Arizona Wildcats Drop Out of Top 50 in Latest College Football Power Rankings
The Arizona Wildcats under first-year head coach Brent Brennan continue to struggle their way through the 2024 season with their most recent loss coming at the hands of Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes by a score of 34-7.
It marked the second time the Wildcats have been held to seven or fewer points this year, with the first coming against the Kansas State Wildcats for the first loss of Brennan's tenure in Arizona.
The Wildcats scored their seven points in the first quarter of Saturday's contest, cutting an early 14-0 deficit in half, but could not put any more points on the board with their offense, despite the defense holding the Buffaloes to only six points in the second half.
Saturday marked Arizona's third consecutive loss and gave them a 3-4 record on the year with only five games remaining to try and become bowl-eligible.
The loss also marked another drop in the rankings for the Wildcats, with Chris Vannini of The Athletic ranking the team 55th this week after having them in 43rd the week prior.
The schedule does get easier for Arizona down the stretch, with matchups against the West Virginia Mountaineers (75th), the UCF Knights (67th), the Houston Cougars (89th), and the TCU Horned Frogs (71st), all opponents ranked lower than the Wildcats in these same power rankings, before finishing the year with the Arizona State Sun Devils (34th), who are ranked much higher.
The offensive line failed the Wildcats and quarterback Noah Fifita Saturday, who otherwise performed as best as he could while being sacked seven times.
Fifita went 16-for-26 Saturday, for 138 yards with one touchdown and one interception, while also managing 24 yards on the ground on 12 attempts.
His season as a whole continues to disappoint, as he has now reached double digits for his interception total (10), with only nine touchdowns and 1,774 yards.
It is a massive drop off in production for the redshirt sophomore, who threw for 2,869 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions last year with a 72.4 completion percentage.
Arizona as a whole has seen a massive drop off in production, as this team played to a 10-3 record in 2023, finishing the campaign ranked 11th in the country and third in the PAC-12.
The conference realignment has shown just how weak the PAC-12 conference was, even compared to the Big 12, who are consistently the little brothers of the SEC and Big 10.
The Wildcats do still have time to become bowl-eligible, and a schedule that leaves them every opportunity to do so.
We now just have to wait and see if they have the capability.
