Saturday’s not-so-notable halftime scores:
Oklahoma 35, Maine 7; UAB 45, Tulsa 7; NC State 31, Stanford 14; UCF 35, Arizona 6.
Such is the neighborhood Arizona’s football team finds itself.
With Maine, 2-9 each of the last two seasons, including a 55-21 loss to Monmouth this season.
With Tulsa, 12-21 the last 3 1/2 years and which gave up 101 points in back-to-back losses to North Texas and Army this season.
With Stanford, 9-34 the last three seasons and with six straight losses.
This entry is part of longtime Star columnist Greg Hansen's weekly notebook. Looking for more? Find updates and Greg's archive at Tucson.com/Hansen.
Can life get worse for Arizona than it was in Saturday’s 56-12 calamity at UCF? It can. A season-ending loss to the Sun Devils would make the misadventure in Florida seem painless.
But I am not in the Brent Brennan-must-go camp. Why? Two reasons.
One, when Arizona beat Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl to finish 10-3 last year, nine of the defensive starters that day are no longer in Arizona’s lineup, either injured or not on campus. The only two starters remaining from that defense are Tacario Davis and Dalton Johnson.
Jedd Fisch’s starting offense that day included just five players that remain active: Tetaira McMillan, Noah Fifita and offensive linemen Wendell Moe, Josh Baker and Jonah Savaiinaea. That means 15 of the 22 starters are not available.
Fisch’s roster was not built to replace them.
Central Florida quarterback Jacurri Brown, middle, runs the ball for a touchdown against Arizona during the first half Saturday in Orlando.
Two, Arizona’s 2023 record was and is misleading. None of the four Top 25 Pac-12 teams Arizona beat — Utah, Oregon State, Washington State and UCLA — finished in the Top 25. They all went south after losing to Arizona. The quality of opposition wasn’t what was originally thought.
With the exception of Oregon and Washington, the Pac-12 of 2023 was underwhelming. No one benefitted more than Arizona.
The Oklahoma team Arizona beat in the Alamo Bowl was seriously compromised. The Sooners were missing their QB1 and six other starters, who opted not to play in the bowl game.
Thus, expectations for Arizona’s 2024 season were built on a false foundation.
What coach is going to win with the personnel now available to Brennan? Not even Nick Saban or Pete Carroll.
Brennan must fill holes with backups. Fans blame him for the lack of quality backups, but that’s on Fisch. Fisch brought in a legit group of headliners in 2022, but he also brought in a lot of failed prospects and transfers.
Arizona’s demise isn’t all coaching. It’s the lack of available talent. Brennan, hired in mid-January, had almost no time to add quality to the roster. Many have forgotten that Fisch’s recruiting Class of ’23 was average, if that.
But, yes, it’s on Brennan to dig out of an unexpected reconstruction project that will be as difficult as the one Mike Stoops faced when he replaced John Mackovic 20 years ago.
It took Stoops two painful 3-8 seasons until he finally hit .500. Brennan is walking the same path.
