockets mounted drives of 5:59 and 6:10, but came away with only six total points.

"Their defense stopped us when we were going in to score," Opelt said, "and we can't let that happen in future games."

Toledo was forced to settle for field goals on drives that ended on the Arizona 2- and 4-yard lines.

"We all said it — 'They're not touching the end zone,' " free safety Nate Ness said. "That's our mind-set going into every game — no team's touching the end zone."

The Wildcats aren't big on flash — "No-name defense, that's what we like," Nelson said — but seem to be deeper than last year.

Backup linebacker Sterling Lewis led the team with 12 tackles. He replaced Xavier Kelley, who left with an injured ankle and was placed in a walking boot. Stoops said he was not concerned that Kelley's injury was serious.

The UA's only problem of the night came in actually seeing Stoops — for most of the night, the defense used wristbands to call plays, because they couldn't make out the coordinator's hand motions.

The Wildcats' success can be found in Toledo coach Tom Amstutz's frustration.

"When we're in the red zone, we need touchdowns, not field goals," he said. "At the half, our stats were pretty equal. The only difference was, they put the ball in the end zone."

In doing so, the UA defense is off to one of its best starts in a decade.

Since 1995, only one UA team has given up fewer points through two games than the 16 this year's squad has allowed. That was in 2004, when the UA allowed 12 points combined to Northern Arizona and Utah.

The past three years, the Wildcats had given up an average of 47 points through the first two games.

Stoops said he likes what he sees, even if he chooses not to dock the squad for the touchdown.

"I was just really happy with the other goal-line stands that we had," he said, "basically holding them to nine points."

● Arizona recorded a big win before it even took the field.

Ironwood Ridge High School linebacker Jake Fischer committed to join the Wildcats' 2009 recruiting class. The 5-foot-11, 223-pounder watched the game from the stands. Listed as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, Fischer chose Arizona over Colorado and Utah.

"It was just the right fit for me, I guess," he said via text message. "The coaches, the atmosphere — everything is great."

● Defensive tackle Lolomana Mikaele (suspension) missed his second straight game.

● Freshman Juron Criner made his second consecutive start at wide receiver. Tight end A.J. Simmons saw limited playing time.