Audio By Carbonatix
No question, University of Arizona football has been lousy at best for about a decade now.
Alums like ourselves who pay attention to such weighty things quietly were suffering through yet another mediocre season until — Hallelujah! — the Wildcats throttled ASU down in Tucson a few weeks ago and then beat a very decent BYU squad 31-21 on Saturday night in the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl.
Will you step up to support New Times this year?
At New Times, we’re small and scrappy — and we make the most of every dollar from our supporters. Right now, we’re $15,500 away from reaching our December 31 goal of $30,000. If you’ve ever learned something new, stayed informed, or felt more connected because of New Times, now’s the time to give back.
This year’s edition turned out to be a very entertaining bunch, led by a pair of gritty little runners (Nic Grigsby and Keola Antolin), a bunch of guys who could catch just about anything hurled at by senior quarterback Willie Tuitama — what a game he had in his career finale on Saturday! — and an occasionally stout defense.
The Wildcats’ back-to-back losses to the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers in November had set the stage for a terrible finish, with potential defeats at the hands of archrival ASU and their bowl opponent seemingly a distinct possibility.
But it didn’t happen. Instead, once-beleaguered head Coach Mike Stoops is looking at a contract extension instead of another job. That could prove to be more curse than blessing, but we’ll see. Such are the vagaries of bigtime college football.
But an 8-5 record, a bowl win, and a rout over the Sun Devils make for a fine season from where we sit.– Paul Rubin
