Whatever momentum the Arizona football team had built up is now gone.
After winning 10 games last season that was capped with a bowl win against Oklahoma, previous head coach Jedd Fisch departed for Washington which prompted the Wildcats to bring in Brent Brennan.
On paper, it looked like a great hire.
Brennan turned things around at San Jose State, which has historically been a hard place to win, to make three bowl games and finish in first place of the Mountain West Conference twice.
More excitement was created when multiple star players announced they were returning to Arizona, something that has become rare whenever there are coaching changes around the country.
But as the Wildcats enter their contest on Friday, they sit with a 3-6 record that has their postseason chances on life support, needing to win out or else they won’t even make a bowl game in a year where they were expected to at least compete for a Big 12 title.
Coming out of their bye week, Arizona might be motivate to get results, but the community at large might not have the same motivation to support the football program at this point on the calendar because of how poorly things have gone so far.
Another challenge to draw interest is basketball season has gotten underway, and with a team on the hard court who is seen as a national championship contender, there will be a lot of attention given to the ninth-ranked Wildcats traveling to Wisconsin for their first major test of the year.
Knowing that, Arizona is trying a different approach.
According to Justin Spears of The Arizona Daily Star, the video board in the football stadium is going to be used to show the basketball game while the football team is getting ready to play.
“To draw fans to the football game, the video board (112-by-47 feet) at Arizona Stadium will show the first half of the Arizona-Wisconsin game, then play relevant second-half highlights during the Arizona-Houston game,” he reports.
While that sounds head-scratching on the surface, it makes total sense.
Basketball has been king at Arizona for decades, so the administration has to do whatever it takes to bring the same types of fans to the football field when there is a massive matchup on the hard court.
With tip off being about an hour before kick off, broadcasting the basketball game certainly is a draw for Wildcats fans who want to support both teams but would have otherwise chosen basketball over football.
Still, that just shows exactly where this program stands under Brennan just nine games into his tenure.
It will be interesting to see what happens beyond this campaign.
There are some rumors that Brennan could be on the hot seat, and with their best recruit in the 2025 class decommitting, the momentum is long gone for Arizona football.
Winning three straight to reach a bowl game would certainly help in helping get this program back on track, but they’ll have to begin that quest on Friday with the basketball game playing during their warmups.
