– Arizona grad Tyler Loop’s missed 44-yard field goal attempt on the final play of last week's Baltimore-Pittsburgh NFL game cost the Ravens a spot in the NFL playoffs. Maybe you could've seen it coming. Incredibly, in his 80 field goal attempts at Arizona (he made 63), Loop had just one kick that decided a game, a 29-yarder at the buzzer to beat Colorado 34-31 in 2023. He did not have another fourth-quarter field goal at Arizona in a close game. By comparison, the best field goal kicker in UA history, Max Zendejas, had walk-off winning kicks against ASU (three times) and Notre Dame, among others.
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) celebrates after Baltimore Ravens place kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a game-winning field goal as time runs out during the second half in Pittsburgh, Jan. 4, 2026.
– Two of Jedd Fisch’s former UA assistants lost their jobs last week in the NFL's annual "Black Monday" when seven head coaches were fired. Former Rincon High athlete Beyah Rasool, in his first year as the Las Vegas Raiders defensive analyst, lost his job when head coach Pete Carroll was fired. So did Brennan Carroll, Pete's son, the Raiders' offensive line coach who had been Fisch's offensive coordinator at Arizona for three years. The only other ex-Wildcat coach to lose his job in the hiring/firing season was Mike Tuiasosopo, a coach under Mike Stoops from 2004-11. Tuiasosopo had been Kansas State's DL coach for six years.
– One of those who has entered the transfer portal from the Arizona football program is Rex Haynes, a receiver/defensive back who had just one tackle in eight career games at UA, as well as one punt return. Rex is the son of perhaps the best football player in ASU history, cornerback Mike Haynes, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as well as the College Football Hall of Fame. I think if Rex transfers to a small school, something like UNLV or San Jose State, he could be a productive starter.
– Rawle Alkins, who averaged 10.9 and 13.0 points respectively for Sean Miller’s Arizona basketball teams of 2017 and 2018, returned to Tucson this week and attended the UA-Kansas State game. Alkins now plays for the Kobe Storks of the Japanese B pro league, where he is averaging 12.8 points per game. The Japanese league is on break until Jan. 23. Alkins could write a book about world travel. Since leaving Arizona, he has played in Germany, Israel, Puerto Rico, Greece and Portugal, as well as the NBA G League. He played in 10 NBA games for the Chicago Bulls in 2019, scoring 37 points. Alkins has been working out at the Richard Jefferson Gymnasium for a week.
– The Big 12 is a basketball league, no doubt. Five of the Big 12's eight mid-week games were sellouts last week, including a crowd of 18,009 for the ASU at BYU game. The only non-sellouts were at, predictably, Oklahoma State, Colorado and Cincinnati. I can never remember the Pac-12 selling out five mid-week conference games, especially those that didn't involve Arizona. Attendance has strongly declined at UCLA (5,211 per game, thanks to coach Mick Cronin’s lack of appeal) and Oregon (5,688), as have both of those once-powerhouses in the Pac-12. Through games of Friday, BYU was averaging 17,054 per game, Kansas 15,300, Arizona 14,058, Iowa State 14,062 and Texas Tech 13,042, all of which are averaging more than 94% capacity.
