A five-game losing streak and a losing season wasn’t what the returning cast of Arizona stars signed up for. Nearly 10 months after Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and other UA standouts, who contributed to the 10-win season last year, announced their plans to return for head coach Brent Brennan’s first season, the banged-up Wildcats (3-6) are sputtering and regressing as a result of injuries and Arizona’s yoyo offense. A year after Arizona lost three games by a combined 16 points, the Wildcats have lost six games by a combined 128 points.
It’s conceivable Arizona could end its season on an eight-game losing streak, after winning seven straight to end last season. Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita jogs off the field after the Wildcats’ loss to BYU Oct. 12 in Provo, Utah.
If the Wildcats have any desire to play football in December, they’ll have to double their current win total this season. However, some of the elder statesmen on Arizona’s roster are taking a unique approach when evaluating a season chock-full of blowout losses and injuries. Arizona redshirt junior defensive back Dalton Johnson, who’s been shifted to a box safety-linebacker hybrid in the last three games due to three season-ending injuries in the starting lineup, was a Wildcat the last time Arizona lost five straight games, which was the 20-game losing streak between the 2019-21 seasons.
Johnson signed with the downtrodden Arizona football program in the winter o.