After getting a week off to lick its latest set of wounds, Arizona is back for the final push to try and salvage a season that began with so much promise.
Mired in a 5-game losing streak, the Wildcats (3-6, 1-5 Big 12) must win their final three games in order to become bowl-eligible. The first step of that journey is Friday night when they host Houston (4-5, 3-3) at Arizona Stadium.
The UA is 1-3 all-time against the Cougars, losing both ends of a home-and-home series in 2017 and 2018.
Here’s what to watch for when Arizona and Houston meet:
Post-bye adjustments
With very little going right the past six weeks, it makes sense for Arizona to go back and look at what it did during (and after) the first bye of the season to see what can be duplicated. That previous instance saw the Wildcats go to Salt Lake City and beat a then-unbeaten, 10th-ranked Utah 23-10.
Arizona had made a change in offensive play caller going into that game, shifting tight ends coach Matt Adkins into that role after offensive coordinator Dino Babers had handled that job the first three games. Brennan hasn’t announced any similar staffing changes since the most recent game, a 56-12 loss at UCF on Nov. 2, saying last week he didn’t think such moves would serve the team at this point.
That leaves either personnel or scheme that could be different with the extra time to prepare. Brennan said there aren’t any notable players who have been out due to injury that are back and could figure into the offensive and defensive rotations, only on special teams, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some changes in terms of who starts or gets the most snaps.
As for the scheme, two weeks isn’t enough time to re-invent the wheel. But it does provide enough time to maybe cook up some creativity, either in terms of trick plays or ones that had been practiced in the past but have yet to get onto game film.
Maybe that means more risks being taken? Like going for it on 4th down more often?
“Going into the game, I don’t have that thought process for that,” Brennan said. “It would be more about how it feels, like how are we playing? Are we moving the football on offense? Do I feel good about our ability … or do I need to play field position football?”
Last but not least, this will once again be a great opportunity for online body language experts to hone their craft. Countless times during the losing streak the comments sections and message boards have been flooded with declarations that the team has quit and given up, but Brennan and the players who have spoken to the media say otherwise.
“All we have to do is just keep swimming and keep coming to work every single day, doing what the coaches are telling us to do so that it relays to Saturday, and in this case Friday,” said senior center Josh Baker, whose first 10 appearances at Arizona in 2020-21 were part of the 20-game losing streak. “Just keep swinging. It’s going to break.”
Chase-ing the quarterback
Houston is one of the worst offensive teams in the country, averaging 15.2 points and 293.6 yards per game. But there’s one thing the Cougars do well when they have the ball: keep it in the hands of quarterback Zeon Chriss and let him run with it, literally and figuaratively.
Since Chriss took over for Donovan Smith midway through a 30-19 win at TCU on Oct. 4 the Cougars have been much more explosive on offense. Much of that has to do Chriss and his running ability, as the Louisiana transfer has kept it 52 times in the past 3-plus games compared to 46 pass attempts.
In the upset win over Kansas State two weeks ago Chris ran for 75 yards and a TD (on 22 carries) and was 11 of 11 for 103 yards and a score.
“We faced a couple of quarterbacks with legs, and those are always, in my opinion, the toughest quarterbacks to defend for that reason,” defensive coordinator Duane Akina said. “Their running game is a little bit different. Third and 10 is no different than First and 10.”
Arizona is allowing 169.4 rushing yards per game, fourth-worst in the Big 12, and this year it has seen mobile QBs have their way with the defense. And most of those instances were before losing captains Jacob Manu, Gunner Maldonado and Treydan Stukes to season-ending injury.
The job of trying to contain Chriss may fall to sophomore Chase Kennedy, who has started eight of nine games this season but of late has moved from being an edge rusher to more of an outside linebacker. The Utah transfer is tied for third on the team with five tackles for loss and tied for second with two sacks.
“I think Chase has a great combination of speed and length when he’s on the second level,” Brennan said.
Crowd considerations
This will be Arizona’s first Friday night home game since hosting Washington in October 2021. That game drew an announced crowd of 30,880, which was actually slightly better than the 30,677 for the Homecoming win over Cal two weeks later that ended the Wildcats’ 20-game losing streak.
But while that ‘21 contest had fan apathy working against it, this one has that and some friendly fire getting in the way.
The UA men’s basketball team plays at Wisconsin on Friday night, a game that tips off about 75 minutes before the football game starts. That is very likely to make plenty of fans opt to stay home and watch both games on TV than come out for a late kickoff involving a struggling team while the one that’s ranked 9th in the country is projected to win on the road.
In a very smart move, Arizona will show the first half of the men’s basketball game on the video board inside Arizona Stadium, with “select” second-half highlights popping up after football starts.
The smallest “announced” crowd this season has been 44,748 for the season opener against New Mexico. The last home game, a 31-26 loss to West Virginia on Oct. 26, featured a half-empty crowd but attendance was announced at 49,888 (second-largest of the season) because that figure is always based off tickets out, not tickets scanned.