Evaluating Arizona's Bowl Game Positioning Ahead of Cincinnati

Hutchison has been covering Arizona for the last seven years with his coverage spanning all-across UA’s campus from football and men’s basketball to Title IX sports. Plus, with so many former Wildcats playing at the next level in their prospective sports there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats excelling outside of Tucson.

Arizona faced off against Kansas (5-5, 3-4 Big 12) with both teams being one win away from clinching a bowl berth. 

After falling behind 17-7, the Wildcats (6-3, 3-3) managed to outscore KU 17-3 the rest of the way to clinch a bowl berth for the first time under head coach Brent Brennan and winning 24-20 over the Jayhawks.

Now that Arizona has clinched a trip to a bowl game, this marks the 23rd time in program history that the Wildcats will be playing postseason football. It is the first bowl game since the 2023 season when Jedd Fisch led UA to the Alamo Bowl and finished 10-3 on the season.

Quarterback Noah Fifita had an up-and-down game, going 16 of 31 on his passing attempts while collecting 158 yards and two touchdowns. Plus, Fifita was able to put together 25 yards on the ground despite being sacked five times in the game.

Although it wasn’t his best game, Fifita’s two touchdown passes put him in a three-way tie for the most touchdown passes in a career in program history with 67, placing him alongside Willie Tuitama and Nick Foles.

One player who helped the Wildcats secure the comeback win was running back Quincy Craig, who had three rushes for 47 yards and a touchdown. Plus, Craig scored an 8-yard touchdown reception, totaling two scores for Arizona.

Not only was Craig the best player on the field for Arizona on Saturday, but he also received the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week award for his performance. His two biggest runs came on the final drive with an 18-yard run on 3rd and three and then a 24-yard rushing touchdown the next play to seal the win.

With Craig winning the award, he becomes the third Wildcat to do so, and it marks the fourth time this season an Arizona player has won the award. Both Ismail Mahdi and Fifita have won the award this season.

So, we at Arizona Wildcats On SI took a look around the national landscape to see where outlets have the Wildcats going when looking at the bowl predictions.

National Bowl Projections

• CBS Sports: Sun Bowl | Arizona vs. SMU (Dec. 31)

• College Football News: LA Bowl | Arizona vs. San Diego State (Dec. 13)

• ESPN No. 1: LA Bowl | Arizona vs. San Diego State (Dec. 13)

• ESPN No. 2: Armed Forces Bowl | Arizona vs. Army (Jan. 2)

•  Sports Illustrated: Sun Bowl | Arizona vs. SMU (Dec. 31)

As of right now, USA Today has not updated their bowl projections from the previous week. However, last week, they had the Wildcats making a bowl game in the last update.

Throughout the Brennan era, Arizona has struggled on the road going 2-5 with four blowout losses where the Wildcats fell behind by double-digits early in the game. However, Arizona won its last road test against Colorado 52-17.

Clearly with their sixth win of the season, the Wildcats will be going bowling this season. So, we at Arizona Wildcats On SI have put together our bowl prediction for Arizona following the 24-20 win over Kansas.

Bowl Prediction

• Arizona Wildcats On SI: Sun Bowl | Arizona vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 31)

Reason

When you look at the Wildcats as a whole, Arizona has improved drastically from the first year under Brennan but still has room to grow on both sides of the ball. Now, getting out to the fast 3-0 start will go a long way for UA as it tries to get to that magic number of six to become bowl eligible.

At the beginning of the season, we predicted Arizona winning seven games going 7-5 during the regular season. That is still where we stand today and have the Wildcats getting to that 7-win mark.

Arizona will now face off against No. 25 Cincinnati (7-2, 5-1), which has been one of the better teams in the Big 12 but is coming off a 45-14 loss to Utah.