The 2013 Arizona Wildcats football season was certainly an emotional roller coaster.

It went from complacency to heartbreak, to extreme excitement followed by more heartbreak.
But that’s typical of Arizona football.

It was head coach Rich Rodriguez’s second season at Arizona. A thrilling win at the New Mexico Bowl was what fans were left with for a year.

The Wildcats’ defense was coming off of one of its worst years and expected to return with more depth. All-American running back Ka’Deem Carey was expected to shatter records and be in the Heisman conversation.

Not to mention the new Nike uniforms and a new multi-million dollar football facility. There were obvious high hopes for this season.

But did the Arizona Wildcats produce? Was this season a success?

The Wildcats are headed to Shreveport, La., for the AdvoCare V100 Bowl. Going bowling is always a good sign. Although most Arizona fans probably hadn’t heard of that bowl, let alone Shreveport prior to this season, the match-up should be good.

However, is it enough to make up for the heartbreaks of the season?

The Wildcats went 7-5 on the regular season. It was a winning season. But there’s no question that a couple of those five losses could’ve been prevented.

According to senior receiver Terrence Miller, the squad was quick to respond after messing up on the field.

“Our season was a season of coming together,” Miller said. “Every time things didn’t seem to be going great, our team was very quick to rally and get on everybody, get what we needed to get done, win games and put us in the place where we are now.”

Remember the Washington State game? The game where the ZonaZoo section was nearly empty and Arizona lost — even when the UA fans thought it was going to be a guaranteed win. It was one of the biggest heartbreaks of the season.

The following week, Arizona played against Oregon. No one expected the Wildcats to pull an upset that week. No one expected the Wildcats to roll over the Ducks, 42-16.

But they did. They made headlines, and they made history.

Of course, the next week, everyone expected them to play the same way against ASU in the rivalry game. But instead, they looked deflated.

That one hurt.

But should we dwell on all the heartbreaks?

Senior linebacker Jake Fischer said he is leaving the program with no regrets from the season.

“We gave it all we got,” Fischer said. “Obviously, there are a couple things if it went the other way we could’ve won more, but we’re happy with where we are. The young guys have grown up. The guys I came in with, the other seniors, to see them grow up as men — it is such a blessing.”

There’s a saying that goes,

“Shoot for the moon, and even if you miss you’ll land among the stars”.

Arizona did just that. It was shooting for the moon but actually landed among the stars.

The Wildcats are going to a bowl, Carey shattered records and it was still a winning season.

So what if it wasn’t the best season imaginable? Maybe there were a couple heartbreaks, but, overall, it wasn’t a failure.

After all, landing among the stars isn’t so bad.

—Follow Scarlett McCourt @scarlettnoelani