If you take into account the preseason projections, Arizona's 34-30 loss to No. 20 USC on Saturday is not a bad result. Sure, winning games is ultimately what matters but the Wildcats were able to prove that they are better than some of the predictions made by media members and fans leading into the 2020 season.
However, the reality is Arizona could have and should have won the game Saturday against the Trojans. Quarterback Grant Gunnell led an impressive 65-yard drive late in the fourth quarter that put the Wildcats ahead with under two minutes left on the clock.
That was still too much time as USC was able to carve up a banged-up UA secondary for pass plays of 20, 14 and 19 yards to set up an 8-yard rushing score that put the Trojans ahead by four points.
Gunnell had another opportunity to lead another drive but a sack left the Wildcats with few options to win the game on the final play leading to the defeat.
Most of the experts don't have Arizona accomplishing much of anything this season with some national media members projecting the Wildcats to go winless in the shortened 2020 season.
That has not sat well with Gunnell and other members of the team. He knows there's one way to avoid those types of conversations about his team.
"We're optimistic and we're driven right now," the sophomore quarterback said after Saturday's loss. "We want to be great. We want to win games here. We're not settling for losing ever. We're tired of losing, and we are gonna bring some wins."
Still, despite team's disappointment in losing Saturday's game, Arizona built some confidence in the contest against the Trojans, which were picked to win the South Division this year.
"There's definitely some disappointment that comes with a loss, especially when it's that close when everyone is saying you're the underdog. Literally everyone," Gunnell said. "But, we already got rid of that disappointment. ... That's a close game with the 20th-ranked team in the nation in our first game of the year. Defense looked great. Everyone on the offensive side of the ball looked great."
Saturday's loss ran the Wildcats' current losing streak to eight games. The team has not done very much consistent winning during the Kevin Sumlin era with UA having just nine victories since his arrival as head coach in 2018.
"I don't know that we proved anything," Sumlin said. "You either win or lose, but we had some experienced guys that we expected to play well. We had, obviously, some newcomers whether they were transfers or young guys that played well but not well enough to win.
"That's the bottom line. As I told them in the locker room, our effort was great and where it should be. ... but to win close games like that come down to situational football there's some things that we can clean up. We gotta go back on Monday and fix those things."
One of the positives that Arizona will have a chance to build on is the performance of its defense under new coordinator Paul Rhoads. There were still some of the same struggles that UA had in recent years as one of the worst defenses in the country, but the play of UA's defensive line was improved and the linebacker unit stepped up despite being one of the thinnest position groups on the field Saturday.
Redshirt junior walk-on linebacker Rourke Freeburg made a bit of a surprise start against the Trojans and turned in an impressive performance in his first game as the Wildcats' SAM linebacker. Despite just stepping into a bigger role he's confident the Wildcats can make strides as a team moving forward after seeing how Saturday's game played out.
"We're not a laughing stock," Freeburg said when asked what he believes UA proved Saturday against the Trojans. "... While we lost, I think moving forward we can take some pieces and build off them but at the same time we gotta get a lot of stuff corrected."
The Wildcats will return to action next Saturday when they hit the road for the first time and head up to Seattle to face Washington.
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