2024 Season Thread

[azgreg]

[KaibabKat]

Just do not open the 2024 season at Happy Valley!

[Merkin]

Am I missing something? Won't UA end up 3rd in every scenario?

Never been good at math though.

[azgreg]

Am I missing something? Won't UA end up 3rd in every scenario?

Never been good at math though.

Three of the four teams playing today will end the season with a lose.

[arizonawildcats]

[CalStateTempe]

I like but I don’t like…

[CalStateTempe]

First game of my college experience was Penn St.

[Merkin]

I'd settle for the first sole conference championship since the 1940's Border Conference.

No Rose Bowl appearances really sticks in my craw. Been waiting since a freshman in 1981.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Love the fact that with the final rankings out, the book is now closed on Pac-12 football. The judges and accountants can figure out who gets what in terms of monetary distributions, just like dealing with a dead relative's estate. So, now, the next big football calendar event is Big XII Football Media Days in mid-July. They'll do it in Las Vegas on what is supposedly due to a schedule conflict, but I'd like to hope it's on more of a trial basis to see how everybody likes it. We'll see. In terms of predictions, I'm kind of a schedule-driven type, and we still don't know dates and locations of our conference games. We'll also have unknowns in a new DC, and we'll see what happens with personnel between now and the season opener. But, after our win over Oklahoma, the "way too early" pre-season predictions all seem to have us in their Top Ten and the favorite to win the league, ahead of Utah, Oklahoma St, Kansas St, and Kansas. I'm skeptical, but we might as well enjoy the ride and the view from the top of the roller coaster while we're up there.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Our all-time records with Big XII teams, with the context that a number of games were played a long time ago and under very different circumstances.

[Merkin]

I thought TCU was in the WAC with the UA, but looking them up, they only shared one season.

Quite a beat down by Texas Tech over the years.

Looking them up, Texas Technological College won the Border Conference 16 times.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Arizona started out in its first 20 games (beginning in 1932) going 1-18-1 against Texas Tech. From the period where they joined the Southwest Conference (1959) and prior to Arizona joining the Pac, the record was 2-6. Long ago and far away. Then came the split in the 5 games over the most recent 45 years. To show how relatively primitive things were, back in the early 70s, Tech was considered the "big time" non-conference game. When Arizona ended a four-game losing streak to them in 1975, it was almost bigger than beating ASU. People were delirious like it was VE Day. I met a salesman from Lubbock in a bar once, and he thought it was hilarious that TT could have caused anybody that much consternation. Historically, there was some bad blood. Arizona's first black player was Fred Batiste in 1949. At first, he wasn't even allowed to play in Texas. Tech recruited its first black player almost 20 years later. Regardless, that was then, and this is now. We'll have plenty of interesting matchups in the Big XII.

[EastCoastCat]

I think I saw TT beat or tie UofA in the early ‘80s and recall people saying “yeah they always beat us”.

[TheCatInTheHat]

So I watched the 60-minute version of the Alamo Bowl as a lead-in to our women's hoops game at Corvallis. Just a random observation that, over the years, rather than embracing our successes, the Pac executive leadership almost seemed annoyed by them. Whether it was officiating and scheduling in football, throwing us under the bus to provide late-night fodder for TV windows, the bounty on Sean MIller, or other disses, it kind of seemed like the San Francisco home office people were annoyed whenever our success (in Tucson, no less!) might have taken away from one of the LA schools with their 6M TV audience and their fruitless dreams of some kind of Pacific Rim media dominance. Meanwhile, the Big XII seems more like they respect and embrace us for our success in the most publicized sports. I like that. Death to Ming...and the Pac-12!

[Chicat]

Throw a ton of money at Brennan Carrol and see if he can keep Fifita and TMac on the squad, and bring in his dad as an advisor.

[Merkin]

Brennan like Fisch is a lifelong position coach although obviously younger. Brennan didn't even call the plays as OC for UA.

Can UA strike lightning twice?

I'd rather name Pete as coach and keep Brennan as OC and let him call the plays.

[84Cat]

It's going to be interesting to see where our roster stands after everything shakes out. We may be in worse shape than ASU

[Chicat]

I hate everything.

[dovecanyoncat]

I picked the wrong month to stop huffing paint.

[EastCoastCat]

We can never have good things.

[KillerKlown]

Just beat ASU. That's all that matters again. All the rest is just extra.

[ASUHATER!]

So probably gonna go from the big 12 preseason favorite and top 15 preseason to probably fighting to go 6-6 next year after we lose our whole roster.

[ASUHATER!]

It's going to be interesting to see where our roster stands after everything shakes out. We may be in worse shape than ASU

Yeah we may be left with just dregs again. Wouldn't be surprised if we don't even go bowling next year now

[Merkin]

That's why the names mentioned won't win the press conference.

Not sure the desire for Brent Brennan. Dude is 34–48, and never won a bowl game, going 0-3.

Not going to keep any skilled players playing for him. Now Pete Carroll....

[RawleArenas]

I think Brennan is a solid person, but everything about the hire screams downgrade. I can never understand why fans are more concerned about loyalty than winning. Given the amount we're paying, there are a lot of average coaches that would be loyal to Tucson as long as they're cashing those paychecks. I'm not convinced that Brennan has the chops to be competitive in the Big 12. Having an affection for Tucson is not enough to be coach here, you have to be able to steer this program in the right direction. It would have been a much better strategy to look for an excellent FCS coach or nab a hungry NFL assistant that was ready to make the jump. Or just get Nansen. With Brennan there are too many question marks for me to feel comfortable with the hire. Does he even have a vision for what we could be?

The reason why Fisch hurts so much is that he had ridiculous buy in from the community, fans and alumni. It's rare, but we had jaded fans excited about football again, which is no small feat. You can spare me the 'business decision' aspect of the hire because if he actually ate the cake that he was baking for next year with Arizona, he would have had his choice of prime spots to land. The 2-2.5 million he would have missed out on would have been repaid many times over with the goodwill of the fanbase and the loyalty and respect of his players. Fisch's situation was far better than Deboer's if he had stayed in Seattle. Fisch is in the reputation business, and the culture he was promoting 'NFL over NIL' falls on deaf ears now that he has shown that he will sacrifice relationships for money.

[Chicat]

As the guy who famously started the Jedd Fisch thread by pretty much ripping him apart as far as the possibility he could actually do a good job and turn the program around, I’m going to just stay quiet this time around.

Good luck Brennan. Please keep us heading in the right direction.

[Captain Obvious]

As the guy who famously started the Jedd Fisch thread by pretty much ripping him apart as far as the possibility he could actually do a good job and turn the program around, I’m going to just stay quiet this time around.

Good luck Brennan. Please keep us heading in the right direction.

Feel free to stay quiet more frequently.

[Chicat]

As the guy who famously started the Jedd Fisch thread by pretty much ripping him apart as far as the possibility he could actually do a good job and turn the program around, I’m going to just stay quiet this time around.

Good luck Brennan. Please keep us heading in the right direction.

Feel free to stay quiet more frequently.

Because you don’t like being called out for being a troll?

Noted and ignored. Back under your bridge now.

[dmjcat]

As the guy who famously started the Jedd Fisch thread by pretty much ripping him apart as far as the possibility he could actually do a good job and turn the program around, I’m going to just stay quiet this time around.

Good luck Brennan. Please keep us heading in the right direction.

I would personally feel much better if you were to call Brennan a worthless slug with zero chance of success

[Chicat]

As the guy who famously started the Jedd Fisch thread by pretty much ripping him apart as far as the possibility he could actually do a good job and turn the program around, I’m going to just stay quiet this time around.

Good luck Brennan. Please keep us heading in the right direction.

I would personally feel much better if you were to call Brennan a worthless slug with zero chance of success

That does seem to be the way to guarantee Brennan is a star. These coaches just love proving ol’ Chicat wrong…

[TheCat]

Jedd will be all in on our players. Washington only has 65 guys on scholarship right now and the portal in most cases is closed. Only where the coach has left does the portal open for 30 days. So alabama, washington, Ariz and a few others like San Jose State have guys that can leave with no penalty. He will be after our guys hard.

[EastCoastCat]

How great would it be if those guys gave old Jedd the big fuck you?

[CalStateTempe]

Too bad we cant get him for tampering

[84Cat]

It would be great to get Cummings to stay at Arizona

[TheCatInTheHat]

With luck, the cards have now finally been sufficiently shuffled, and we're full speed ahead...

[84Cat]

[dmjcat]

[dmjcat]

[Postmaster]

Not sure about Akina as DC. How much recruiting is he going to want to do?

[azgreg]

[Chicat]

Time to give to the NIL.

[azgreg]

[EastCoastCat]

Fuck yeah!!!

[arizonawildcats]

[azgreg]

[Alieberman]

The moment they all stormed the McKale Center floor was an unforgettable electric moment

So glad I got to witness it

[AZCatGirl]

Those videos don't capture just how fucking LOUD it got in there when we saw Fifita and TMac. Everyone lost their fucking minds and I don't think it was possible for McKale to get any louder. Just absolute insanity.

Brennan walked by my row later in the game and we all gave him a nice cheer. Dude has everyone's support now.

[Chicat]

We are so fucking BACK!

[UAEebs86]

We are so fucking BACK!

[azgreg]