Arizona Wildcats Blow Chance to Move Into National Rankings With Loss
Everything the Arizona Wildcats needed to move into the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday was in place before they even played the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Aside from the complete chaos in the Top 10, the No. 25 team in the country lost. The UNLV Rebels fell on Friday to Syracuse. The loss was important for Arizona because the Wildcats received 106 points after their upset of Utah last Saturday.
The Wildcats were the team directly behind the Rebels in the poll. Theoretically, all Arizona had to do was beat the Red Raiders in their Big 12 home opener and slide back into the Top 25 where they started the season and moved all the way up to No. 20 before their loss to Kansas State.
Well, about that …
The Wildcats were unable to pull off the win, as they fell to the Red Raiders, 28-19. It was a letdown game to be sure and now any shot Arizona had of getting back into the Top 25 is done — at least for now.
It’s a shame because it was such a chaotic week in the Top 25 that the Wildcats could have not only moved back into the Top 25, but possibly close to their No. 20 rankings after the first two weeks of the season.
The stunners were focused on the SEC and the Big Ten.
No. 1 Alabama fell to Vanderbilt, 40-35, in Nashville in an unprecedented upset. The Commodores beat a No. 1 team for the first time in its history. The win reverberated throughout Nashville, as Vandy fans tore down a goal post and walked it nearly three miles through town, including a trek down busy Broadway Avenue and dumped it in the Cumberland River.
While those fans were walking the goalposts to the river, No. 4 Tennessee was taking its first loss of the season, as the Volunteers went to unranked Arkansas and was upset, 19-14.
The third SEC team to fall was No. 9 No. 9 Missouri, which dropped from the ranks of the undefeated teams with an awful 41-10 road loss to No. 25 Texas A&M in the sweltering sun in College Station. The Tigers are sure to drop out of the Top 10 now.
In the Big Ten, No. 10 Michigan faced down Washington in a rematch of last year’s national championship game. The Huskies got some measure of revenge with a 27-17 win. Later, No. 11 USC found itself on the losing end against unranked Minnesota, 24-17.
Arizona had its shot to get back in the Top 25. But the Wildcats couldn’t close the deal in the desert.
