Nose tackle Parker Zellers isn’t sure how he came up with the phrase, but it’s applicable to the Wildcats’ current predicament.
Zellers views the last three games of this lost season as a chance to “get our money back.”
It’s too late for the UA to get a full refund; Arizona is 2-7, and its season almost certainly will end the day after Thanksgiving. But the struggling Wildcats can recoup some of their losses. They can make other teams pay.
Serving as a spoiler is one of several answers to the question that often has been asked of Arizona coaches and players of late: What’s left to play for?
Heading into Saturday night’s game against Colorado, we examine that response and others as the UA desperately searches for motivation and victories.
The Utah treatment
When Utah visited Arizona last November, the then-No. 10 Utes still had a chance — albeit a long one — to make the College Football Playoff.
After a 37-30 double-overtime loss to the UA, Utah no longer was in position to win the Pac-12 South. The Utes lost the following week as well. They ended up playing in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Rich Rodriguez started pushing that narrative almost immediately after last week’s embarrassing 69-7 loss at Washington State. “The only thing we can do right now is try to mess up someone else’s season,” Rodriguez said.
At 5-1 in league play, Colorado controls its fate in the South. An appearance in the Pac-12 Championship Game would be a first for the Buffaloes, who are in the midst of a breakout season after several down years.
Losing to Arizona would drop Colorado into a tie with Utah — and possibly put both behind USC if the Trojans can upset North-leading Washington. It wouldn’t wreck Colorado’s season, but it would damage it.
“It sounds messed up,” senior tailback Samajie Grant said. “But ours is ruined, so why not ruin somebody else’s?”
Next week’s opponent, Oregon State, also is out of the postseason bowl picture. Then there’s rival Arizona State, which might be fighting for bowl eligibility in the season finale.
The Sun Devils are 5-5 and will be heavy underdogs at Washington next week. Most likely, they will need to beat Arizona to qualify for a bowl game.
“That’s the real bowl game,” senior defensive lineman Sani Fuimaono said of the Territorial Cup. “You win that game, and every Arizona fan is happy.”
Springboard theory
There’s no guarantee that winning the last three games, or two of them, or the last one, will provide positive momentum for 2017. But it beats the alternative.
Receivers coach Tony Dews explained what’s at stake.
“Everything from here, for the entire group, is continue to work to get better every day — take the opportunity that we have these next three weeks of practice and games to make yourself better,” Dews said.
The hope, he added, is that a strong finish will serve as a springboard into winter conditioning, spring practice, summer workouts, training camp and next season.
Rodriguez isn’t certain it would have that effect. “But it sure would make everybody feel better, especially our seniors,” he said. “That’s the key for right now – all our seniors will feel better about their careers.”
You might wonder why the departing seniors would care about next season. They unequivocally do. They want the program to succeed. They also don’t want to be known as the class that went out on a 2-10 low note.
“Shoot, that’s momentum for me too,” Grant said. “I don’t want to go into whatever I do next (and hear), ‘Hey man, you only won two games last year?’
“We win these three games, maybe that’ll get them confidence (for) next year. I even told the players, I’m going to stay here. I’m going to finish school next semester, and I’m just going to train with the receivers. I’m going to show them what they need to work on and fix and help them fix it before I have to officially leave.”
The pride factor
The one word every player mentions when asked what they have to play for is “pride.” It has many tentacles. Fuimaono listed them during a reflective moment after practice this week.
“For the fans, for ourselves, the name on our back,” he said. “But mainly for the Block A. For all the people that root for us and support us, who provide all this for us. Pride for them.”
From seniors to freshmen, none of the Wildcats wanted the season to play out this way. Arizona’s six-game losing streak — capped by a horrendous loss at Washington State — has left them humiliated and hurt.
But as Fuimaono noted, there’s nothing they can do about that now. All the Cats can control is how they perform in the next three games.
Maybe they can get something out of them besides a victory or two.
“It’s definitely been a season of adversity, from the get-go,” Fuimaono said. “But it’s definitely character-building, not only for me but for our team collectively. We can learn a lot from this.
“I always try to see the good. If we can get over this hump and get some wins, hopefully they can learn from that and continue that in the future.
“Yes, we’ve been through a lot this season. But we ain’t going to give up. We’ll bear down to the end.”
