Arizona did everything – well, almost everything – but win on Saturday night/Sunday morning.
This time there were no miracles.
A play here, a player there and Arizona might have pulled it off, unlike last week when the UA faithful saw a miracle at the Sol. Sunday morning, a little after the clock struck midnight, most of the souls that left the building were sunk.
Arizona – for the third time against a ranked team (BYU, Texas Tech and now, Utah) – fell this/close, 40-39. If the other two losses gave you willies, this one was beyond that, in part because it went back-and-forth for 58 minutes before not being able to pull it off.
“We showed that we can play with anybody,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said. “We’re going toe to toe with the No. 2 team in the country. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that … we didn’t get it done.”
That’s the tough part, UA fans showed up and showed out and were ready for a big one, given many were up at the crack of dawn for Gronk & Company (Fox’s High Noon). But, they stayed – at least many did – till the end, only to see UA fall short … again.
“This was an amazing night in Casino Del Sol Stadium,” Brennan said. “… that’s something that we challenged everybody with all week. And they showed up. They were on their feet all night.”
It still wasn’t enough to drag – push – Arizona to the winning side. Again, it couldn’t beat any one of the top three teams to establish itself as one. Figure that Utah, BYU and Texas Tech are a combined 27-3 and every team UA has beaten is a combined 29-41.
Clearly, Arizona has some work to do to get over the hump.
Still, hasn’t it been entertaining? Arizona could win out and end up with nine wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 50 years.
Yes, it’s been heartbreaking because the prize seems to be right there – before it’s not.
“This was a hard night,” Brennan said. “This was a heavyweight fight. We said that going into it. We’re playing the No. 2 team in the country, and they’re good … the way it went from start, to finish, I think really speaks to just our belief, our resilience, and our response. The way our guys responded all night I thought was really, really special.”
It was a matter of who wasn’t going to outdo the other. It took a 4th down play – mishandled, maybe – that ended UA’s hope, given UA couldn’t stop Deven Dampier and his running back, Daniel Bray, all night.
Noah Fifita & Co found a way to get out early, Dampier found a way back. Fifita got a lead; Dampier would return to the top. And that’s how it ended.
“I think naturally, I just kind of think about the plays that I didn’t make,” Fifita said. “Defense gave us the ball back with over two minutes, but we didn’t do it, so that’s the part that kind of hurts. But at the end of the day, (we) got to live with it and move on to the next.”
That would be Kansas State on the road on Saturday.
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