The last time Arizona football was genuinely good was way back in 2023. That year Arizona went on to win 10 games, but it took a while before many of us recognized what was happening with the program and
that team.
For me it was probably around the Utah game where I finally started to understand that the Wildcats had something special. While I enjoyed the entire season, taking so long to see what was right in front of me certainly impacted how much fun I truly had.
History has a funny way of repeating itself.
This season Arizona is once again genuinely good. The Wildcats’ eight wins put them on the same track as that ‘23 team and like that year, faith in the program has been slow to come. It has been evident on social media, where doubt has continued to exist, and it’s clearly visible in the amount of seats that have remained unfilled during home games.
The struggling attendance has become a hot topic, especially of late. That the team’s home finale brought about the smallest announced attendance for a non-Territorial Cup finale since 2021 did not go unnoticed by reporters, fans of the team up north or really anyone else who has finally caught on to what Brent Brennan and his team have accomplished.
There are many understandable reasons as to why someone may not make it to the game. Ticket prices, cost of parking, food, drinks, the time commitment — all are understandable. The fact that you can comfortably watch the game at home also works against going to the stadium and if you have small kids or other family obligations, like, yeah.
If you’re looking for someone to call out those fans, find a different column. As someone who only made it to one game this season (the BYU loss) and has in the past gotten paid to attend games (not Arizona) I am the last person who is going to chastise someone for choosing to spend their money or time on something other than going to a game.
However.
The other reason for sagging attendance, as is the case for most any team in any sport, is on-field performance. Folks don’t generally like going to watch bad teams play, and it’s pretty depressing watching your team get beat in person. Except this year the Cats lost just one home game, and it was in double OT to one of the best teams in the country. Arizona treated its fans to some blowouts and some close victories, all of which surely had fans leaving with smiles on their faces.
So what gives? Arizona’s attendance actually got worse over the course of this season, with the opener against Hawaii boasting an announced crowd of 43,423, which is the second-highest total behind the 47,960 who saw the BYU game.
Then there was Homecoming against Kansas and Senior Day against Baylor. The former clinched bowl eligibility and the latter sent great Wildcats like Treydan Stukes and Dalton Johnson out the right way. It was possibly the last chance to see Genesis Smith, too, and there are others who transferred in for only this season who will not play in Casino Del Sol Stadium ever again.
And yet, empty seats.
Maybe the Tucson crowd doesn’t like late-morning or day games. But attendance issues have plagued the program in recent years, as I’m sure we can all remember how often former coach Jedd Fisch commented on wanting more people at the games, even when the team was playing well.
Perhaps the issue is just a genuine lack of buy in with this year’s team or its head coach, that no matter how many games they won and by what margins they won them by, the casual fans just don’t look at the Wildcats and see a team worth giving their time, money or emotional reserves to, especially after how last season went.
As brutal as last season was, it set the stage for this one.
“Did last year affect me,” Brennan asked rhetorically. “Of course it did. It affected all of us. But I al also think it motivated us to make the decisions and the moves we had to make to give us a chance to build this team.
And that’s and that’s what I’m excited about. I’m so proud of this team, the players, the coaches, our strength staff, our recruiting staff, like everybody that touches this program.
“I mean, it speaks to the alignment that we have at Arizona right now. And that is special. That is really special. And I promise you that does not happen everywhere, but it’s happening here right now.”
And that’s the real point of this season, right? Not that the fan support could have been better, but that Arizona has been. There should be less talk about what this season hasn’t represented and more about what it has, and that is a fresh start with potential for a bright future.
We should be celebrating how this year’s team was formed, with 61 new players, and how it has improved from Week 1 until today. Hardly perfect, the Cats have proven to be a well-coached and confident group that has been incredibly easy to root for.
Led by a veteran secondary that is among the best in the country, the defense has been excellent. Danny Gonzales has proven to be a great coordinator in maximizing the talent on that side of the ball. The offense too has been very good, with Noah Fifita looking more like the guy he was a couple years ago spreading the ball around to many different receiving options. Kris Hutson has emerged as a star, and the team’s running backs have formed a rotation that coordinator Seth Doege has utilized with aplomb.
We couldn’t have asked for much more.
The feeling today is not all that different from how we felt about this time two years ago, when Arizona was one of the country’s biggest surprises and the memory of what we believed were the darkest days in the program’s history were fading away. Unfortunately the coach who led Arizona to that point abruptly left and threw the entire renaissance into chaos.
Two years later, we’re back in the same place with the team enjoying a surprisingly-successful season and a chance to knock off Arizona State in Tempe for a ninth win. Whether it happens or not, and whether Arizona wins its bowl game or not, the most important thing to take away from this entire season is that while it may have taken some time to recognize, we can all feel confident that Arizona can and does have a good football program.
Again.
