Midseason Wildcats: Does the offense have a prayer?

The Arizona Wildcats are halfway through the season and it’s already time to start thinking about a Hail Mary.

You can rationalize a 3-3 start – playing at Kansas State on a Friday night is tough; BYU just missed so many chances against Texas Tech (it happens!), BYU is undefeated and better than expected – but when your eyes tell you something isn’t quite right with these Wildcats, it’s hard to argue.

But what exactly? And what the hell? Why us? Why now? This was supposed to be our year!

This is where things get even more complicated — because the ever-ready social media mob is ready to direct its fury, pitchfork in hand, at first-year coach Brent Brennan or whoever is bold enough to lead the offense , to judge.

In a 41-19 loss Saturday at BYU, the Wildcats definitely didn’t play well enough to win, although it’s easy to point to four turnovers as the primary cause of death.

“I think coming in here we knew the turnover thing was going to be a big deal,” Brennan said.

“And you know, we didn’t handle that very well. I think the turnover thing was a big deal. Especially when you have two possessions and turnovers behind you after halftime. I think there were periods where we played good football, but just not enough. You’re not going to come here and beat a team like that if you don’t play as a team and protect the football.”

Turn the desperation volume up to 11 this Saturday night when Colorado comes to town for a Saturday afternoon homecoming game. There’s still time to catch up with “Ave Maria” and fire up the afterburners in the back half of the schedule, which isn’t quite as daunting as the first half.

And yet that feels overly optimistic.

As I wrote last week, what is Arizona good at besides shooting field goals?

The defense was good enough, especially considering all the offense’s turnovers put the Wildcats in bad positions and will be without standout defensive backs Treydan Stukes and Gunner Maldonado for the rest of the season, who played most of Saturday’s game without Points leader Jacob Manu (targeting) and cornerback Tacario Davis were lost late in the game with an undisclosed injury.

Apparently everyone has an opinion about what’s wrong with the crime.

Did the Wildcats put together a bad offseason plan with new offensive coordinator Dino Babers? Is the play calling, first with Babers and then with passing game coordinator Matt Adkins over the last three games, just unimaginative and, well, bad? Why do receivers still make so many wrong moves in the middle of the season, as Brennan keeps claiming?

After a 10-3 season in which Arizona averaged 34.6 points per game, the offense is simply “disconnected,” as coaches like to say. The Wildcats haven’t scored more than 23 points in a game since dropping 61 points in their opener against New Mexico. Gross.

That’s coaching, right?

What the Wildcats lost

I also conclude that expectations for 2024 are also out of whack. This can be ineffective coaching AND staffing at the same time.

The Wildcats still have wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (a potential top-10 pick in the NFL Draft), a potential first-round right tackle in Jonah Savaiinaea and quarterback Noah Fifita, who is coming off a brilliant redshirt freshman season. But …

• The wide receiver room isn’t as good as it was last year because Jacob Cowingthe perfect complement to T-Mac, who kept the defense honest, now plays in the NFL. Tight end Tanner McLachlan is also in the NFL, but it is Cowing’s loss that cannot be underestimated.
• The offensive group isn’t as good after losing its anchor, left tackle Jordan Morgana first-round pick of the Green Bay Packers. And the depth was challenged Raymond Pulido I’m not playing this season and Leif Magnuson while treating concussion symptoms.
• The running back room isn’t as good anymore after losing two players to the NFL (Michael Wiley And DJ Williams are on the training team). And then lead back Jonah Coleman followed coach Jedd Fisch to Washington and expected the No. 1 pick there Jacory Crosskey Merritt ran into an eligibility issue after the season opener and then Quick Luke decided to redshirt after four games. The Big 12 is loaded with great backs, and the Wildcats, especially Quali Conley, are…let’s call it “meh.”

With all this – and the coaching change – there is a desperate rush here.

Fifita has less time to throw, fewer open targets, can rely less on a complementary running game and is not helped by the play call. He was intercepted nine times in six games. In each of the last four games, he was picked off in the end zone or at the 1-yard line.

He tries to do way too much outside of his comfort zone.

“It’s just been another week of repeating the same thing over and over again, so it’s getting boring,” he said after the BYU game. “I need to fix a lot of things and get better individually. I mean, I’m just not even close to where I want to be personally and we’re not even close to where we need to be offensively. It’s up to me.”

Bravo to Fifita for trying to take the blame, but there’s enough of that.

So what’s next?

I tend to be philosophical about these things because I’ve seen bad seasons become good and good seasons become bad, and you almost never see it. The Wildcats may have blown the opening act of the season, but there’s still time for a Hail Mary ending with a twist.

Follow Anthony Gimino on X

Photo above: Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Chris Hunter attempts a catch against BYU. (Rob Gray-Imagn Images)