Arizona is one of five Big 12 schools that have been eliminated from bowl contention. That doesn’t leave a lot to play for in that final game, with one notable exception that favors the Wildcats.
While the other four finish against random opponents, including a Friday night battle of 4-7 teams, the UA gets to close out a massively disappointing season with a rivalry game. As is the case almost every year, Arizona’s finale comes against ASU with the Territorial Cup on the line.
“The ASU game is such a special rivalry in college football, and it means so much to everybody here, everybody at this university, everybody in Tucson and thousands in the state of Arizona,” UA coach Brent Brennan said Monday. “It’s Senior Day for us. There’s a lot of awesome young men who played a lot of really good football here and invested a lot of time and energy in this program. And so it’s gonna be great to honor them the right way.”
Arizona (4-7, 2-6 Big 12) has won the last two meetings with ASU (9-2, 7-2) and is seeking its first 3-game win streak in the series since 1993-95. Adding to the drama is the fact the 14th-ranked Sun Devils are tied for first in the conference and would play in the league title game Dec. 6 in Arlington, Texas with a victory.
That means Arizona can play spoiler, though Brennan doesn’t plan on including that in his message to the team.
“The mindset is, this is the biggest game of the year every year, and that doesn’t change,” he said. “Whether we’re bowl-eligible or not, all that matters is that we’re playing the team from up north. We’re all in on right now, this week, and what we need to get done to play good football on Saturday afternoon.”
Ranked to start the year, and projected to finish 5th in its first season in the Big 12, Arizona can end up no better than tied for 11th. A loss to ASU would match the largest season-over-season drop in wins in school history, matching the 1998-99 dip that saw the Wildcats go from 12-1 to 6-6.
After the loss at TCU, Brennan said his team didn’t get to feel sorry for itself for how this season has gone. He doubled down on that Monday.
“I think that’s something, I think in general, people have challenges that way when things don’t go their way,” he said. “Everybody has to make a choice. You have to make a choice to face the adversity head on, or not. And I think us as coaches, as leaders and mentors of young men, one of our number one priorities is to help them learn how to handle adversity and learn how to get up when you get knocked down. Yeah, we’re not where we want to be right now, but we have an opportunity in front of us that is incredible and special in every way. So what are you going to do when you have that opportunity in front of you? How are you going to attack the work that’s required to play good football on Saturday?”
With the season effectively over, speculation has spread online about players sitting out the finale, particularly ones expected to declare for the NFL Draft like receiver Tetairoa McMillan. But McMillan, who set the school receiving yardage record at TCU, said afterward he planned to play in the Territorial Cup and Brennan said no players have indicated that want to sit out.
Another potential early draft entry, junior offensive tackle Jonah Savaiinaea, is questionable to play after suffering an injury late at TCU. Brennan said Savaiinaea was “moving around well” at practice Monday but was unsure if he’d be able to go against ASU, and if he cannot then redshirt sophomore Michael Wooten would likely start in his place.
One Wildcat who will not play is redshirt freshman cornerback Emmanuel Karnley, who was ejected late at TCU for spitting on a Horned Frogs player. Brennan said Karnley is suspended for the Territorial Cup.