Arizona Wildcats Climb In Rankings, Can't Lose While Off
The Arizona Wildcats enter this week coming off of a bye, meaning that for the first time since September 28th, they went longer than a week without losing.
Still on a five-game losing streak, the Wildcats look to break out of their slump this week and improve upon their 3-6 overall record and 1-5 record in Big 12 play.
They will not have the easiest go of things, however, as they will be facing a team with a better record than theirs in the Houston Cougars who hold a 4-5 record overall with a 3-3 record in conference play.
While Arizona was off and could not lose a game in the process, the program saw a rise in their stock as teams around them in the rankings lost.
The Wildcats are not close to approaching the top 25, in the AP Poll, the Coaches Poll, or the College Football Playoff Rankings, but in Chris Vannini's college football power rankings for The Athletic, they now sit as the 77th ranked team after ranking 80th in last week's iteration.
It has been a rough go of things on both sides of the ball for Arizona, as turnovers and a porous defense have led to defeat throughout the year.
Many expected sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita to pick up where he left off last season when he threw for 2,869 yards with 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions on 241 of 333 passing in his redshirt freshman season.
Even with Tetairoa McMillan still on the roster, Fifita's production has fallen off, seemingly a product of the much harder conference, as he has thrown for 2,324 yards with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on 197 of 322 passing as a redshirt sophomore.
McMillan has gotten his touches still, though still far from enough for the team to be successful and utilize their best player as much as possible, but he has tallied 1,066 yards receiving and six touchdowns on 63 catches after putting up 1,402 yards and 10 touchdowns on 90 catches last year.
Defensively, the Wildcats rank 14th in the conference in yards allowed per game (394.8), 13th in the conference in rushing yards allowed per game (171.2), and 14th in points allowed per game (31.1), though they have been better at guarding the pass, ranking eighth in the conference in passing yards allowed per game (223.6).
It has been a season to forget for Arizona and first-year head coach Brent Brennan, and they are certainly happy that it is almost over.
