As we enter the year, Arizona wildcats They were considered a sleeper team in the Big 12.

Even though it was their first season in the new conference, the return of Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Noah Fifita and elite wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was enough for this team to earn preseason top 25 honors in both AP and Rams. Questionnaire.

However, after a solid start as they went 3-1 after the win UtahThings got completely out of hand for Bay, who was ranked 14th at the time.

Arizona is currently 3-5 and 1-4 in conference play. Losers of four matches in a row where they were dominated from time to time. And if they don’t close out the year on a good note, they will unthinkably miss out on a bowl game when there are some top prospects competing for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Head coach Brent Brennan still believes in this groupHowever ESPN’s Football Power Index not.

According to their predictions, the Wildcats missed the bowl game by winning just one of their remaining four games.

“Arizona has a 25.3 percent chance of beating Central Florida, a 67.7 percent chance of beating Houston, a 27.3 percent chance of beating TCU, and a 43.3 percent chance of beating ASU. Arizona has a bowl-qualifying chance. “We finished the simulations with 4.6 wins and 7.4 losses for Arizona,” says FPI, needing wins in three of its remaining four games. Alan Rubenstein Shingles Fanatics.

Frankly, this is unacceptable.

The preseason win totals determined by the major domestic sports betting sites were over/under 7.5, so it would be a disaster if they finished the year with just four wins.

Arizona really only needs to be blamed if ESPN’s FPI simulations come true.

Yes, they’ve suffered tons of injuries to key players, but they’ve also suffered tons of self-inflicted injuries all season long that have directly led to them losing games due to untimely penalties and turnovers.

Again, these are just predictions and the Wildcats can certainly outperform them, but the chances of that happening look slim considering how they played in October.