Melisa Guzeloglu – With a rough start to this year’s football season, I don’t believe Arizona’s current 3-6 record can be fixed if the Wildcats continue to lack in defense and continue to hurt themselves with penalties.
The team has also been constantly riddled with injuries throughout the season. Treydan Stukes remains out while Gunner Maldonado has undergone surgery, yet there is hope he won’t be ruled out of the season completely. Piling onto that, linebacker Jacob Manu and offensive tackle Rhino Tapa’atoutai are out for the season. Arizona continues to find ways to work around its roster as a result of these injuries.
Looking at the past five games Arizona has lost, the Wildcats will now have to come up with answers for opposing teams’ offense and do a better job protecting the ball. In the game against the University of Colorado Boulder, the Wildcats allowed seven sacks while Tetairoa McMillan was held to just 38 yards.
Correctly executing plays involving quarterback Noah Fifita and McMillan is vital to what can help conjure up wins. McMillan, the 6-foot-5 wide receiver who set a record this season with 304 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns in a single game, has been targeted far less in recent games which has held him from contributing to big plays down the field.
However, his synergy with Fifita is not gone as they proved their connection can impact the game still like in the game against University of West Virginia, where McMillan had 10 receptions for 202 yards.
Comparing the Wildcats to last season’s 10-3 overall record and 7-2 conference record, the differences can be seen in plays executed by the coaching staff. Head coach Brent Brennan has moved play-calling responsibilities to the coaching staff, a tactic that may be overused.
As the Wildcats reevaluate and wait for players to get healthy, developing the younger talent on the team is crucial. There is hope for improvements on both ends of the field but it starts with the coaching staff.
Gabriel Paz – Before anything is said, Tyler Loop deserves his flowers. He is 14-18 in total attempts this year. Loop has also accounted for almost a third of the Wildcats’ total offensive points this season with the team scoring 199 total points and Loop accounting for 59 of it.
The struggle between running the ball and passing the ball for Fifita is also odd this season. Going into the season, Arizona was renowned for its capabilities to get down field with players like tight end Tanner McLaclan and wide receivers McMillan and Jacob Cowing, all of whom were impact players in the journey to the win at the Alamo Bowl last season.
Arizona has not seen the same kind of ball movement through the air this year like previous years and, with the chemistry between Fifita and McMillan, fans are wondering why.
Now, running the ball is the scheme that is used the most in nearly every game. Quali Conley has become Brennan’s favorite player this season it seems, (maybe because he brought him from San Jose State University) and has abandoned the abilities of Fifita and McMillan in order to get the ball to Conley to pick up 4 yards in 4 downs. In the Texas Tech University game, Conly had almost the same amount of receptions than McMillan and picked up only a fourth of the yards.
I’m going to say it: I miss Jedd Fisch.
Reed Lofstedt – After losing five straight games and three straight home games, Wildcat fans are rightly upset about the current state of the football program.
After the offseason chaos full of moves and then ultimately retaining Fifita and McMillan, the future seemed bright with the talent still left on the roster.
Now sitting at 3-6, the reality of the high hopes have finally settled in. The Wildcats have been marred by several crucial injuries to players such as linebacker Manu, offensive lineman Tapa’atoutai, and defensive lineman Chubba Ma’ae.
The spell of a five-game losing streak had Arizona looking sparkless and lacking energy. However, I think there is certainly room for improvement after seeing the second half of their game against the University of West Virginia. This game saw McMillan return to his stellar form with a 200+ yard performance and Fifita having his first career rushing touchdown and his first game of the season without an interception.
I think there is certainly some hope to still capture a couple Big 12 wins against University of Houston and Texas Christian University, but there is mounting pressure on Brennan to push this team to be bowl eligible.
Charles Johnson – With Arizona being 3-6 currently this season and losing their Homecoming game to University of Colorado Boulder and Family Weekend game to University of West Virginia, many fans of the Wildcats are left upset.
The news only got worse with Brennan announcing the Wildcats will be without Manu and Tapa’atoutai. The season seems to be slipping between the fingers of the team after losing safeties Maldonado and Stukes. This magnifies Arizona’s glaring problems with defense and their inability to challenge offenses. Manu is a huge loss for the team as he led the team with 47 tackles and 3 tackles for loss in the first half of the season and, in a lot of ways, he is the identity of that defense.
The second problem for the Wildcats was their inability to protect Fifita and that showed itself in the Colorado Boulder game where the Buffaloes sacked Fifita seven times. Will these problems be addressed? Can Arizona finish off the season the same way they did last year, on a streak? I’m hopeful but let’s say not betting on it.
Michael Smith – Many fans are starting to wonder where the Wildcats should go from here. All over the depth chart, there are problems headlining with the misuse of one of the best duos in the country in Fifita and McMillan. Arizona ranks second to last in the conference in points per game with 23 and ever since their 61 point performance against University of New Mexico, the team has averaged just 16.7.
Improving that statistic starts with targeting McMillan more. Whether it’s moving him to the slot so Fifita has more opportunities to throw to him, or changing his routes so McMillan has less vertical routes and more medium looks, could potentially get him open more. The second issue the Wildcats are facing are injuries. Having Manu and Tapa’atoutai out for the year is the last thing the team needed on top of the thin secondary with Maldonaldo undergoing surgery. At this point in the season, I’m praying for at least three more wins to be bowl eligible, but even that might be a stretch.
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