Arizona

What’s next for Arizona football after disastrous 2024 season under Brent Brennan

Published

1 hour ago

December 2, 2024

What’s next for Arizona football after disastrous 2024 season under Brent Brennan

From penthouse to outhouse. That’s about the simplest way to explain Arizona’s 2024 season, particularly in comparison to the year before.

At this point last year the Wildcats were awaiting their bowl destination and matchup, riding what would become the longest active win streak in the country and at one of the highest points in program history, but six weeks later they were in need of a head coach after Jedd Fisch bolted to Washington and took a few of starters and recruits with him.

Enter Brent Brennan, a finalist for the UA gig in 2020 who had done a solid job at San Jose State but had never been more than a position coach at the power-conference level. The former Arizona graduate assistant managed to convince the bulk of the roster to stick with him, most notably the offensive duo of Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan and some top defensive veterans.

But that didn’t translate into anywhere near the kind of 2024 season anyone expected, with Arizona losing seven of its last eight and finishing with a 4-8 record, 2-7 in its first season in the Big 12 Conference.

Now comes an incredibly important offseason, one in which Brennan—who will be back for a second season, athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois confirmed Sunday—must retain his team’s best talent while also load up on instant help from the NCAA transfer portal.

Here’s our assessment of how things look for the program going into the offseason:

The projected roster

Arizona’s current roster includes just 12 players who are out of eligibility, most notably kicker Tyler Loop and leading rusher Quali Conley. But there will be far more departures, and not just from the players turning pro.

Wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, offensive tackle Jonah Savaiinaea and cornerback Tacario Davis, all juniors, are expected to declare for the 2025 NFL Draft. T-Mac, the school career receiving leader, is a surefire 1^st round pick while Savaiinaea could go in the first few rounds and Davis has been high on draft boards despite an up-and-down 2024 season.

Those are the known exits. It’s the unknown ones that could have the biggest impact, and those could start trickling out this week though the portal doesn’t officially open until Dec. 9. The exodus began Sunday with redshirt freshman quarterback Brayden Dorman, who did not appear in a game the last two seasons, announced he is going to transfer.

It’s anyone’s guess who might choose to move on after experiencing one season under Brennan. Asked about how he was going to be able to convince existing players that 2025 and beyond will be better than what they just experienced, he said that may require a “leap of faith” that Brennan can turn things around.

“But they have been around us, they have been around our coaches,” Brennan said after the Territorial Cup. “They know our level of ability to teach and coach. I do feel like we have a great relationship with these players. I do think that is strong. I think the culture is healthy. And I think if you want to be a part of building something, great. If you want to go try and jump on a bandwagon somewhere else, if that’s who you are, go. I think we’ll be in a good spot with retention.”

The bulk of the departures are likely to come from players who didn’t contribute much (or all) in 2024, but a few key pieces could also leave. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Fifita look elsewhere after appearing to regress in the new offense, and with his best friend T-Mac off to the NFL.

Other starters/rotation players who could be candidates to transfer include offensive lineman Wendell Moe, tight end Keyan Burnett, running back Rayshon ‘Speedy’ Luke, wide receiver Chris Hunter, defensive lineman Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei and cornerback Emmanuel Karnley. Hunter, who emerged as the No. 2 receiving target behind T-Mac, could be someone that other schools would throw a lot of money at to acquire.

The staff

Arizona changed offensive play callers in the first month of the season, replacing offensive coordinator Dino Babers with tight ends coach/passing game coordinator Matt Adkins. It didn’t make a difference, as after scoring 61 points against New Mexico in the season opener the Wildcats averaged 18.1 points the rest of the way.

Bringing in an offensive coordinator is first and foremost on Brennan’s non-roster to-do list, and it has to be someone that shows creativity. Babers hadn’t called plays for several years while serving as Syracuse’s head coach, while Adkins’ previous experience in that area was in the Swedish Football League. Babers was also on a 1-year contract, so he won’t be back in 2025.

Defensive coordinator Duane Akina did the best he could with all of the injuries his unit sustained—all three captains underwent knee surgery, taking with them 86 starts—but that role may have been intended only as a stopgap, a way of maintaining some continuity with the previous staff in order to help keep many of Arizona’s top defensive players. Akina is best suited coaching the secondary, so a new coordinator may also be coming in for the defense.

Some changes could come to the position coaches, too, but in many cases that would require Brennan to move on from longtime assistants he brought with him from San Jose. Doing that would show a commitment to turning Arizona around, while staying loyal to old friends would send the opposite message.

Offseason needs

Arizona has 19 known commitments in the 2025 recruiting class, which can begin signing on Wednesday, and it had a few other prospects on official visits this past weekend. The class currently ranks 53^rd in the country, per 247Sports, and 10^th in the Big 12, though it was ranked in the upper 30s before seeing a few decommitments including top commit Terry Shelton, a 4-star receiver who flipped to TCU.

The class could include some instant contributors, like 4-star receiver Isaiah Mizell, but where Arizona will look to fill most of its biggest holes will be in the portal.

Brennan and his staff had to spend more time keeping Wildcats from entering the portal than recruiting from it when they first came on, with most of the transfer additions coming from the spring portal window. That group was a mixed bag, but this time around as a school that’s not going bowling the UA will get to focus their full attention on the portal when it opens in a week.

The offensive and defensive line will be the main priorities, as Arizona was too beat up on the former and too small on the latter to compete in the Big 12. Replacing all of the lost production from T-Mac will also need to be addressed, as will running back depth, while the secondary needs will depend on whether Gunner Maldonado and Treydan Stukes opt to use their redshirts as both only played four games in 2024.

Assuming Arizona devotes the resources needed to player acquisition, Arizona should add at least 20 transfers and likely more.

The 2025 schedule

On paper, Arizona’s 2024 schedule looked pretty manageable. It ended up being a lot more difficult than expected, and the Wildcats’ own regression only exacerbated the results.

The UA’s opponents ended up going a combined 85-60, with seven winning at least eight games (including NAU, which reached the FCS playoffs) and seven set to play in bowls. ESPN’s FPI ranked Arizona’s schedule as the 48th-toughest in the country, 8th-hardest in the Big 12.

Looking at the 2025 slate, Arizona is set to play six bowl-bound teams including all four that tied for the Big 12 regular season title. Only one of those will be at home, as BYU is part of the 7-game home schedule while the Wildcats will visit ASU, Colorado and Iowa State.

The 11 FBS opponents on next year’s schedule, including Hawaii and another nonconference tilt with Kansas State, are currently a combined 77-68.

The full 2025 schedule is expected to be released in January.

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Arizona

Instant Takeaways from Cardinals’ Costly Loss to Vikings

Published

12 hours ago

December 1, 2024

Press Room

Instant Takeaways from Cardinals’ Costly Loss to Vikings

The Arizona Cardinals surrendered a 19-6 lead, losing to the Minnesota Vikings 23-22. It was a game they had to have, and they now fall to 6-6 and trail the Seattle Seahawks by a game and a half for the NFC West.

This is the type of loss that has a rebounding effect on a team. The ability to bounce back from a poor showing in Seattle last week would have spoken volumes in a positive direction.

Unfortunately, this game spoke volumes in the wrong direction.

Here are the instant takeaways from a devastating loss:

The Cardinals have shown their fair share of surprising proficiency in 2024. Winning four in a row and sitting atop a weak division maybe oversold their ability to make the playoffs this soon.

I’ve written before that this team isn’t “ahead of schedule,” but rather right on schedule. They aren’t ready for a playoff berth just yet. Granted, the Vikings are a good squad, but you cannot choke a lead of that magnitude and be taken seriously.

There’s plenty of talent to be added and development to be done with young players, but if this team can’t win games like Sunday’s, they can’t win in January. Their division-winning could be all but gone, and their overall playoff hopes are in serious trouble, with another extremely bad matchup with the Seahawks coming to Phoenix next week.

It’s never on one guy, or even one coach, but head coach Jonathan Gannon needs to find a balance between his over-aggression in 2023, and the playing-to-lose that occurred on Sunday.

Five field goal attempts, punting on fourth and short, not going for a touchdown to seal the game late, and ignoring a potential two-point conversion to go up 14 were conservative decisions that didn’t pan out.

It’s easy to scrutinize each one in a vacuum and overreact to them – plenty more went wrong than these, but those decisions don’t win you big games against good opponents. The Cardinals need to be playing with more urgency, and that extends to Gannon.

Finding the proper balance between smart and reckless is the key to game management with an up-and-coming team.

Again, it’s easy to criticize Drew Petzing, but it’s not all on him. There were plenty of terrible mistakes in the form of penalties, sloppy play by the offensive line at times, and poor decisions and throws by Murray.

But as the Cardinals came up to run a desperation drive, I thought to myself “this team has no explosive ability.”

That’s fine, when you’re able to pound the rock and maintain a lead, or when you’re playing inferior teams. But when you’re facing a two-minute drill, there’s rarely a play designed for quick chunk yardage, and outside of the occasional flashes from Marvin Harrison Jr., there’s no big play or deep ball threat from most of the offense.

You can’t necessarily live and die by the vertical, but the lack of explosiveness keeps the entire defense right in Murray’s face. Even when he escapes the pocket, there’s not much open field to survey.

The broadcast also talked at length about getting the job done on first and second down, and staying out of third down. Arizona’s offense isn’t nearly reliable enough to make a living on third down.

It’s not that they need to be converting on first down, but far too many plays on early downs went for losses, or penalties, or barely a yard or two. Couple that with the fact that no one is worried about a throw deeper than 10 yards downfield, and the Cardinals’ offense simply isn’t a threat to teams who are fundamentally sound.

Feeding Trey McBride and James Conner is a great way to control the time of possession, but in this league, against the better teams, you need explosiveness, and you need to keep the defense honest. Arizona hasn’t been able to do that outside of their blowout of the Rams, and in smaller part the Jets.

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Arizona

Arizona Cardinals vs Minnesota Vikings game today: TV channel, time, how to watch Sunday

Published

1 day ago

December 1, 2024

Press Room

Arizona Cardinals vs Minnesota Vikings game today: TV channel, time, how to watch Sunday

The Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings play on Sunday, Dec. 1, in a game on the NFL Week 13 schedule.

Here’s a look at the time, TV channel and broadcast information for the Week 13 NFL game, which will be played at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Vikings are a 4-point favorite over the Cardinals in NFL Week 13 odds for the game, courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook.

Minnesota is -200 on the moneyline, while Arizona is +165.

The over/under (point total) is set at 45.5 points.

The Cardinals are coming off a 16-6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in NFL Week 12.

The Vikings beat the Chicago Bears in overtime, 30-27.

Watch Cardinals at Vikings live on FUBO (free trial)

Here’s how to watch the Cardinals vs Vikings game, including time, TV channel and streaming information:

What channel is Arizona Cardinals vs Minnesota Vikings game on today? Time, TV schedule

TV channel: FOX

Start time: 11 a.m. MST (Arizona), 1 p.m. ET

How to watch Arizona Cardinals vs Minnesota Vikings on livestream

The game can be streamed on streaming services that carry FOX, including FUBO (free trial).

Who are the announcers for the Arizona Cardinals vs Minnesota Vikings NFL Week 13 game?

Joe Davis (play-by-play) and Greg Olsen (analyst) are scheduled to be the announcers for the Cardinals vs Vikings Week 13 NFL game today.

Arizona Cardinals schedule 2024 (all times MST)

NFL Week 1: Bills 34, Cardinals 28
NFL Week 2: Cardinals 31, Rams 10
NFL Week 3: Lions 20, Cardinals 13
NFL Week 4: Commanders 42, Cardinals 14
NFL Week 5: Cardinals 24, 49ers 23
NFL Week 6: Packers 34, Cardinals 13
NFL Week 7: Cardinals 17, Chargers 15
NFL Week 8: Cardinals 28, Dolphins 27
NFL Week 9: Cardinals 29, Bears 9
NFL Week 10: Cardinals 31, Jets 6
NFL Week 11: BYE
NFL Week 12: Seahawks 16, Cardinals 6
NFL Week 13: At Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Dec. 1, FOX, 11 a.m.
NFL Week 14: Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Dec. 8, CBS, 2:05 p.m.
NFL Week 15: New England Patriots, Sunday, Dec. 15, CBS, 2:25 p.m.
NFL Week 16: At Carolina Panthers, Sunday, Dec. 22, FOX, 1 p.m.
NFL Week 17: At Los Angeles Rams, Saturday, Dec. 28 or Sunday, Dec. 29, TBD, TBD
NFL Week 18: San Francisco 49ers, Saturday, Jan. 4 or Sunday, Jan 5, TBD, TBD

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Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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Arizona

Arizona Gets Destroyed by Arizona State in Territorial Cup To End Season

Published

1 day ago

November 30, 2024

Press Room

Arizona Gets Destroyed by Arizona State in Territorial Cup To End Season

The football season has officially ended for the Arizona Wildcats.

Coming into Saturday, they knew that the Territorial Cup would be their final contest of the campaign after they failed to secure six wins that would have qualified them for a bowl game.

Considering the expectations that were placed upon this Wildcats team coming into the year with some of their best players choosing to stay in Tucson despite the head coaching change, not even playing a postseason game was nothing short of a disaster.

The final exclamation point was put on things for Arizona.

Despite having nothing to play for outside of pride when facing Arizona State, the Wildcats could have shown up at home to beat their archrivals and potentially eliminate the Sun Devils from College Football Playoff contention.

Instead, Arizona was destroyed, 49-7.

Things went off the rails immediately for the Wildcats when the Sun Devils took the opening kickoff and went down and scored a touchdown nine plays into the contest. Then after forcing a punt on Arizona’s first four plays from scrimmage, Arizona State was able to score another touchdown to take a 14-0 lead.

The misery didn’t stop there, though.

Arizona State continued to dominate by forcing two more punts, a missed field goal and a turnover on downs while they scored touchdowns on five of their six possessions to go into halftime up 35-0.

Coming out of the locker room, Arizona was able to get on the board when they drove 75 yards in eight plays to score a touchdown on a Noah Fifita to Tetairoa McMillan completion.

That was it for the Wildcats.

Their next four possessions resulted in three punts and an interception, while Arizona State scored two more touchdowns to give themselves even more space on the scoreboard.

It was a brutal ending to what was a tough season in Tucson.

In what was likely the final game of his collegiate career, McMillan caught six balls for 68 yards and the lone touchdown.

Arizona will have a lot of soul searching to do this winter and spring as they try to get things going under Brent Brennan after his first year as head coach of the Wildcats was a disaster.

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