Arizona’s win over TCU came with plenty of mess attached.
Noah Fifita threw a pick-six in the red zone. Dwight Bootle II had a rough night.
Danny Gonales’ defense let multiple third-and-longs slip away on the drive that put the Horned Frogs ahead by eight. Then Quincy Craig coughed up the ball in the red zone with a little more than two minutes left and Arizona still trailing by eight.
There were other mistakes, too. Enough of them that if the Wildcats had lost, it would have been hard to pin the blame on just one player or one moment. Arizona simply played a bad game against a decent opponent.
And still won.
“It’s up there,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said of where the game ranks among the crazy games he’s coached. “It’s incredible, and I think it was just awesome to see everybody execute their part of that in that moment.”
That wild finish has left Arizona at 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12, still very much alive in the conference title chase. It also revived the larger question hanging over this team: was it luck, or was it something more?
Maybe a little of both. But if the Wildcats are going to chase a Big 12 crown, they’ll need both luck and quality.
Because there’s a real case that Arizona is better than its record suggests. Since last season’s Week 4 loss at Iowa State, the Wildcats have won or had a legitimate chance to win every game they’ve played. The one-score losses to BYU, Houston and SMU last year were followed by defeats to BYU and Texas Tech this season, and in both of those games Arizona had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter before misfiring on a fourth-down try deep in opponent territory.
That’s what good teams do. They keep putting themselves in position.
Now comes the biggest test yet: No. 2 Utah, undefeated and carrying conference title and national championship hopes into Tucson. On paper, this is the toughest opponent Arizona will see all season.
And yet the market hasn’t treated it like a mismatch. When betting lines opened, Utah was only a 1.5-point favorite, and the number has barely moved since.
Arizona isn’t supposed to win this game. But nobody would be stunned if it did.
A victory would be the kind this program has been chasing under Brennan - the kind it has come close to but not quite finished off. Beat the No. 2 team in the country, stretch the winning streak over Utah to three, and the Wildcats would keep their playoff hopes alive.
That’s where the luck part gets tricky.
With two losses already, Arizona has to win out just to stay in the conversation. Even if it beats Utah and finishes perfect from here, there’s still a real chance the Wildcats get squeezed out because of tiebreakers. As @Scott_Terrell figured it out on Twitter, the path is anything but clean.
That’s the reality for a program whose best recent seasons have arrived a year too early. The 2023 team would have been built to roll through the Big 12 the following year, and both last season’s and this season’s squads have been good enough to matter while still running into programs with far bigger roster budgets.
A 10-win Arizona team probably gets into the 24-team playoff, which arrives next season.
What was it we were saying about luck?
That’s a debate for another day. For now, the Wildcats have a chance to land their first true signature win of the Brennan era, and it comes with the kind of spotlight that can change how a program is viewed.
Beating a top-3 team gets attention. Doing it with eyes from everywhere on the game gets even more.
Even if it doesn’t lead to a Big 12 title or a playoff berth, a win Saturday would mean plenty for Arizona.
And the fact that the Wildcats are even in this position in mid-November - with playoff implications still in play - says plenty about how this season has gone. Arizona has already shown it can be good. With a little more luck, it may not be done yet.
In Other News...
Auburn Faces An Early Proving Ground Against Arizona
Arizona has steadied itself a bit since dropping its season opener to UCLA, following that loss with wins over Cal Poly and Northern Arizona. Now comes a much stiffer test. Auburn arrives unbeaten, and the matchup gives Arizona an early chance to measure itself against a team that has looked sharp through the first stretch of the season. For the Wildcats, it is the kind of game that can reveal a lot about where they stand before the schedule gets deeper.
The spotlight will be on how Arizona handles the physical and tactical demands of a high-level opponent, with Derek Dixon and Motiejus Krivas among the players whose impact could help shape the night. Arizona also needs more from its supporting cast, especially in the scoring department, if it wants to keep pace. JJ Mandaquit and Cameron Holmes are part of that equation, and how the Wildcats balance those contributions against Auburns depth will go a long way toward determining whether this becomes a statement opportunity or just another early-season lesson. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona Title Hopes Already Face A Toughness Problem
Coming off a record-setting 2025-2026 run, Arizona entered the new season with the kind of expectations that usually come with a deep, talented roster and a coach who has built a contender. But the Wildcats also had to replace key players who moved on to the NBA, and the early returns have raised a different kind of concern than talent alone. Tommy Lloyd has already been talking about effort, defensive discipline and a team that looks a little less physical than the one that just finished making history.
The numbers have backed up the eye test, with Arizona giving up too many points and too many clean looks from beyond the arc. For a program that wants to stay in the title conversation, the issue is not just whether the Wildcats can score enough to keep pace. It is whether they can rediscover the edge, grit and toughness that tend to separate a good team from one that can survive the grind of a long season. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona Faces An Early Gut Check In Its First True Road Test
Friday night brings Arizona its first real road exam of the season, and it comes against an Auburn team that has already made itself a difficult place to visit. Tommy Lloyds group has put together two home wins since the earlier loss to UCLA, but this trip will say more about where the Wildcats stand than anything they have done at McKale so far. It is also a useful measuring stick for Auburn in Steven Pearls second season, with the Tigers getting a major early opportunity against a ranked-style opponent in their own building.
For Arizona, the challenge starts with travel and quickly turns into matchups. The Wildcats will have to handle Auburns pace and pressure without losing the defensive edge that has steadied them after that UCLA setback, and they will need some help beyond the usual front-line production if they want to leave with a result. Bench minutes matter on nights like this, especially when a game starts to tighten and every possession feels like part of the test. [Read more 🡒]