It doesn’t look promising on paper.
The Arizona Wildcats are outmanned against No. 7 Utah. The Utes have a better record, better statistics and better personnel. Dane Brugler of The Athletic wrote this week that Utah could have seven defensive players selected in the 2020 NFL draft. Arizona has had four players picked, total, in the past four drafts.
There’s a reason – many reasons – Utah is favored by more than three touchdowns. The largest previous point spread in the series, since 2000, was 13.5 points.
So what can Arizona bank on? Where can the Wildcats and their fans find hope?
Emotion. Inspiration. Effort.
Asked what it would take for Arizona to end its five-game losing streak and finish the season strong, veteran tailback J.J. Taylor said simply: “Just giving it all we got, really. Leaving it all on the field. That’s all it is.”
That’s all the Wildcats have at this point.
Even if they were fully healthy – which they aren’t, especially on the offensive line – the Cats would have a difficult time beating the Utes. It didn’t start out this way, but Arizona is in the midst of a transition year – a process Kevin Sumlin already started by firing three defensive coaches within the past month. Utah, meanwhile, is peaking as a program and appears to be headed for a showdown with No. 6 Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game – with the winner possibly procuring a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Emotion, inspiration and effort – even if they’re all bundled together – might seem like a flimsy foundation upon which to build the case for an upset. Feelings don’t win football games. But intangible factors can narrow gaps in talent and even coaching – especially when dealing with 18- to 22-year-olds.
Although they have one loss, the Utes haven’t had that game yet – the one that they’re supposed to win easily yet struggle to survive.
Although they have four wins, the Wildcats haven’t had that game yet either – the one they’re not supposed to have any chance of winning yet somehow do.
Overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds is the premise of almost every based-on-a-true-story sports movie that’s ever been made.
Arizona has reasons to be up for this matchup that don’t have to be manufactured. It will be senior night at Arizona Stadium. And the Wildcats are as desperate as a team could be; one more loss, and they’re out of the running for a bowl berth for the second straight year and the third time in the past four.
If you’re a fourth-year senior staring at the possibility of the 2017 Foster Farms Bowl being your only postseason experience, that’s all the incentive you should need to ball out.
Fired up, then a firing
This part of the story was supposed to be about the positive vibes coming out of the Oregon game, and it mostly still will be.
Although Arizona lost handily, the defense performed much better. The Wildcats played hard until the very end – unlike the discouraging homecoming loss to Oregon State two weeks earlier. Interim defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil – the embodiment of emotion, inspiration and effort as a player – seemed to be having an impact.
Then Sumlin made a move that potentially could throw everything into disarray.
Two days before the Utah game, Sumlin fired defensive line coach Iona Uiagalelei. It is believed Sumlin was planning to dismiss Uiagalelei after the season anyway because of overall dissatisfaction with his performance. With the start of the early signing period less than a month away, Sumlin decided to make the change sooner than later.
It’s unclear what the immediate repercussions will be. Minimally, it put the defensive staff into scramble mode. It could be a distraction for the players. Cecil already was working hard to keep them focused; over the past 48 hours, he presumably has had to work overtime.
Multiple players spoke fondly of Cecil, who, like interim defensive line coach Greg Patrick, was promoted from an off-field analyst position.
“It’s been great,” senior defensive tackle Finton Connolly said Tuesday, two days before Uiagalelei was let go. (Tuesday is the last day of the week media are given access to UA personnel.)
“He’s all about his players. He cares about us. He wants us to be successful. The two games (since) he took over haven’t been the outcome we all wanted. But people need to give him time.”
Senior defensive back Jace Whittaker described the past few weeks under Cecil, a former Wildcat, as “energy-filled.”
“He has done so much for the university and really has just stressed, if you love football, you don’t give up,” Whittaker said. “The record, the slump we’ve been in … you keep playing hard, and you finish it out.”
That mindset was evident against the Ducks. Even when the outcome had been decided, the UA defense battled. There were no signs of the negative body language that infected the defense against OSU and Stanford – no slumped shoulders or exasperated expressions.
“When things did get bad,” cornerback Lorenzo Burns said, “we kind of just flipped the script and stayed on course.”
Uiagalelei’s firing didn’t require a full flipping of the script. But it at least mandated some last-minute rewrites.
Out with a bang?
Senior night can be a powerful force. When Arizona upset No. 10 Utah in 2015 … it was senior night. When the UA defeated Arizona State to end an eight-game losing streak in 2016 … it was senior night.
“Some guys are never gonna set foot on a football field again,” junior linebacker Tony Fields II said. “I’ve been talking to the team as much as I can: ‘Let’s let these seniors go out with a bang.’ ”
That notion of cranking it up for one last shot can permeate a team. Fields has another year of eligibility. But he formed a bond with Whittaker, who hosted Fields on his official visit.
Burns, who also has one more year of eligibility, is roommates with senior safety Tristan Cooper and close friends with Whittaker.
“You’re happy for them,” Burns said. “But at the same time, you’re going to miss them.”
Whittaker was supposed to experience senior night a year ago. But injuries forced him to miss almost the entire season. He elected to come back for a fifth year and said he has no regrets, even though the team has fallen short of expectations.
“It hasn’t gone well,” said Whittaker, the lone remaining Wildcat who played in the 2015 upset of Utah. “But you’ve got to enjoy the few games you have left playing this game. The game isn’t forever. It can be taken from you at any time.”
It appeared Connolly’s senior season might be cut short when he hyperextended his elbow against USC on Oct. 19. Connolly tried to stay in the game but couldn’t.
He returned the following week with his arm heavily wrapped and hasn’t missed a game since.
“I was just thinking in my head, ‘It’s my last-ever time playing college football. I just want to make the most of every possible game that I get,’ ” Connolly said.
Saturday night will be Connolly’s last game at Arizona Stadium. He is hopeful it goes something like the last time Arizona hosted Utah. The Wildcats lost 30-24 on Sept. 22, 2017. But Connolly recorded his first career sack, sharing it with fellow lineman Larry Tharpe Jr.
Would Connolly like to relive that moment?
“It would be awesome,” he said. “I can’t wait.”
