“Lev it on the Field” is back for Game 10. It’s the Star’s unique look at Arizona’s upcoming football matchup and other happenings around the Big 12 through the eyes of UA beat reporter-turned-columnist Michael Lev. Away we go ...
Most of the time, I support the Big 12 Conference’s push for what Commissioner Brett Yormark calls “open air” — TV windows that have less clutter.
This Friday night is not one of those times.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
Arizona’s penultimate home contest vs. Houston will, at some point, be the only football game going. The costs outweigh the benefits in this instance.
Let’s start with the fact that there’s a UA men’s basketball game tipping off a little over an hour earlier at Wisconsin. Smart move by the athletic department to broadcast the first half on the video board at Arizona Stadium. But I can’t imagine that’ll put more butts in the seats for the football game. At most, it’ll inspire some to arrive earlier.
Arizona coach Brent Brennan has some encouragement for the offensive unit after the Wildcats put together a scoring drive in the third quarter against West Virginia on Oct. 25, 2024, at Arizona Stadium.
If the UA had any real say-so in the matter, it’d never be like this. But the schools don’t make these decisions; the TV networks do. They’re the ones who pay the bills. So, for the most part, you’re compelled to honor their demands, er, requests.
The 8:15 p.m. kickoff time is suboptimal. The game will end at 11:15 p.m. at the earliest. That’s a deterrent for Arizona’s oldest and youngest fans, plus anyone who’s considering driving down from Phoenix and doesn’t want to stay overnight.
Additionally, six Tucson-area high schools are hosting playoff games that kick off at 7 p.m., including Tucson High right down the street. The overlapping schedules only splinter the audience. A colleague suggested moving the high school games to Saturday afternoon. It’s way too late for that.
UA coach Brent Brennan said he’s “excited to see what a Friday night in Arizona Stadium looks like. ... Friday-night games always have great energy.”
I don’t share his optimism about that. More likely than not, the Wildcats will have to create their own energy in a matchup between two teams struggling to earn bowl eligibility.
I’m not trying to discourage anyone from attending, by the way. Arizona plays only six or seven home games a year. Those opportunities should be cherished.
But I wouldn’t blame you if you had someplace better to be.
Take that for data!</&hrdp2>
Nothing better demonstrates the difference in meeting expectations between the 2023 and ’24 Wildcats than their record against the spread (ATS).
The ’23 team, coming off a 5-7 season, went 11-2 ATS.
The ’24 team, coming off a 10-3 campaign, is 1-8.
The ’23 team won the two games it didn’t cover — at Stanford and Colorado. It won five straight games as an underdog before the oddsmakers finally adjusted.
Colorado coach Deion Sanders walks to the sideline before the Buffaloes’ game against Texas Tech on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Lubbock, Texas.
The ’24 team has been favored five times and has lost three of those games (Texas Tech, Colorado, West Virginia). It didn’t cover as a multiple-touchdown favorite against New Mexico or NAU. In retrospect, the lines against BYU (UA plus-3), CU (minus-2.5) and UCF (plus-6) were wildly inaccurate.
If for some reason you decided to bet Arizona to win every game last year — and to lose every game this year — congratulations on doubling your retirement savings.
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Going up: Colorado’s chances
Credit where it’s due: Deion Sanders has positioned Colorado to make a run for the expanded College Football Playoff. The Buffaloes have sole possession of second place in the Big 12 entering Saturday’s game vs. struggling Utah. If they win out — a Nov. 23 visit to resurgent Kansas is the biggest obstacle — they’ll be in the conference championship game. First-place BYU is CU’s most likely opponent. If their stars are healthy, I’m taking the Buffs in that matchup. Which would put CU in the CFP two years after Sanders took over the worst program in the then-Power Five.
Going down: Postgame complaints
UA alum Mark Harlan has done a great job as Utah’s athletics director. His diatribe after the Utah-BYU game was not his finest moment. After a controversial (but correct) defensive holding call gave the Cougars a chance to rally (which they did), Harlan hijacked the postgame news conference (which he wasn’t supposed to be a part of) and ripped the officiating and the Big 12. Harlan was fined $40,000 and released a pseudo-apology. The whole incident was the equivalent of drafting an angry email and not waiting 10 minutes to cool off before hitting send.
A question from my X
“IMO, a coach doesn’t need to be good at everything to succeed, but they do need at least one ‘towering strength.’ With (Dick) Tomey it was special teams, RichRod (Rich Rodriguez) it was the read-option offense, (Jedd) Fisch it was the QB position. What is Coach Brennan’s towering strength?” — @pmpaz65 via X/Twitter
Brennan is a culture- and program-builder.
The way he handled his first days as Arizona’s coach — keeping the team together without putting undue pressure on the players — was a prime example of the former. The way he turned around under-resourced San Jose State — 8-29 in Years 1-3; 26-19 in Years 4-7 — illustrates the latter.
I haven’t heard many, if any, accounts of dissension or finger-pointing in the locker room. The buy-in from the players seems to be complete and sincere.
The problem is, the on-field product hasn’t reflected that. And the team’s poor performance on Brennan’s watch — under an athletic director who didn’t hire him — has put him in a precarious position less than a year into his tenure.
Threads
Houston will don a standard road uniform Friday featuring white helmets with a black, interlocking UH logo; white jerseys with red lettering; and black pants. The Cougars are saving their best look for next week against Baylor — their Oilers-esque “Houston Blue” uniforms. The NFL at one point threatened legal action against teams co-opting the Oilers’ Columbia blue color scheme. It should have remained the city of Houston’s intellectual property when the Oilers left for Tennessee — and ought to be the primary look for the Texans, whose regular home and away unis are arguably the most boring in the NFL despite a redesign for 2024.
University of Houston student-athletes model the alternative “Houston Blue” color scheme the Cougars will wear for select games.
What he said ...
“Interesting.” — UA offensive line coach Josh Oglesby on what it’s been like patching together a banged-up unit
What he meant ...
“This has been a nightmare. We’ve lost three of our top six linemen. Our depth was shaky to begin with. I’ve had to play guys who just weren’t ready. I know it’s my job to coach them up. I’ve tried everything imaginable to make this work. Just when I think we’re starting to figure it out, we take a step backward. Our performance against UCF was unacceptable. We won’t beat Houston if we play like that again.”
The other side
Joseph Duarte, via the Houston Chronicle:
Two words won’t be mentioned much, if at all, in the University of Houston locker room this week.
Bowl eligibility.
There’s still work to be done, but the Cougars can take a big step in what seemed like an improbable goal against struggling Arizona on Friday in Tucson.
Coming off consecutive wins over Utah and then-No. 17 Kansas State, the top two teams in the Big 12’s preseason football poll, the Cougars (4-5) need two wins in their final three games to become bowl-eligible in Coach Willie Fritz’s first season.
The road won’t be easy. After Arizona, the Cougars host Baylor — itself in need of one win for bowl eligibility — and end the regular season at No. 9 BYU, which is in contention for the Big 12 title and a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
“I just try and focus on each game,” Fritz said. “We’re 100% focused on Arizona. I think that’s the way to do it. Everybody can say these what-ifs and all these other kinds of stuff. We’re not at that point in our program to do stuff like that, and I probably never will anyway.”
Pick to click (aka #fadelev)
Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson, left, tries to break past the sack by Houston defensive back Hershey McLaurin during the second half of their game Nov. 2, 2024, in Houston.
The last time we saw Kansas State, the Big 12’s other Wildcats lost to Houston. Before that, they needed a late field goal to edge Kansas. So why is KSU an eight-point favorite over Arizona State, which has the exact same record (7-2, 4-2) and has won two in a row and four of its past five? Because Vegas knows KSU is the better team. ASU probably should have lost to UCF, which had a 406-260 yardage advantage. The Sun Devils needed a late touchdown to hold off Utah, which was playing a quarterback who had a season-ending injury. Both of those games were in Tempe. Give me KSU in Manhattan. (season record: 5-3-1)
One last thing
It’s mathematically possible that the SEC regular season could end with eight teams tied for first place.
I’m rooting hard for this to happen. I want tiebreaker turmoil. The more coaching staffs, athletic departments and fan bases that are ticked off, the better.
In their power-grabbing greediness, the power conferences set themselves up for this. They super-sized their leagues and eliminated divisions. Yet two of them, the SEC and ACC, are still playing only eight conference games.
Even in the leagues that play nine, teams can have radically different schedules. Per ESPN, UCLA’s strength of schedule ranks ninth in the country. Indiana’s ranks 100th.
They both play in the Big Ten. They’ve had one common opponent (Nebraska).
If your team gets bumped because of a random draw — the tiebreaker of last resort — just remember: Decisions have consequences.
