Sept. 8 (UPI) — Police are investigating the crash of a vehicle into an Elks Lodge Saturday night in Apache Junction, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix, injuring more than two dozen people.

“The driver is in custody, and alcohol was a contributing factor,” the Apache Junction Police Department said in a statement posted on social media.

The Apache Junction Elks Lodge’s Facebook page says there was an “open mic” night taking place at the venue when the accident occurred. All of the injured people were adults and were sitting inside the establishment, according to the Superstition Fire Department.

Ten of the injured people were transported to local hospitals and 15 other victims were treated for minor injuries at the scene, police said.

The Elks Lodge is on N. Apache Trail in Apache Junction, a city about 45 minutes east of Phoenix amid sprawling cacti fields and open Sonoran desert.

A photo released by local police late on Saturday showed a dark-colored full size pickup truck having come to rest near a stage inside the lodge, surrounded by debris, appearing to have driven into the building.

College football can be an interesting game sometimes. Top teams drop games to unranked teams frequently.

Arizona was almost the latest team to do so after they struggled against FCS Northern Arizona on Saturday night. Entering the contest, the expectation was for the Wildcats to come away with an easy win and have their starters sit for much of the second half.

Instead, Arizona was down 10-6 at half-time. They shut Northern Arizona out in the second half, winning 22-10, but it was far from an impressive performance.

Something must’ve been happening in college football in Week 2, as multiple high-level teams struggled and even lost against much lesser competition.

But at the end of the day, Arizona survived. If they hadn’t won this game and hadn’t won the Big 12 Championship Game when the time came, they likely would’ve been kept out of the College Football Playoff because of it.

Still, what happened? Why did Arizona struggle against a team they should’ve beaten by 40-plus points?

The clear answer was their offensive line struggled for much of the night. The line didn’t protect Noah Fifita, so he scrambled all game and rushed plays.

That’s an issue as the Wildcats head into Big 12 play next week, facing a top-20 Kansas State team.

“I think we need to evaluate on film and see how we looked, see if there’s anything we can do schematically or formationally to give us a better chance to find rhythm,” Head coach Brent Brennan said of Arizona’s offensive line, according to Justin Spears of Tuscon.com. “I also thought they did some good stuff and made some plays. We popped some runs when we needed to and had some good protection, hit some throws. But the consistency wasn’t what we liked it to be.”  

Arizona will also have a short week to figure things out. Their game against Kansas State will be on Friday.

However, while it was ugly, college football is perhaps the biggest sport in the world where an ugly win isn’t the be-all and end-all. The Wildcats’ focus was to go 2-0, and they accomplished that.

“We gotta go back to work,” Brennan said. “I’m happy as hell we’re 2-0 and we’ve got a big game on Friday night in a short week. We’ve got a lot of stuff to figure out in a short window.” 

It’s time to get to work as Arizona looks ahead.

ARIZONA – – We are hours away from Arizona Cardinals football… let that sink in for a second.

It’s been a long offseason and fans are excited to see the progress of this team from year one to year two under Gannon. The Cardinals added several solid-to-great players through the draft and free agency and the roster looks to be more competitive this year… well, besides the defense.

Regardless, fans are only hoping this team is fun to watch this season and they have quite the challenge ahead of them as they travel to take on Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

Despite it being a game that heavily favors the Bills, we still have a few questions we’d like to get answered even in week one of the new year.

Here are five burning questions we hope to see answered:

We all know how real the hype is for the fourth overall pick. The generational prospect has been compared to former All-Pro A.J. Green, making the expectations through the roof. However, he has that “generational” tag for a reason, and he should be able to show off why early in his career.

The question is how early.

The Bills secondary is… well, unproven I suppose. Technically, MHJ is also unproven, but this is a mismatch with the edge going to Harrison. Buffalo will need to double and bracket cover him all day to limit the big play ability… but will it be enough?

I’ve already said that Harrison is gonna go bonkers in this game. Here’s hoping he adjusts to, and dominates the NFL from day one.

Speaking of Cardinals wide receivers…

The second-year man from Stanford showed some serious upside as a rookie, posting 565 yards on 38 catches plus three touchdowns in 13 games. He also managed this with three different quarterbacks.

Wilson looked like the Cards’ best receiver at times last season, but he’ll be relegated to WR2 after MHJ. But this could be a very good thing for Arizona.

With Harrison commanding the attention of the defense, Wilson will get lots of one-on-one looks. With his size and playmaking ability, he could be huge this year. Think 2015 Michael Floyd.

How soon will Floyd establish himself as WR2? This Sunday is a GREAT opportunity against a rebuilding secondary with MHJ commanding the attention of it anyways.

The Bills recorded 54 sacks last season with five players posting five-or-more sacks individually. The team returns Ed Oliver, who is establishing himself as a top-10 defensive tackle who has gotten better each year in the league.

Although the leading sack artist, Leonard Floyd is gone, all the other key contributors are back and Buffalo loves to blitz.

With a mostly returning offensive line plus the addition of Jonah Williams at right tackle, are the Cardinals up to the task of slowing down this pass rush?

It;s a great test for a group that hopes to improve off last season last year, but talk about a difficult test out the gate.

How many sacks will the Cardinals grab in 2024? The team nailed 33 last season, which isn;t horrible, however the Cards have no true standout pass rusher and BJ Ojulari, who was projected to be the top guy, is out for the season. First round pick Darius Robinson is also out to start the year.

The group takes on the Bills, who host a more than quality group including three-time Pro Bowler Dion Dawkins. Along with Josh Allen at quarterback, who’s one of the hardest guys to sack in all of football, Arizona’s pass rush is outmatched to put it lightly.

The good news is Jonathan Gannon and Nick Rallis won’t be afraid to get creative and dial up unique blitz packages, but will they be enough? Heck, will they even work?

Arizona’s cornerbacks are basically brand new compared to last season. Veteran Sean Murphy-Bunting was signed this offseason to be the number one guy. He is quality. Across from him is Starling Thomas V with Garrett Williams set to play inside at nickel. Rookie Max Melton will likely see significant time this year, as well.

With starting safeties Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson returning, the team at least has great guys on the back end.

The Bills are rolling out Curtis Samuel, Khalil Shakir, and Mack Hollins as their starting wide receivers with none of them likely to break out now that Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis are gone. That leaves potential for the Cardinals to match up with that group and have a good game.

It won’t be easy with Allen tossing the ball around and making throws other QBs can’t, but sticky coverage from the corners will go a long ways in building the confidence of the fans and most importantly for the team.

The expectations are low for the secondary, but if they come out and have a good game it may give them the motivation they need to exceed expectations this seasonn.

Make sure to bookmark Cardinals On SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.