Arizona Wildcats On Wrong End of Most Surprising Outcomes in Rivalry Week
The 2024 college football season mercifully came to an end for the Arizona Wildcats in Week 14, deemed as rivalry week across the sport.
For them, that meant a matchup gainst the Arizona State Sun Devils.
It wasn’t very long ago that the Wildcats were the talk of the state, an ascending program ready to take the next step as they entered the Big 12.
The Sun Devils were seemingly directionless, winning only three games in back-to-back campaigns.
But this year, the script has been flipped.
Arizona has faltered and looks to be in major disarray, while Arizona State is thriving in the second year under head coach Kenny Dillingham.
It is the Sun Devils who will be playing in the Big 12 championship game against the Iowa State Cyclones, while the Wildcats couldn’t even reach bowl eligibility.
A punctuation mark was put on just how poorly things went in the first season under Brent Brennan, as his team was run off the field in Tucson this past weekend. They allowed their archrival to go on a 35-0 run to start the game before scoring and eventually lost 49-7 in arguably the most embarrassing defeat in a campaign that has been full of disappointment.
The lopsided score resulted in the rivalry game made the list of Bill Connelly of ESPN as one of the most surprising outcomes of the week based on projections heading into the matchup.
“Three of the four most (statistically) unexpected results were all in the Big 12. It wasn't a surprise that ASU overachieved against projections -- the Sun Devils have been doing that for most of the season -- but like Oklahoma State, Arizona packed things up after getting punched in the mouth,” he wrote.
With a 4-8 record overall, and 2-7 in the Big 12, there is going to be a lot of conversations about the future of Brennan.
His buyout is likely astronomical, but there will certainly be some people pushing for a coaching change after a disastrous first year in the new mega-conference.
After winning 10 games last season, this certainly isn’t what fans or many analysts expected.
The only real bright spot throughout the campaign was the performance of all-world wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
He set several program records over his three years in Tucson and looks poised to head to the NFL. Projected to be a top pick in the 2025 NFL draft, it would be shocking if he doesn’t move on.
His departure would be a massive blow to a Wildcats squad that struggled to consistently find offensive playmakers beyond him throughout the year.
