2021 Season Thread

Carcassdragger · Post by **Carcassdragger** » Tue Oct 19, 2021 2:20 pm

Chicat wrote: ↑Tue Oct 19, 2021 10:16 am I give all the credit in the world to the kids on this team who are still busting their asses every day in practice. I know they have to be hurt, sore, exhausted, and tired as fuck of losing, and I would not blame them for giving up.

To all those players still giving 100%, Bear Down! You’re Wildcats for life. Be proud of the effort and sacrifice you’ve made. I just wish you were on a better team.

An all time great post. Hope some of OUR GUYS(!!!!) see this.

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:41 am

Yeah, I coached on my son's little league baseball teams for a few years, and one year, due to a flaky selection process, internal league politics, and the naivete of the head coach, we were really bad. We had three or four decent, but not great, players, but the rest of the kids shouldn't even have been playing at that level. The losses kept piling up, and enough kids dropped out that we could barely play. Hard to keep kids from just glumly going through the motions when you've got a dark cloud over your head and it's not fun. So here's to the guys demonstrating their personal ethics and making the effort. It's not just a saying that you build more character through adversity than breezing along with ease. I guess Fisch gets a one-year mulligan, but it's hard not to recognize that our problems are mostly on offense, which he specifically owns. As to the "brain-trust" of Robbins & Heeke, it's also hard not to notice that we're dead last in the league in coaching salary, and you usually get what you pay for.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:45 pm

Oh come on Arizona, #2 on the bottom ten? You can't even suck enough to be #1.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... e-new-no-1

Postmaster · Post by **Postmaster** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 5:59 pm

Well when you have all first time coaches you should be paying top dollar.

Postmaster · Post by **Postmaster** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:04 pm

Merkin wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:45 pm Oh come on Arizona, #2 on the bottom ten? You can't even suck enough to be #1.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... e-new-no-1

Come on Merkin, I feel like a Tempe Normal student after trying read that.

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:53 am

Postmaster wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 5:59 pm Well when you have all first time coaches you should be paying top dollar.

I hope it's obvious the salary listing (which is just for head coaches, and Brown, Walker, and others have had long careers) refers to whether we should have hired who we did. We can either afford to compete, or we can't. Regardless of anybody's personal philosophy on appropriate compensation along the food chain, getting creative or lucky may work occasionally, but you can't rely on it to sustain a business or program. Our best head coaches in football and men's basketball were hired away from other reasonably significant programs.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:43 pm

U.P. Zona Fan · Post by **U.P. Zona Fan** » Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:32 pm

azgreg wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:43 pm

I think this is a bad idea, schedules might get really unbalanced and would you keep rivalry games every year?

I just see the possibility of the two best teams having one or 2 losses because they played the much harder schedule and then at least one team getting in the championship game after a cakewalk. Probably happens some now, but at least each half of the teams now are compared by how they performed in their respective divisions.

Good thing I'm not in charge.

Maybe they want to give Oregon a cake schedule every year so we can be in the playoff conversation as a conference after the first cfp rankings come out.

Postmaster · Post by **Postmaster** » Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:15 pm

Dodgers Giants overreaction?

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 7:01 am

I think it's even more hilarious we're this bad cuz this is actually our best defense since the division title in 2014.

EastCoastCat · Post by **EastCoastCat** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 7:25 am

I think they are saving up the big performance for the Cal game when I’m there.

Lucy - don’t move that football…

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 8:42 am

Is this the worst offense of the last 25 years (possibly of at least the pac 10/12 era)?

I think so.

We average 14.3 points per game. 5.9 in the second half and 8.4 in the first half.

We're dead last in touchdowns scored in all of FBS with only 9 in 7 games.

We're tied for dead last with New Mexico with only 2 rushing touchdowns.

We're 120th in the country at 4.7 yards per play.

126th in 3rd down conversions at 29%.

The only reason that were not absolutely the worst offense in modern college football is because our damn kickers have actually contributed more than one third of our 100 points scored this season.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:00 am

Also 125th in penalties.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:33 am

https://www.facebook.com/UnderdogSportsNCAAEdition/

Alieberman · Post by **Alieberman** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:21 am

Sumlin was a fucking disaster of a coach.

And yet we would be in a much better financial situation if we would have kept him for another year (or part of a year) and wouldn't be any worse on the field.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 2:34 pm

No wonder the UA offense gets gassed in the 4th quarter. Is it common to never rotate out your OL?

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/2021/10/2 ... C8NQK-6bDY

The Arizona Wildcats played 65 offensive snaps and 65 defensive snaps in Friday’s 21-16 loss to the Washington Huskies. Here is how many each player played along with their Pro Football Focus grade.

Offense
RG Josh Baker, 65 (55.6)
RT Paiton Fears, 65 (45.2)
LT Jordan Morgan, 65 (46.1)
C Josh McCauley, 65 (60.5)
LG Donovan Laie, 65 (45.6)
QB Will Plummer, 64 (50.3)

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 2:48 pm

I still believe that with a serviceable QB we'd be sitting at 3-4 right now.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:06 pm

Looking at this:

https://arizonawildcats.com/documents/2 ... _22_21.PDF

We didn't rotate much on either line.

dovecanyoncat · Post by **dovecanyoncat** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 6:34 pm

Is rotation made moot? I mean, how fresh do your legs need to be to take your turn in the barrel?

Maybe it's a beatings will continue until morale improves sort of thing.

(Do I need to mention that I'm joking?)

DrWildcat · Post by **DrWildcat** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:26 pm

Merkin wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 2:34 pm No wonder the UA offense gets gassed in the 4th quarter. Is it common to never rotate out your OL?

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/2021/10/2 ... C8NQK-6bDY

The Arizona Wildcats played 65 offensive snaps and 65 defensive snaps in Friday’s 21-16 loss to the Washington Huskies. Here is how many each player played along with their Pro Football Focus grade.

Offense
RG Josh Baker, 65 (55.6)
RT Paiton Fears, 65 (45.2)
LT Jordan Morgan, 65 (46.1)
C Josh McCauley, 65 (60.5)
LG Donovan Laie, 65 (45.6)
QB Will Plummer, 64 (50.3)

I’ve never heard or seen any team rotate guys on the OL.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:21 am

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:29 am

How soon until this?

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:51 am

Not long I'm sure. We are the new Kansas football.

Carcassdragger · Post by **Carcassdragger** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:54 am

I'm holding out until they offer to pay us to see their product.

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:24 am

scumdevils86 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:51 am Not long I'm sure. We are the new Kansas football.

Sad, but true.

EastCoastCat · Post by **EastCoastCat** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:39 am

I have good seats for the Cal game when I come to town.

Would it be possible to downgrade them so I don’t have to watch this team so closely?

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:04 am

You should be able to sit anywhere you want

Alieberman · Post by **Alieberman** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:09 am

scumdevils86 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:04 am You should be able to sit anywhere you want

I choose to sit on my couch watching Netflix

KaibabKat · Post by **KaibabKat** » Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:54 pm

The new AP top 25 football poll is out. Arizona isn't on it. JFYI

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:51 am

So the Cal game will kick off for Homecoming at noon. That's a nice change, after God knows how many night home games in a row. But I don't know how many people will bother, and now they can say it's too hot.

You can't lay all of this at Fisch's feet, although he lost most people's sympathy with the completely unnecessary NAU loss, which wouldn't have happened with a more experienced head coach. But, the meddling Robbins and Heeke get full responsibility. I kind of get firing RichRod for three reasons: 1.) Even though the claimant's case was dismissed these many years later, it happened at the peak of #MeToo on a college campus. 2.) He hadn't recruited well and was clearly looking around for a safe landing place, whether it was South Carolina, Virginia Tech, or some place else (now Lousiana Monroe.) 3.) My unimpeachable source who worked in the athletic department tells me he was a jerk. But, while you didn't like him, didn't like where the program was probably heading, and didn't want the dark cloud over the program, you didn't have to fire him. And certainly not for an incompetent with very significant personal problems.

So here we are, four years after RichRod at the absolute low point of Arizona's Pac-era football history. I won't use won-loss or other stats from the WAC years or previous to that, because it was a different era of no A/C in weight rooms, wooden snow fencing for crowd control, and splintered wooden bleachers, at least into the 70s. Also a different caliber of competition. So what if we could beat UTEP and New Mexico State and their ilk? But, we've been in the Pac now for 44 years. When I'd leave at halftime to drink in the tailgate parking lot with a buddy during the Mackovic years and during the slow Stoops re-build, we assured ourselves that something like that was a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy that could never happen again. After all, look at what Smith and Tomey had done with even less.

Thanks, Robbins & Heeke. I "Wonder" when you'll both be out of here.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:17 pm

Sid · Post by **Sid** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:40 am

azgreg wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:17 pm

He was in our pop up medical tent forever.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 1:29 pm

azgreg wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:17 pm

Out for Cal per Scheer and Lev.

AzCatFan2 · Post by **AzCatFan2** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 1:59 pm

Better MCL than ACL. MCL takes weeks to recover. ACL months. And best to wait until Jamarye is fully healthy before he plays again. It's not like we have anything to play for except pride, and no reason to risk any further injury with Joiner. Even if it limits us even further at the QB situation.

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 4:29 pm

This is another of those "you're not allowed to say it or you'll get jumped because it goes against the laws of nature" topics. So it's comforting to stick with "the refs are always right", or at least "bad calls go against both teams and even out", etc. I'll just point out that the nationally respected Michael Lev went out of his way to identify, review on DVR, and refute a number of key calls and officiating explanations that went against Arizona in the USC game. With our depth and talent level, we've got zero margin of error. And, just to take it up a notch, there was plenty of documented commentary by league types at the time Kliavkoff took over as commissioner about how important it is for the league that USC football does well. I didn't like that thought process then, and I'm never going to like it. The vast majority of people I respect agree that Pac-12 officiating is horrific, particularly in the big two sports.

Carcassdragger · Post by **Carcassdragger** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:14 am

I get your point but the number one issue in the culture of officiating is to get the call right. Close behind is the recognotion that anybody can blow a call.

I'm dubious that there is any kind of conspiracy between the PAC 12 and officials to bias anything. Better well coached teams play better.

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 11:06 am

This isn't a hill to die on for me, any more than commenting on unjustifiably arrogant media types; those are just occasional topics of conversation. I've usually tried to only raise officiating issues after we'd win...but it HAS been two years now. I fully understand that good teams don't get many calls for false starts, late hits, etc, and that we have way too much of that. But while I'm never going to watch a replay of any loss, period; since Lev's willing to do it and break down the video on bad calls in reasonable overall context, I think he's got pretty good credibility. And it's a little hard to understand a blown call in which a ref feels compelled to throw a flag and negate a big play because he says Berryhill was an 8th man on the line when the replay clearly shows he was correctly lined up in the slot. (Not that I have a long memory, but it sounds like shades of Scott Piper in 1975.) I'm not pushing a major conspiracy theory or suggesting auditing the official's bank statements, but I think human nature is influenced by relative reputations, as well as knowing where your bread is buttered, particularly after certain public statements. I'd be happy with the quality of SEC refs in football (not in games against the SEC, but in Pac-12 conference games.) Whether it's better training, more money, or more accountability, there are a number of people who believe it could and should be improved.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 3:16 pm

Rumors of an alternate uniform for the Utah game.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 3:55 pm

azgreg wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 3:16 pm Rumors of an alternate uniform for the Utah game.

Is it a uniform combo where after the end of the game we have more points than the other team? Because that could be cool.

Jefe · Post by **Jefe** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:04 pm

Red out for the fans

Postmaster · Post by **Postmaster** » Thu Nov 04, 2021 5:47 pm

Carcassdragger wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:14 am I get your point but the number one issue in the culture of officiating is to get the call right. Close behind is the recognotion that anybody can blow a call.

I'm dubious that there is any kind of conspiracy between the PAC 12 and officials to bias anything. Better well coached teams play better.

I’m less dubious after the all the evidence we have seen with the conference.
We have the “jokes” about bonuses for giving Miller a T.
Wasn’t there something about league officials getting involved in replay?
I also think it was evident that Stoops got poked in the eye by refs, even if he brought it upon himself. (Not a valid excuse)

Carcassdragger · Post by **Carcassdragger** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 12:30 pm

Yes, I'm thinking the refs and PAC 12 administrators huddle around a candle in a dark room wearing hoods and capes and conspire to screw the U of A.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 7:43 am

AV8RCAT · Post by **AV8RCAT** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 8:03 am

Carcassdragger wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 12:30 pm Yes, I'm thinking the refs and PAC 12 administrators huddle around a candle in a dark room wearing hoods and capes and conspire to screw the U of A.

I think a lot of this, currently in football at least, stems from the coincidence that we always get called for penalties right when other teams need us to lol.
I can't go to the game today, so we will likely get our first win. I'll be at Utah though. As noted, this team doesn't quit, so I won't quit on them.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 3:30 pm

The losing streak is over!

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 3:49 pm

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 4:13 pm

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:27 pm

Well this feels weird.

Alieberman · Post by **Alieberman** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:35 pm

Gotta admit … I did start choking up watch Jedd in that locker room video…. It does seem like the team has not given up on him like many of us fans have

AV8RCAT · Post by **AV8RCAT** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 8:47 pm

Alieberman wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:35 pm Gotta admit … I did start choking up watch Jedd in that locker room video…. It does seem like the team has not given up on him like many of us fans have

Same.

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