Saturday was bad. OK, that's being nice. Saturday was atrocious. OK, that's still a little kind. How about this? Saturday was the most poorly-played football game I can dig out of the alcohol-soaked cavities of my brain.
Unfortunately, that's a lie. A bout of some illness struck me this weekend, so drinking was out of the question.
I don't care if you're an Arizona fan, and Oregon State fan or a Sacramento State fan -- that 37-27 Arizona loss to the Beavers could not have been one where anyone could legitimately say either team was 'good.'
I mean, the Beavers almost gave away a game to the team who played the worst game of football ever.
Thank god Arizona didn't show up on any national TV network again. We thought those losses were bad ... this one was worse. But enough with that. After pointing out how obnoxious it was when Steve Physioc went Gus Johnson wild whenever there was a *gasp* play-action pass or a *gasp* walk-on on special teams (seriously, Physioc was flabbergasted that walk-ons play football), I'm done complaining.
There's one good sign that I can count from Saturday's barn-burner -- by that I mean, throwing gas on yourself and lighting yourself on fire ... in a barn. That's the return of Arizona safety Adam Hall.
Hall recorded nine tackles (two for loss) and a forced fumble. Do realize that the two for loss is almost a third of the tackles for loss the entire D-line has had all season.
He's a difference-maker. A guy who can lead the defense in his first game back from an ACL tear in spring has some moxie. Last year, Hall showed he could play the defensive backfield well enough to pick off some passes, and this year, he's going to be needed to do that and more.
Think Arizona Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson; that's what Hall should be. Of course, Mike Stoops could end up playing him NOT in the box, like last year, when safety Joe Perkins was (for some reason) the main blitzing/run-support safety (that made no sense). Let's just pretend that won't happen.
Hall should be that guy, because Hall will knock your head off. I believe I saw somewhere in the Twitterverse that Hall was a "Vontaze Burfict with longer hair" and I'm down with that. And while Hall went all Vontaze and got a dumb penalty that could have cost Arizona the game -- turned out the Beavers missed the kick and it also turned out the Wildcats would find a way to lose it either way -- I'd rather see some fire than nothing at all.
Hall got a personal foul for unsportsmanlike conduct Saturday; after a couple of plays in which Oregon State players got a little shove on Hall post-whistle, the Arizona safety got fed up and pretty much grabbed the ref while asking for a flag on the Beavers. Yeah, Hall probably was getting shoved in the first place for mouthing off. Next time, let's just mouth off to the opponents until they get the personal foul. Lesson learned.
But hey, I'll take it. I'll take anyone on this team who hasn't given up completely. Take it from the guy who's flying around like a crazy man, playing some football with a healing ACL tear. He's got more life than most of the other guys.