Arizona Football: Becoming bowl eligible is 'a nice goal'

The Arizona Wildcats say their Pac-12 championship hopes dashed on Saturday with a 66-10 loss at the hands of the UCLA Bruins, just a week after putting themselves in the discussion by upsetting USC. Goals are different now, as the Wildcats sit at 5-4, one game away from bowl eligibility.

Head coach Rich Rodriguez was asked about becoming bowl eligible on Monday, and he pointed out where the program spent the bowl season last year, while the majority of college football teams were still playing, according to arizonawildcats.com:

It will be a nice goal. After I was first hired, we were sitting at home and 70 other teams were playing a bowl game. Our guys certainly did not like that, I wanted it to hurt. If you are a college football player at the Division I level and you aren't playing a bowl game, you should be disappointed.

The Wildcats have a good shot at achieving their sixth win this weekend against Colorado. The Buffaloes have won just once this season and have been blown out in almost all of their Pac-12 games. The game will be Homecoming for Arizona, and gets an early start. The teams will met at 11:30 a.m. MT.

If Arizona can't reach bowl eligibility against Colorado, the road gets tougher. They play at Utah, then host Arizona State to close out the year.