Why the ASU game is a must win for the Arizona Football program

The 2019 Arizona Football season came and went, and with the program looking like they’re in complete disarray, a win over ASU is now a must!

My what a difference a few years make if you’re a fan of the Arizona Football program. If you’re like me, the hiring of Kevin Sumlin to become the next head football coach certainly brought a bit of optimism.

Heck, expectations were high too, particularly as Sumlin had a pretty respectable coaching pedigree, as well as having a potential Heisman talent in Khalil Tate at quarterback.

Arizona Wildcats

However, injuries derailed the Wildcats’ 2018 season as Arizona stumbled to a bowl-less 5-7 record, and a 19-point lead that was blown against ASU to close out the year made some fans irate.

But perhaps all could be forgiven with a bounce back season in 2019, especially as it isn’t fair to expect immediate success for coaches entering a new program in year one.

Well, coming into 2019, the expectations were a little bit lower for the team, but nonetheless with a senior Tate at quarterback, the expectation was for the program to still be able to make a bowl game, and hopefully make a little progress towards the future.

Everything was at least looking promising from the beginning, especially as Arizona jumped out to a 4-1 (2-0) record to start the year, and at that point a bowl game seemed very possible.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the Wildcats are now in the midst of a six-game losing streak and the program has actually seemed to have regressed this season compared to last year.

And at 4-7 (2-6) on the season, Sumlin sits at 9-14 as head coach at Arizona, and the Wildcats are in real danger to finish out the year with seven-straight losses and absolutely no momentum heading into the off-season.

To say this game against rival ASU is a big one for the future of Arizona and in particular Sumlin, would be a huge understatement.

This program is trending downwards and look to now be about the worst program in the conference. Not really the direction you want to go if you’re trying to change the culture and perception of this program.

Granted two years isn’t enough to really establish a culture for any football program, however, when you take a bowl-caliber team and guide them to back-to-back bowl-less seasons for the first time since 2006-07, the concerns and sort of frustration by fans and alumni is more than warranted.

To make matters worse, it seems as if the two most recent coaches didn’t/ haven’t seemed to grasp the importance of this rivalry, and it shows in the Wildcats’ record, winning just two of the last seven match-ups.

Coming into Saturday, the Wildcats are a 13.5-point underdog, and the prospects of winning this Saturday don’t look good.

A win here would certainly help inject a bit of excitement back into the program and would help build a little momentum heading into the off-season. It would also provide a little favor to Sumlin in the eyes of fans.

However, should Arizona lose, well, it’ll then likely be a long off-season for Sumlin, with him potentially entering the 2020 season on the hot seat. Additionally, I can’t help but think fan excitement could also be at record lows if Arizona finished the year 4-8 with a loss to ASU.

Listen to coach Sumlin talk about his team heading into the Territorial Cup:

Anyways, here’s to hoping the Wildcats can end the losing streak and just get some momentum for 2020! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!