The Good, The Bad and The Ugly for Arizona Football

The Arizona Football team, unfortunately, dropped their 11-straight game on Saturday which featured a bit of the good, bad and ugly.

It has been roughly 72 hours since the Arizona Football played, and even though the team remains winless in this abbreviated season, there was a lot to take away from their 24-13 loss to Colorado. Especially ahead of their matchup against rival, ASU.

First the good…

Arizona Wildcats

The Arizona Wildcats Defense who had failed to create any turnovers all season got two interceptions off of Colorado QB Sam Noyer, and also got a fumble.

They also were able to create pressure on Noyer and get a couple of sacks. So early on, the defense played quite well, despite Jarek Broussard running for over 300 yards.

On offense despite the lack of scoring, there were a few things to be happy about. What I was most pleased about was the play of running back Gary Brightwell, who after struggling in the first two games, rushed for 113 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown.

As a team, the Wildcats rushed for 268 yards, so that was good to see, and you hope that continues into their game against the Sun Devils.

Of course with most UofA football games, there was plenty of bad to behold.

Just as they always do, our beloved football team found a way to mess up a good thing, starting with our defense.

Despite showing a lot of fight, our defense had absolutely no answer for Colorado’s star running back, Jarek Broussard. Broussard, who has been playing well all season, rushed for a career-high 301 yards on 25 carries, and the Buffaloes ran for 407 yards in total. That does not bode well for us, especially with a talented running team like ASU coming into town.

Then there was the downright ugly.

It is safe to say when it has come to Arizona Football this season, the worst part has been head coach Kevin Sumlin and the lack of preparation or development of his players

With freshman quarterback Will Plummer being thrown into the action, he has shown a lot of promise every week, particularly in his ability to run. However, like with many other freshmen, he very much plays the part of being a young and inexperienced player.

With another two interceptions thrown against Colorado, Plummer continues to struggle to find his timing and rhythm in the offense. Now granted he will improve with more development and opportunities, however, even despite the optimism, this offense still is not where it needs to be to produce wins.

Then of course there is our much-maligned head coach, Sumlin. When he was first hired here, expectations were high for the program, and those expectations have not been lived up to, to say the least. He never seems to have his guys ready to play, and that is a problem particularly when you have a backup in at QB.

If he can’t beat ASU next week, the program is going to have to consider making a change, even if it is going to cost a lot. Going winless against UA’s football coach is unacceptable, and going 0-3 against ASU to start your UA Coaching career is worse! Hopefully, we can change that and live to our motto next week, by Bearing Down and ending the year on a high note.

Wishing you well!

I want to end by wishing Colorado linemen Chance Lytle well after he was carted off against Arizona. I think I speak for all of my colleagues at Zona Zealots when I say we wish him the best.

At Zona Zealots, we’re hopeful the Cats can come away victorious this weekend, and as always, Bear Down and Beat the Fork out of the Devils.