Tag Archives: Arizona Wildcats

The Two Sides of Every Hail Mary

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A problem of living in the Eastern Time Zone is all the PAC-12 games happen late. Luckily, I’m a night owl and was able to see Twitter explode about a Hail Mary touchdown to propel Arizona to a 49-45 win over California. The Wildcats rallied from a 31-13 deficit at the end of the third quarter to break the hearts of Golden Bears fans everywhere. Three touchdowns came in the final 3 minutes and 30 seconds.


As you can bet, Arizona was excited on social media after the win. Like a comic book geek meeting Stan Lee level of excitement.

Arizona is still unraked but remains one of seven undefeated teams in the PAC-12. This is what the celebration looked like in the locker room. Zona will travel to No. 2 Oregon on Thursday Oct. 2 in a game that will test the team’s resolve even more. But as Coach Rich Rodriguez said, they’ll “enjoy the Hell out of this one.”

That confident crew you saw there is a sharp contrast from the prayer they made before the Hail Mary.

California could only pump out a short final score tweet after the game and rightfully so. It’s easy to say something you shouldn’t after giving up 36 points in a fourth quarter. The Bears did respond brilliantly with this retweet after some breathing time.

It’s a shame too as California was on the brink of tripling its win total from last year. In the competitive PAC-12, the Sensor Scans Golden Bears will need every win to reach bowl eligibility. Colorado comes to Berkely Saturday in what appears to be the easiest game remaining on Cal’s schedule. A rebound against the Buffaloes is a must to avoid a season letdown.

Pirates Own the Tar Heels

It was a surprise when East Carolina defeated Virginia Tech a week ago but the Pirates decided to pummel another ACC school to validate themselves. ECU destroyed North Carolina 70-41 Saturday. SEVENTY!

Phil Steele along with other experts picked North Carolina to win the Coastal Division in the ACC this year. The beatdown was a big black eye for the conference as fellow members Miami, Syracuse and Pittsburgh lost to Big 10 schools too. East Carolina has positioned itself as the best school in the state for recruiting. The only other school that could compete with it is Duke and it’s a basketball school. As for ECU hanging 70 on a team, well it’s been a while since that last occurred.

The American Athletic Conference went 7-1 in non conference play Saturday and is having a great year overall.

Purdue Forgets How to Win

The Boilermakers have had a tough couple of years in football but won its second game of the year against FCS Southern Illinois. The school appears to be out of practice as some newbie in the athletics department hung the “W” flag upside down over Ross-Ade Stadium.

The bright side to all this is how Purdue won’t have to raise another “W” flag this season as the Boilers will be a underdog the rest of the season.Northwestern on November 22, however, will be Purdue’s best chance for a Big 10 win.

Volleyball and the 700 Club

The New Hampshire women’s volleyball team defeated Rhode Island Saturday in five sets (23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 26-28, 15-12). The real story though is it was 700th victory of Coach Jill Hirschinger and the photo-op was on. This tweet shows how the Wildcats used their tall volleyball bodies to spell out 700.

UNH has started the season 6-9 but should do well in conference play as the Wildcats are the defending American East champions.

Minnesota is “Dressed for Kill”

Check out these shirts Minnesota passed out to fans in their game with San Jose State to play with the name of its coach Jerry Kill. The Golden Gophers handled the Spartans 24-7 Saturday to move to 3-1.

Look for Kill and his team to go bowling for a third straight year and perhaps give Wisconsin trouble in the Big Ten West.

Kentucky and Lincoln

Kentucky and Louisville is one of the biggest rivalries in college athletics but the men’s soccer matchup caught my eye this week. The two teams meet tonight and Wildcats are going with a famous historical figure to trash Louisville.

That’s right; Kentucky is saying Abraham Lincoln was a Cats fan. The school will pass out shirts that say exactly that in the soccer game. Fans are encouraged to manufacture a top hat and other 19th century garb to dress up like the 16th president himself.

Better than Vampire Hunter

Better than Vampire Hunter

In a way it’s a cool idea as Lincoln was born in Central Kentucky. Problem is the University of Kentucky was not established until 1865, the year Lincoln was assassinated. Louisville was around when Lincoln was born so I’m sure Cardinal fans are ready to argue. Still, it’s a pretty cool marketing technique connecting sports to history of the Commonwealth in a nerdy way. Hard to beat that. Plus, if Lincoln was born today where he was there is little chance he’ll be pulling for Louisville. You’re on an island Jefferson County.

Popcorn Galore

Every wondered what 200 containers of popcorn looks like? Well East Tennessee State gave away free popcorn to 200 fans at its soccer match this weekend.

That’s 200 reasons why it’s cool to live in Johnson City, Tennessee.

2013 College Football’s Wheel of Mediocrity

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While many are focused on the Top 25 teams this time of year there is also a second tier of schools to pay attention too. The goal for these teams is to get to six wins and become bowl eligible. For some this is a regression but for others going 6-6 is the Holy Grail. Welcome to the Wheel of Mediocrity.

Arizona: 3-2 record, No. 36 Sagarin ranking

The Wildcats started the year off strong winning their first three games but played nobody. The average Sagarin ranking of those three teams was 124. When Zona moved into PAC-12 play it was knocked out at No. 16 Washington 31-13 and failed to win at lame duck USC 38-31. The Trojans just fired their coach so how can you lose to them?

Where mediocre football teams can't buy a vowel.

Where mediocre football teams can’t buy a vowel.

Odds of getting to six wins: 40 percent

Arizona still has to play ranked conference schools Oregon and UCLA so that’s two losses right there. Winning at Arizona State will be a stretch. The two bottom feeders in the conference in California and Colorado are on the road. Arizona must win two of its next three games against Colorado, Cal and this Saturday hosting Utah to give itself a chance. It will be a tall order to achieve mediocrity for the Wildcats.

Boston College: 3-3 record, No. 64 Sagarin ranking

Like Arizona, Boston College had a bad loss to USC only it was a terrible score of 35-7. The good news is BC avoided getting blown out when it played top ranked Florida State and Clemson. At 3-3, Boston College has more wins than last year (2-10) and is making fun of the several experts who thought it would finish dead last the Atlantic division.

Odds of getting to six wins: 55 percent

The Eagles have an easier schedule to close out the year with only one ranked team remaining (Virginia Tech).  Problem is four out its six last games are on the road where BC is 0-2 on the year. One of those is cupcake New Mexico State. The other three are middle to back of the pack ACC teams. The Eagles should get six wins but it will need to prove itself against teams like North Carolina and Syracuse on the road to do so.

Indiana: 3-3 record, No. 47 Sagarin ranking

Here is a school where a .500 record causes a championship level celebration. The Hoosiers went 1-11 just two years ago and now they have improved to the point of beating Penn State by 20 points. Forget the fact the defense is horrid, Indiana football has finally advanced to mediocrity’s doorstep! Hallelujah!

Odds of getting to six wins: 60 percent

IU will lose at Michigan, at Wisconsin and at Ohio State.  This means it must win hosting Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue. Those latter three teams are all struggling right now and the Hoosiers get them all at home. Minnesota might be the trickiest win and maybe Purdue too being a rivalry game. But if Indiana can beat Penn State then it should win out in Bloomington to become bowl eligible.

Mississippi State: 3-3 record, No. 52 Sagarin ranking

Mississippi State has not proven much this season losing when it was an underdog and beating the teams it was favored against. That was almost not the case as it darn near blew last week’s game against MAC underdog Bowling Green State. The Falcons had a dropped pass on fourth down allowing the Bulldogs to win 21-20 and avoid snickering from around the nation.

Odds of getting to six wins: 35 percent

Miss. State has three upcoming losses in South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Alabama. The good news is home games against Kentucky, rival Ole Miss, and at 3-4 Arkansas are also upcoming. The Bulldogs will be favored against Kentucky and it will be even against Ole Miss and Arkansas. Winning all three though will require some lucky breaks and big strides in the passing game. I think it will be too much to handle this season.

North Texas: (3-3) record, No. 76 Sagarin ranking

The North Texas Mean Green has adjusted to life in Conference USA rather well with a big conference win over Middle Tennessee State and handed Ball State its only loss on the year. Not bad for a team that was previously picked by some to finish 6th out the seven teams in Conference USA West division.

Odds of getting to six wins: 90 percent

North Texas has games against 2-4 Louisiana Tech, 2-4 Tulsa, 2-5 UTSA, 1-5 UTEP, and 0-5 Southern Miss. The Mean Green only needs to win three of those five so no excuses here. Congrats North Texas, you are at least mediocre if not slightly better.