Major Takeaways in the Arizona Football loss to Cal

Despite jumping out to the 24-21 halftime lead, Arizona Football (2-2, 0-1) couldn’t hang on as Cal (3-1, 1-0) thumped the Cats 49-31. 

We are now into week five of the Arizona Football season, and despite the Wildcats earning the big win over North Dakota State last weekend, the Wildcats came crashing back into reality as they lost to Cal.

Returning to action to kick off Pac-12 play against Cal, the Wildcats were hopeful entering this one, especially as they had won the previous six straight matchups against the Golden Bears.

Unfortunately, Saturday would not be a day for the Wildcats as Arizona was out-gained 599 yards to 536, including 354 rushing yards to just 135. The Wildcats would ultimately fall to the Golden Bears by a 49-31 final.

So with Arizona Football now falling to 2-2 (0-1) on the season, we look at the major takeaways following the Wildcats’ loss to California.

Arizona’s Defensive Front/Rush Defense Still Needs A LOT of work!

For yet the third straight week, the Wildcats were torched on defense. Giving up 599 total yards, including 354 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground, Cal did whatever it wanted on offense. And no matter what the Wildcats did, they did not have an answer defensively for the Bears.

Granted a lot of Arizona’s issues are depth and personnel, but they have to scheme better moving forward and work on tackling drills a lot because Arizona was bullied in a big way yesterday against a “meh” Cal team.

The Offense got away from what it did well in the First Half

On offense, Arizona was nearly unstoppable in the first half, punting just once and putting up 24 points as they led the Bears at halftime.

For whatever reason, the Wildcats seemed to go away from what made their offense successful in the second half.

Credit to Cal’s defense for making adjustments, but overall, the team looked disjointed to start the second half, and after Cal was able to pull ahead at 28-24 and extend their lead to 35-24, the Wildcats couldn’t recover.

Arizona is not good enough of a football team to get cute and stray away from what makes them successful (particularly on offense), case in point, look at Saturday’s action.

The Wildcats are still not a very good Football Team

This time last year, Arizona was 0-4 and was coming off of a loss to Oregon. The team eventually went on to a 1-11 finish, their sole win coming against a Covid-depleted Cal team.

Unfortunately, Arizona is just one year removed from that season, and while the Wildcats had an impressive offseason, one recruiting cycle cannot fix years of sub-par recruiting and development.

This team is still very much a work in progress and bigger things are on the horizon for the Cats; however, Arizona fans need to continue to stay grounded and patient as we are just in year two of what should be a lengthy rebuild.

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