Arizona Football comes up just short in upset of ASU

TEMPE, AZ – Arizona Football (1-11, 1-8) battled but the Wildcats came up short in their hope for an upset against rival Arizona State (8-4, 6-3).

Will Plummer threw for a career-high 346 yards and Arizona Football held ASU to just 14, first-half points but it ultimately wasn’t enough as the Wildcats fell to the Sun Devils 38-15, losing their fifth straight game to ASU.

Despite their awful record, there was plenty of hype and excitement heading into this game. For starters, Arizona was looking to avenge their 70-7 loss from the year before, and beyond that, it was announced that defensive coordinator Don Brown would be leaving the Wildcats at the end of the year for UMass.

Either way, in rivalry games anything can happen, and all week the Wildcats were preparing for their final showdown of 2021.

Arizona started things off competitive, taking a 3-0 lead, however, 14 unanswered points by ASU (thanks in part to a Plummer fumble) put the Wildcats on their heels.

Luckily, the team responded by closing out the half by holding the Sun Devils scoreless and converting on two successful field goals to make it 14-9 at the half.

Unfortunately, a big third quarter by ASU would put things out of reach for Arizona Football as the Wildcats couldn’t recover.

Arizona would make things interesting to begin the third quarter when they drove 54 yards on nine plays to make it 21-15. Unfortunately, a failed two-point conversion would keep the Wildcats at 15 in this one.

Trailing 31-15 with 9:49 to play, Arizona would have another opportunity to cut into the Sun Devils’ lead in the fourth quarter, but an errant throw by Plummer would be picked off by ASU and returned 87 yards for the touchdown to make it 38-15, essentially sealing the win for ASU.

With the loss, the Wildcats end the year 1-11 (1-8) and now pivot to a long, agonizing off-season in which they will need to solve a lot of answers, which includes improving the offense (offensive line mostly) and rebuilding the defense following the departure of Brown.