Prior to Week 3, Arizona football held a disappointing 0-2 record. The Wildcats earned their first win against their easiest opponent of the year, Southern Utah.
Kevin Sumlin’s start as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats has been underwhelming to say the least. In review, Sumlin was hired after former coach, Rich Rodriguez, was fired amid sexual harassment accusations.
Current Navy head coach, Ken Niumatalolo, interviewed and was rumored to be the leading candidate for the job, however, star quarterback, Khalil Tate, infamously tweeted, “I didn’t come to Arizona to run the triple-option” and it appears that steered both, Niumatalolo and the university, away from each other. De facto, Sumlin became the best next option — get it, option?
Arizona faced a struggling Southern Utah team at home in Week 3. Coming into the game, both team were winless. Southern Utah had losses to North Alabama and Oregon State, and the Wildcats losses came from BYU and Houston.
The game was fairly matched in the first half despite Arizona being the significantly more talented team. It appeared as though Southern Utah was going to take the game into halftime with the scored tied. However, the Wildcats scored on a Khalil Tate pass to Shun Brown with 23 seconds left in the half.
Arizona received the ball at the beginning of the third quarter, and finally took over the game. The Wildcats scored 24 points in the third quarter alone, while holding the Thunderbirds to zero points.
When it was all said and done, Khalil Tate finished with 349 yards and five touchdowns on 13-of-20 passing. And the Wildcats ran the score up, defeating Southern Utah 62-31.
We finally saw Arizona move the ball on offense. However, it was against a FCS opponent who has not won a game this year. Additionally, the defense gave up way to many points to bad offense. Arizona will be fighting to keep from the being dead last in the Pac-12 this season. Kevin Sumlin will likely begin focusing on rebuilding for next year as well.