Wildcats hoping pre-bye week momentum carries over
Arizona (5-5, 4-3 Pac-12) remains in the hunt for the Pac-12 South title, although it needs some help to make that a reality.
By the time the Wildcats kick off Saturday night at Washington State, they will know the outcome of the Utah-Colorado game. If the Utes win, Arizona is eliminated.
There is still a lot at stake and a big game ahead against the No. 8 Cougars, which is Wildcats head coach Kevin Sumlin thought a line of questioning during his weekly press conference about his pre-coaching days as an insurance underwriter was a bit odd. He joked that he thought the bye week was over and figured there would be more questions about the “9-1 team” Arizona will see Saturday night.
All laughs aside, the Wildcats have a big opportunity against Washington State (9-1, 6-1), and Sumlin’s team will be coming off its bye week. Arizona built momentum going into the open date by securing back-to-back wins over Oregon and Colorado, respectively.
It was a much-needed bye week for a banged-up Arizona squad, but there is always the risk of momentum swinging the other direction when there’s a few days off this late in the year.
“The focus this week has been the game this week, and last week was the bye week,” Sumlin said. “… Really, I think we’re a better team when we’re focused on one thing at a time. I think the last three weeks we’ve done a pretty good job of that.”
Once looking as if it was bound for the bottom of the Pac-12 standings, Arizona now is a couple wins — and a Utah loss — away from being right where it wanted to be at the start of the year.
“That was our message last week … just remember seven weeks ago when people didn’t give you a chance,” Sumlin said.
“Don’t let people talk you into what happened the last three weeks. Let’s get back and focus on who we are, and let’s not focus on these two games, but let’s focus on this game because we’re playing a heck of a football team this weekend.”
