Arizona Wildcats fans received some great news earlier this week when Pac-12 announced that it would bring back football this fall. It won’t happen until November, however, and in the meantime we have to satisfy our lives indirectly through the exploits of former UA youths who are currently playing elsewhere.
Ground zero so Saturday was Lubbock, Texas, where Texas Tech hosted Texas at what was informally called the Scholar Bowl. And what a game it was.
It took extra time, plus a 15-point comeback at 2:49 of the bylaws, but in the end, Texas No.8 came out with a 63-56 win to give Brendan Schouler a win over his younger brother Colin Schuller.
Brenden, a wide receiver who never played for UA after coming from Oregon as a graduate move during vacation time, led the Longhorns with seven grabs over 58 yards and a 3 yard landing lane. In his two matches with Texas, he had a reception at TD.
Coleen, the full-back who started every game for Arizona from 2017-19, made seven tackles on his Texas Tech debut. He was unavailable for the Red Raiders’ first game on September 12.
The Texas-Texas Tech game featured a third-person with Tucson ties in Texas, a rookie boy who pulls back from Bijan Robinson, who just played on the road from UA at Salpointe Catholic High School. Robinson had four campaigns for 12 yards, a reception party at 11 yards, and an incredibly chilling moment after trying to block a defender.
Robinson somehow appeared right after that play.
Here’s what some former UA players have now done in other Class A schools on Saturday:
pound Tony Fields II (West Virginia)
Fields got his first start in the Mountaineers’ loss 27-13 in Oklahoma to start the Big 12 game, and as he did in the Mountaineers season opener against Eastern Kentucky two weeks ago he led the team in a save with nine. The senior player also got a pass late in the third quarter, his third interception after scoring twice during his three seasons in Arizona.
In his two matches with West Virginia Fields, he earned 19 tackles, giving him 306 for his career.
Another former Wildcat player with Mountaineers, Scottie Young Jr. , Disqualified this season after the transfer.
WR Devon Cooper (UTEP)
Technically, it’s not a transition – it was fired from the show in May 2019 – Cooper is still showing elsewhere what he could have done to a wild cat if he was stuck. The 5-foot-11 player had two runs for 44 yards to help UTEP win 31-6 at Louisiana Monroe.
Big deal, right? In fact, it is. UTEP, who had gone 2-24 the previous three seasons, is 3-1 for the first time since 2010 and won a road match without conventions for the first time in five years. The victory of other miners against FCS schools, but still.
