Arizona Wildcats' Bowl Projections Heading Into Houston

Well, after changes were made to the coaching staff and the roster, Brennan seems to have the Wildcats moving in the right direction with the team starting the year with 3-straight impressive wins over Hawaii, Weber State and Kansas State.

However, the Wildcats have gone 1-2 in their last three games with losses to Iowa State and most recently BYU at home this past Saturday night.

Arizona (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) was looking to stay on track after an impressive 28-point win over Oklahoma State as the Wildcats faced off against No. 18 BYU, with the game on ESPN2, showcasing two of the better defensive teams in the Big 12.

The forecast called for rain and after an hour weather delay, the game lived up to the billing of a defensive grudge match with both teams coming up with clutch stops and key takeaways to keep the offenses in check.

Arizona put itself in perfect position in the fourth quarter up 24-14 with just over 10 minutes left in the game. However, the Wildcats saw BYU tie the game up with 19 seconds left in the game due to two pass interference calls on defensive back Michael Dansby.

In overtime, BYU went on to fight its way to an impressive 33-27 double overtime win over Arizona and keep its undefeated streak alive. The Wildcats had an opportunity to pull off the upset but fell flat in the last minutes of regulation, which led to the overtime loss.

Still, Arizona is in a solid position to make a bowl game with the Wildcats just needing two wins in the last six games to lock up the bowl berth.

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: Holiday Bowl | Arizona vs. Virginia (Jan. 2)

• College Football News: Independence Bowl | Arizona vs. Tulane (Dec. 30)

• ESPN No. 1: Frisco Bowl | Arizona vs. UTSA (Dec. 23)

• ESPN No. 2: Sun Bowl | Arizona vs. SMU (Dec. 31)

• On SI: Sun Bowl | Arizona vs. SMU (Dec. 31)

• USA Today: Sun Bowl | Arizona vs. NC State (Dec. 31)

After seeing the team go 4-8 in the first year of the Brennan era, Wildcats fans became worried about the hiring of the new coach.

However, in the second season, Brennan was able to get his team off on the right foot with a 4-1 record. Still, the Wildcats were in position to capture their fifth win of the year with the team leading 24-14 with under 11 minutes left in the game.

The Wildcats not only saw the lead slip away with BYU scoring a game-tying touchdown but at the end of the game, Brennan decided to take a knee and go into overtime despite having two timeouts and 19 seconds on the clock at the 25-yard line.

You have a kicker that hit a 60-yard field goal the previous week and who Brennan calls “Money Mike,” in Michael Salgado-Medina. Yet, with two timeouts and only needing to pick up around 30 to 35 yards, he takes a knee to go into overtime.

Now, do we know if the Wildcats would’ve had a shot for the kick, or even made a long kick?

No, but you need to give your team a shot at going for the win and especially with a defense that seemed to be getting tired later in the night.

Still, Arizona is in good position to make a bowl game and we at Arizona Wildcats On SI have come up with our own prediction for the Wildcats bowl berth.

Bowl Prediction

• Arizona Wildcats On SI: Sun Bowl | Arizona vs. NC State (Dec. 13)

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.