Opinion: Arizona Football has to fix the discipline and penalty issues

With the first season under Jedd Fisch in the books for Arizona Football, one major area the Wildcats will need to fix this off-season is the penalties and discipline. 

With the 2021 Arizona Football season now officially over, it was certainly a difficult one to follow as the Wildcats endured a myriad of shortcomings en route to finishing with a disappointing and unimpressive 1-11 (1-8) record.

Granted, coming into the year, we knew things were going to be rough this season. The team had a severe lack of talent, they endured years of poor coaching and development, and there was also an established culture of losing, after all, the Wildcats had lost 20 games in three seasons before Jedd Fisch took over.

Those things were not going to be fixed overnight, as rebuilding a program takes time. And with where Arizona was at as a program respectively coming into this, we all knew it was going to be a long and arduous rebuild with several growing pains.

However, one of the most challenging things to see from a fans’ perspective this year, were the several penalties and overall lack of discipline from the team.

In the 12 games this season, the Wildcats committed 105 penalties for 845 yards, which ranked 126 out of 130 teams, also finishing 11th in the Pac-12, only ahead of ASU.

An area that is far more controllable than other factors that Arizona Football endured, however, the Wildcats desperately need to clean up the penalties.

Week-to-week, we saw the Wildcats plagued by the same mental mistakes, and to still make those same mistakes in week 12 as you are in week one is indicative of the failures of the coaching staff. It shows a lack of emphasis on discipline, and it put the Cats at a disadvantage at times this season.

Against ASU, where tensions were at their highest, the Wildcats let their emotions get the better of them as Arizona got themselves into multiple scuffles before and during the game, they were called for several personal fouls and even had a player ejected.

I understand emotions were high, after all, Arizona lost 70-7 the last time these two teams met, and much was built coming into this game, but the Wildcats were flagged 12 times for 96 yards.

That cannot happen unless Arizona wants itself to be known and have its reputation built on being undisciplined and uncontrolled.

Again, those are controllable aspects of the game of football, and it is an area that Arizona needs to clean up next season.