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Arizona Football: Wildcats Bowl Game is a Bigger Deal than you think

By Miguel Gonzalez

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The Arizona Football team has one more big game left, and it’s just around the corner. The Wildcats will face off against the New Mexico Lobos in The Gildan New Mexico Bowl.

The Arizona Wildcats football team will play their bowl game in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The last time the Cats played in the New Mexico Bowl in 2012, they beat the Nevada Wolfpack 49-48 in a nailbiter. This bowl game will kickoff on the FBS Bowl season. Game time is set for 12:00 p.m. MST on Saturday, December 19, 2015. The game will be televised on ESPN and tickets are available on ArizonaWildcats.com.

New Mexico is not a new opponent to the Wildcats football program, in all, the Wildcats have faced the Lobos 66 times. Arizona leads the series 43-20-3, but the last game went in the Lobos favor in Tucson they won 36-28 back in 2008. The Wildcats have not beaten the Lobos since 1997 and have not won a game played in New Mexico against the Lobos since 1990.

The Cats will have head coach Richard Rodriguez at the helm for the game. We have heard a lot of mixed emotions from Wildcats fans caused by Rich Rod’s flirtations with an open South Carolina head coaching job (different story, different time). Fans can relax knowing Rich Rod will be in Tucson and stay a Wildcat for at least another season.

There will be recruits and potential recruits watching how the Wildcats football team represents themselves and if Arizona fans want to be involved in supporting and showing love for their our team. However fans feel about the Rich Rod outcome, they should put that aside and show up to the game in person. If fans can’t make that happen, they still need to be a part of the television audience.

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This game will be nationally televised, so the having access to the Pac-12 channel is not a pre-requisite to being able to cheer on the Cats.

As for on the field, it will be a much-needed 28 days since the Wildcats have had to play a game. Some of us here at Zona Zealots think it’s not as much time as we may have liked for our team to recover from all of their injuries. Probably the biggest name on the injury recovery list is Scooby Wright III and will he be able to play? 

The good news is, according to Ryan Finley of Tucson.com, Scooby Wright says he will play, “I’m going to play in the bowl game, football players play football. I’m healthy.” All signs point towards the fact that he will suit up for what may be his final game in Wildcats red and blue. That’s reason enough to go or watch!

We return to the fans who are upset or not entirely happy about Rich Rods decision. Wildcats fans have been talking about recruiting and future players possibly not having as many stars as they would like as USC has on their class of 2016 list. Fans also complain about their perceived lack of big name players and depth on the team. But the fans are just as much to blame as the coaches. Who would want to play at a school where the fans aren’t 100% committed to its athletes?

Only 4,500 Wildcats fans filled Arizona Stadium for last season’s spring Arizona football game. This is pathetic compared to teams in the Big-10 division such as Michigan, who enjoyed an estimated 60,000 fans who showed up to their spring game or Ohio State who attracted an all-time record setting 99,391 fans. Arizona State even ranks above Arizona in spring game attendance, getting 5,000 fans to attend their spring game, we can’t let that happen again.

Check out the stands in this highlight reel, where are the fans?

Wildcats fans seem to have a lot of excuses for skipping the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. First off, a lot of movies are coming out in December; the main attraction is the new Star Wars movie which hits theaters on December 17th, and people already have tickets for it. ZonaZealots writer Brad Malone will be going the first chance he gets; he has been counting down the days until the Star Wars movie comes out.

I’m not a Star Wars fan, but there are plenty of movie times, so I can catch the film before or after Arizona’s bowl game.

Granted, the 19th falls on the last Saturday before Christmas day and it’s understandable that you may be busy shopping, but you could use those three hours to spend wrapping gifts AND watching this nationally televised game. Don’t forget, it will be the last time you will get to see and cheer for the seniors.

There is also graduation weekend starting on December 17th and running through the 19th. If you’re like me, you might have someone close to you graduating and that is an acceptable excuse, as is having a baby or attending a wedding, etc.

My girlfriend is part of the Social Behavioral Sciences graduation scheduled to begin at kickoff time on the 19th. And many fans out there can relate to my predicament, but they may not have made a proposition to the family to watch the football game instead of going to the graduation. Yes, I did, and yes they properly shot the idea down. That said, you may see me running across campus to University Ave. to search out a TV as soon as possible after the graduation’s concluded.

There is also a pretty big Wildcats Basketball game the same night as the bowl game, and Mckale will need to be rocking as well. Tip-off for the game against UNLV is set for 7:30 p.m. MST. If you go to the bowl game, you should have plenty of time to go to the game then celebrate in a sports bar in New Mexico and catch the basketball game. Heck, you may even bump into some of the team hopefully celebrating their bowl win!

Do you remember how great that worked out for us last time? Maybe one of the best dual-sport victories in one day in Wildcats history.

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So we ask you, the fans, to make sure we are doing our best to support our Wildcats! Makes sure we spend the day showing the Wildcats and the nation how much pride we have in our teams, both of them. So BEARDOWN and let our team know we are here to support them till the end!

Let’s go Cats, time to win another New Mexico Bowl!

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