Arizona Wildcats Continue Free Fall in College Football Power Rankings
The 2024 college football season ended with another dud of a performance by the Arizona Wildcats.
Playing against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Territorial Cup during rivalry week, the Wildcats suffered another blowout loss, 49-7. The game was over essentially before the first quarter was even over.
The Sun Devils received the ball first and immediately scored a touchdown on the opening drive. It was more of the same on the ensuing drives, as they reached the endzone on their first four drives to open up a 28-0 lead.
Arizona’s offense, on the other hand, was stuck in the mud. A 61-yard kickoff return was not converted into points as they gained zero yards on the drive and a 55-yard field goal attempt was missed by Tyler Loop.
That was one of two drives in the first half the Wildcats gained zero yards, as they also turned the ball over on downs once and had one drive with -1 yards gained. All in all, on six first-half drives, the team gained a grand total of 92 offensive yards.
Arizona State surpassed that number on their second drive of the game. They faced very little resistance at any point, as all of their touchdown drives were 63+ yards in the first half.
Given how poorly Brent Brennan’s group performed, it should come as no surprise that they have continued tumbling down the college football power rankings shared by Chris Vannini of The Athletic.
Arizona is now No. 75, dropping six spots as they were No. 69 in the previous rankings. The Sun Devils moved up one spot to No. 12, as they are in the mix for not only a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff but a bye in the first round if they can jump ahead of the Boise State Broncos, who are facing off against the UNLV Rebels in the Mountain West Conference Championship Game.
Arizona State will be playing against the Iowa State Cyclones in the Big 12 Championship Game, which will have major implications on the College Football Playoff field.
Coming into the campaign, there were some people who thought that the Wildcats had a chance to be a dark horse contender in their new conference. They fell woefully short of those expectations, as Brennan is already on the hot seat one year into his tenure.
With a 4-8 record and all momentum from an incredible 2023 season gone, it isn’t too much of a surprise drastic measures are being discussed by some.
