Arizona didn’t really deserve to beat TCU.
Noah Fifita threw a pick-six in the red zone. Dwight Bootle II struggled all night. Danny Gonales’ defense gave up multiple third-and-longs on the drive that led to the Horned Frogs going up eight.
Quincy Craig fumbled the ball in the red zone with a little more than two minutes left and the Cats down eight, and truthfully you could find plenty more mistakes and miscues from the home team.
It was truly a team effort, the kind that had Arizona lost would have
made it difficult to point to any one player or play or reason for the loss. Simply put, the Wildcats played a bad game against a decent team.
And won anyway.
“It’s up there,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said of where the game ranks among the crazy games he’s coached. “It’s incredible, and I think it was just awesome to see everybody execute their part of that in that moment.”
The improbability of Arizona’s comeback victory has been discussed by many. It took a lot of things happening in the exact way they did for the Cats get to 7-2 (4-2) and remain in the Big 12 title race.
Was Arizona lucky? Perhaps.
Some say it’s better to be lucky than good, and if the Wildcats are to win the Big 12 they’ll need to be both.
After last weekend are you ready to count them out?
It’s worth noting that since Arizona’s Week 4 loss at Iowa State last season the Cats have won or had a legitimate chance to win every game they have played. One-score defeats to BYU, Houston and SMU last season have been followed by losses to BYU and Texas Tech this season, both of which saw the Cats misfire on a fourth down play deep into opponent territory as Arizona was trying to take the lead midway through the fourth quarter.
That’s the sign of a good team.
Arizona will need to be good Saturday against No. 2 Utah, who comes to town with conference title and national championship aspirations. Undefeated coming into the game, they represent — at least ranking-wise — the toughest opponent Arizona will face all season.
And yet when the betting lines opened the Utes were just 1.5-point favorites, and the line has only moved another point in their favor over the days since.
Arizona isn’t expected to win this game, but few would be surprised if it did. It would be the kind of victory that has eluded the program under Brent Brennan, the one the team has been oh-so-close to earning this season but has been unable to secure. Beating No. 2 in the nation and extending the winning streak over Utah to three games would do plenty, including keep the program’s playoff hopes alive.
That’s where the luck would need to come in.
Already with two losses, Arizona must win out to even have a chance. Pulling off the upset Saturday and handing Utah its first loss would be terrific, but only the first step. As @Scott_Terrell figured it out on Twitter, the Cats’ path is:
There is a chance, yes, but Arizona can only impact the games it plays. And even if the Cats win out, there’s a very real chance they’ll end up on the outside of the playoff picture due to tiebreakers.
Such is life for a program whose most recent best seasons have come a year too soon. The ‘23 team would have cruised through the Big 12 the following year, and both last and this year’s teams have played at a high level but have had a tough time keeping up with programs who spend considerably more money on their rosters.
A 10-win Arizona team likely makes it into the 24-team playoff, which comes into play next season.
What was it we were saying about luck?
That’s a conversation (and complaint, or whine) for another day.
This day and week is all about the opportunity Arizona has in front of it, which is to earn the first true signature victory of the Brennan era. People take notice when you beat a top-3 opponent and with plenty of eyes set to fixated on the game there will be no better time for the third-year coach, his staff and his players to show up and show out. Even if a win does not ultimately lead to a Big 12 title or playoff spot, victory would do plenty to promote the program.
And yet, that Arizona is even playing a game here in mid-November that has playoff implications is pretty neat, a sign that this season has gone about as well as most of us could have hoped. The Wildcats have proven to be good, and with a little luck this season may not be finished producing great moments and memories.
