The Pac-12’s big games last weekend overshadowed a notable set of developments in Palo Alto. Arizona beat Stanford, 21-20, but Wildcat quarterback Jayden de Laura got injured. We don’t know much about de Laura’s long-term prognosis, but backup quarterback Noah Fifita guided the team to the go-ahead score against Stanford and might have become a solid go-to option for coach Jedd Fisch.
Regardless of whether de Laura plays, and regardless of how good Fifita actually is, the next four games for Arizona are brutal: Washington, USC, Washington State, and Oregon State. Most people will pick the Wildcats to lose all four games. If they do, they will be 3-5 through eight games, with contests against UCLA, Colorado, and Utah still on the docket.
It will be very hard for this team to make a bowl game in 2023, even though it is 3-1 right now.
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