2024 Season Thread

[TheCatInTheHat]

It's a quid pro quo. There's a trust factor, kind of like when a small group of long-standing reporters are given some heads-up on military operations (which I don't agree with.) In exchange for the privilege of watching practice, it's understood that you're not to divulge information on injuries, trends on things like what plays are usually run out of what formation, trick plays, etc. Anything that would affect competitive balance; same reason opposing teams can't spy on other teams' practices. I remember Tomey having open practices, and he had a specific RB practicing third-down quick-kick punts. He did it against ASU, and they knew all about it, put in an all-out block on about a 3rd and five, and blocked it.

[Chicat]

It’s probably more unethical to divulge an injury without the player and program’s permission.

[Merkin]

It’s probably more unethical to divulge an injury without the player and program’s permission.

It's certainly illegal for the UA to mention any injuries, due to FERPA and HIPAA laws, so anything divulged at practice by UA staff and reported on would make the coaching staff personally liable, along with the school.

However, I do miss the old injury reports that used to be published every week for the benefit of gamblers.

[azcat49]

Must be a fine line between what the injury is specifically and the info that a player would be out. The NFL and the SEC both post a mandatory injury list

[PHXCATS]

HIPAA does not apply here

[Carcassdragger]

While we're on the media subject: Somebody else mentioned something similar, but I'm disappointed in what I can find on our team. Seems like most reporting is done just by taking notes of what a player or coach said after practice and spewing out the same info in an article. There is no analysis or insight from watching practice or noting a player's tendencies. It's just lazy reporting.

I'd love to hear from somebody about what THEY are observing in practice or what behind the scenes things are happening. Calling Winger ( or anybody)

[TheCatInTheHat]

Have you been following Justin Spears in the Star? I think he's done a pretty good job following on to Lev's approach. Not sure what's going to happen now with the supposedly closed practices, but he's covered most of the position groups and talked about who's up, who's down, different combinations, and who's made big plays and against whom.

[84Cat]

Here is Justin and Lev talking about how things are going

[PHXCATS]

While we're on the media subject: Somebody else mentioned something similar, but I'm disappointed in what I can find on our team. Seems like most reporting is done just by taking notes of what a player or coach said after practice and spewing out the same info in an article. There is no analysis or insight from watching practice or noting a player's tendencies. It's just lazy reporting.

I'd love to hear from somebody about what THEY are observing in practice or what behind the scenes things are happening. Calling Winger ( or anybody)

I think Scheer does this a bit on his podcast although I rarely listen to it

Current UA podcast rankings

Wildcat Country
Big gap
Wildcaster
Wildcat Radio2.0
Huge gap
Wildcat Scoop
Gap the size of three oceans
DFL AZ Wildcats

[azgreg]

[TheCatInTheHat]

Brent Brennan apparently specifically singled out the offensive line as an area of strength for the 2024 Wildcats. That certainly provides some level of reassurance to Arizona fans concerned about player losses and the injury bug in that position group. In theory, that's the first and most crucial area to build; the way USC's always done it, Woody Hayes at Ohio State, etc. If you can control the ball and the clock, you can hide certain other deficiencies your team may have and also have a chance to run out the clock in a close game. I get the theory, but I'll also note that Tony Mason, Larry Smith, and Dick Tomey all stubbornly kept running into brick walls trying to play smash-mouth against top-tier teams with mixed success while fielding undersized O-line units with limited depth. And our best teams weren't afraid to throw the ball. Obviously, with Noah, T-Mac, and a nice group of WRs, we'll still fling it. But with Dino Babers putting his stamp on things and looking at our talented RB room and some big TEs, there's probably a temptation to play it as safe as you think you can get away with. There can be some fool's gold there if you skew the percentages too much toward successful ground-and-pound against UNM and NAU, then get a rude awakening at K-State and Utah, etc. This is more an excuse for grist for discussion than reading too much into some "fill the time" coach-speak. They get paid the big bucks for a reason. I just think it's something worth watching for.

[UAdevil]

Just got my ticket to the home opener. NEZ. Getting stoked.

[dmjcat]

[TheCatInTheHat]

This sure ain't your father's college football anymore...

https://www.si.com/college/arizona/news ... %20company.

[Chicat]

This sure ain't your father's college football anymore...

https://www.si.com/college/arizona/news ... %20company.

”…the athletes will be allotted a set number of hours on Alerion’s jets for philanthropic use along with personal and team use, the company told On3,"

Sick

[Merkin]

So they can fly on a private jet to away games or to visit the folks. Sweet.

"While the full terms of the agreement were not disclosed, the athletes will be allotted a set number of hours on Alerion’s jets for philanthropic use along with personal and team use, the company told On3," Nakos reports.

[TheCatInTheHat]

New Mexico lost in Bronco Mendenhall’s first game as head coach, dropping a home game to a supposedly pretty good FCS Montana St 31-35. I guess, considering our loss to NAU a couple of years ago, and a close win against North Dakota St in 2022, we should suspend judgment for now, but I think we’ll feel pretty confident at home. Decent sized O-line, but nothing particularly dazzling about their offense. And their defense struggled in general. Their kicking game probably suffered from some high winds during the game, but they had zero punt or kick returns.

Side note apropos of nothing: They have Albuquerque's altitude listed on the fronts of their helmets, and "Desert Built" on the backs. I was a little mystified by it, so I looked it up.

OFFENSE:
QB 4 Devon Dampier SO 5-10 200 PASS: 18-26 172 YD 1 TD 0 INT RUSH: 34 YD 1 TD
RB 6 Eli Sanders JR 5-11 195 87 YD
WR 15 Luke Wysong RS-JR 5-10 185 95 YD
WR 18 Ryan Davis RS-SR 5-11 175 21 YD
WR 14 Shawn Miller SO 6-2 195
WR 7 Nic Trujillo RS-FR 6-1 175
OL 55 Jawaun Singletary SR 6-2 315
OL 56 Baraka Beckett SR 6-4 340
OL 66 McKenzie Agnello JR 6-4 315
OL 76 Wallace Unamba JR 6-4 330
OL 78 Richard Pierce JR 6-2 320

BENCH:
TE 5 Trace Bruckler RS-JR 6-3 245 34 YD 1 TD
RB 28 NaQuan Rogers JR 5-11 210 26 YD

DEFENSE:
DL 99 Bryce Santana RS-SR 6-2 300 4 T
DL 45 Kyler Drake RS-SR 6-3 285 4 T
DE 17 Okiki Olorunfunmi SR 6-6 250 3 T
DE 9 Gabriel Lopez RS-SR 6-2 235 4 T 1 S
LB 22 Dimitri Johnson SR 6-1 225 4 T
LB 24 Jayden Wilson SO 6-1 220 7 T 1 S
CB 1 Noah Avinger JR 6-0 185 14 T 1 FR
S 0 Bobby Arnold SO 5-9 180 5 T
S 8 Christian Ellis JR 6-0 200 11 T 1 FR
S 18 Cameron Watts RS-SR 5-10 190 4 T
CB 13 Bryson Taylor JR 6-0 175 5 T

BENCH:
LB 33 Randolph Kpai RS-JR 6-3 220 5 T

KICKING:
P 10 Aaron Rodriguez RS-SR 6-0 200 41.5 YPP
K 26 Luke Drzewiecki JR 6-0 180 1-3 LONG 45
KO 35 Charles Steinkamp RS-SR 6-5 205 3-6 TB

[dmjcat]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... nship-2024

[Merkin]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... nship-2024

Shades of Larry Smith, and Lute Olson.

He was set to coach a youth football team and get a haircut the following morning, after which he and receiver Tetairoa McMillan -- one of his best friends and a teammate since middle school -- were planning to head to Fisch's house for clarification. Sitting in the barber's chair, though, the alert came through on Fifita's phone: Fisch had accepted the Washington job.

[gouacats]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... nship-2024

Pretty good TMac quote here too:

"It would have been easy for us to just pick up and leave and go to Washington and follow them -- same coaching staff, same offense, same players, because I assume if we all left then everybody else would follow," McMillan said. "But it's like, man, for us it was like we've already started something over here. We're trying to not only be loyal to the community, to Arizona, to Tucson, but just continue our legacy that we started over here."

[Fishclamps]

Very cool article. I had no idea Brennan already had a connection to Fifita before they even met.

[Carcassdragger]

It's fucking first game week!!! Best time of year is here!!! Let's go!!!!

[TheCatInTheHat]

I'd say the only real surprises are walk-on Cole Tannenbaum as the backup QB, and true freshman Mathew Lado as the backup RT.

[Merkin]

Since it's his 3rd year hopefully they can put Cole on scholarship. Not sure if it's still the case, but if a walk-on gets a scholarship the first 2 years it counts against his incoming class, which may not have any left.

If son of millionare RhettRod who received tuition discounts being the child of a state employee deserves a scholie, so does Cole.

[Alieberman]

I just got tix for Oct 5 vs Texas Tech and Oct 26th vs West Virginia.

Seems like such weird games to be going to... but welcome to the Big XII I guess!

[Chicat]

Look at us…

[azgreg]

""60 minutes of Arizona Football!"

[Merkin]

[84Cat]

[Alieberman]

Just wanted to say.... I am super fucking excited for this football season!

Last year I was not able to enjoy the season at all and self banned myself from the Football Board here because of a player, a coach and a University Administration that all put "winning" ahead of what everyone knew was right. The irony is not lost on me that we could have actually had a better season last year if the grown ups would have just pretended to have had somewhat of a moral compass.

But now... The player is gone, the coach is gone... and we have a whole new administration.

BTFD!!!!!

[PHXCATS]

For course the disgusting slave labor company Nike is fucking Arizona again

[pc in NM]

I haven't been this excited entering a Wildcat football season since 1999...

...

[Merkin]

Just wanted to say.... I am super fucking excited for this football season!

Last year I was not able to enjoy the season at all and self banned myself from the Football Board here because of a player, a coach and a University Administration that all put "winning" ahead of what everyone knew was right. The irony is not lost on me that we could have actually had a better season last year if the grown ups would have just pretended to have had somewhat of a moral compass.

But now... The player is gone, the coach is gone... and we have a whole new administration.

BTFD!!!!!

Reminds me of the Matt Scott era. If he hadn't turned out to be a truly awful QB, we may never had seen Nick Foles on the field.

If JDL hadn't gotten injured, I will still be self banned too.

So yes, it's great to be back, with wonderful team players like T-Mac and Fifita and a head coach where this is not a stepping stone.

I really do wish the football worst for Fisch, meaning losing, nothing else.

[Carcassdragger]

Just wanted to say.... I am super fucking excited for this football season!

Last year I was not able to enjoy the season at all and self banned myself from the Football Board here because of a player, a coach and a University Administration that all put "winning" ahead of what everyone knew was right. The irony is not lost on me that we could have actually had a better season last year if the grown ups would have just pretended to have had somewhat of a moral compass.

But now... The player is gone, the coach is gone... and we have a whole new administration.

BTFD!!!!!

Reminds me of the Matt Scott era. If he hadn't turned out to be a truly awful QB, we may never had seen Nick Foles on the field.

If JDL hadn't gotten injured, I will still be self banned too.

So yes, it's great to be back, with wonderful team players like T-Mac and Fifita and a head coach where this is not a stepping stone.

I really do wish the football worst for Fisch, meaning losing, nothing else.

Damn I just dont get this at all. Matt turned out to be a damn good QB and mightve been a preseason All American if he had one more season.

Whatever. This is indeed a very exciting start to a season!

[wyo-cat]

I haven't been this excited entering a Wildcat football season since 1999...

...

I was doing ok until I read your post.

[Fishclamps]

Just wanted to say.... I am super fucking excited for this football season!

Last year I was not able to enjoy the season at all and self banned myself from the Football Board here because of a player, a coach and a University Administration that all put "winning" ahead of what everyone knew was right. The irony is not lost on me that we could have actually had a better season last year if the grown ups would have just pretended to have had somewhat of a moral compass.

But now... The player is gone, the coach is gone... and we have a whole new administration.

BTFD!!!!!

Reminds me of the Matt Scott era. If he hadn't turned out to be a truly awful QB, we may never had seen Nick Foles on the field.

If JDL hadn't gotten injured, I will still be self banned too.

So yes, it's great to be back, with wonderful team players like T-Mac and Fifita and a head coach where this is not a stepping stone.

I really do wish the football worst for Fisch, meaning losing, nothing else.

Damn I just dont get this at all. Matt turned out to be a damn good QB and mightve been a preseason All American if he had one more season.

Whatever. This is indeed a very exciting start to a season!

Matt Scott was fine, but he was no Nick Foles

[AZCatGirl]

Let's fucking gooooooooooo!

[AZCatGirl]

Ready to run through a brick wall for this team. Holy crap I love them so much.

[Chicat]

I’m dead serious when I say we should erect two new statues outside the stadium.

The first being a replica of the iconic Desert Swarm SI cover and the second being Noah and TMac. We honestly were staring down the death of our program. They saved us.

[wyo-cat]

Ready to run through a brick wall for this team. Holy crap I love them so much.

That’s crazy good. America’s team.

[azcat49]

That could or should be the intro video, at least part of it

[Carcassdragger]

I’m dead serious when I say we should erect two new statues outside the stadium.

The first being a replica of the iconic Desert Swarm SI cover and the second being Noah and TMac. We honestly were staring down the death of our program. They saved us.

These kids saved my Fandom. I just couldn't go through another years-long rebuild so soon after finally rising from the ashes.

[cerec_cat]

Couldn’t agree more

[UAdevil]

When they announced they were coming back I dropped $500 on UA to win the Big12.

[Postmaster]

1290 has been having issues with their program directors/afternoon hosts for a couple years now.

[dmjcat]

Just got back to the Holiday Inn Express in Oro Valley.

First game thoughts:

The offense looked good. Babers mixed it up well
Rhino T. looked good for a redshirt frosh at Left tackle'
We have not had any drop off at running back
We have not, yet, replaced Cowing or TMacachlan at TE. Someone other than TMac needs to step up

The defense looked undisciplined
As I feared we have had a drop off in DLine talent
The 2nd team DL looked like hot garbage
We missed Prysock
We have no speed on the Dline Edge positions.....we will miss Davis/Ward

My 8-4 season prediction looks a bit shaky.....6 or me 7 wins would not surprise me after seeing the drop off in talent on the DLine

[Fishclamps]

Naturally Noah took the blame for only throwing to TMac, but it's hard not to when he's constantly open and New Mexico doesn't feel like covering him.

[AzCatFan2]

When trying to figure out our D, remember, it was game 1 against an opponent playing game 2. Often, the largest improvement during the year is between game 1 and 2. We couldn't stop UNM the first half. But 2nd half, only 15 points, with the last 8 coming after a 3rd down stop negated by a unsportsmanlike penalty.

I also wouldn't read into TMAC getting the lion's shares of throws too much. Most of his receptions, he was wide open. And only one he didn't catch, he was double teamed. 1 v 1, and TMAC is open.

[azcat49]

Not sure how people can’t give credit to the other team and how they played. Wysong and Dampier were incredible last night.

We were very undisciplined on defense. Stupid penalties that extended drives. We continuously got caught inside and failed to seal the edges. Pretty basic stuff in football. Turn the ball inside to the flow of the defense.

Next week will tell us nothing so we won’t really know until we get to KState what we have. In the meantime I will take the win and by next weekend I think we will have the longest winning streak in the country come game time

[EastCoastCat]

by next weekend I think we will have the longest winning streak in the country come game time

As I was at the Big House last night, you are probably correct. Unless Michigan was sandbagging to not show Texas anything not sure how Michigan’s offense will score enough to win.