Arizona is back in the AP Top 25 after the bye week, and the second half starts with a real opportunity to keep its season pointed upward. The Wildcats return home for a Homecoming meeting with Iowa State, one of four games scheduled at Casino Del Sol Stadium, with the Territorial Cup still ahead in November.
There’s more than a bowl berth hanging over Saturday, even if that would be a meaningful step in its own right. A win would lock up Arizona’s second straight bowl-eligible season, something the program last did in 2014-15. But the bigger picture is still very much alive: the Wildcats remain in the mix for the Big 12 championship.
Arizona is 2-1 in league play and tied with Baylor and Oklahoma State for fifth place. At the top, BYU, Texas Tech and Utah are the three Big 12 teams without a loss, and the top two will meet in Arlington on Dec. 4 with at least one College Football Playoff berth at stake.
The Wildcats have already seen one of those unbeaten teams, losing 28-17 at BYU for their lone defeat. Texas Tech and Utah are still on the schedule. Arizona visits the Red Raiders on Oct. 31 and then hosts Utah two weeks later in Tucson.
The rest of the closing stretch is just as demanding. The Wildcats also face TCU on Nov. 6, travel to Kansas State on Nov. 21 and finish with ASU in the Territorial Cup on Nov. 28.
That’s a rugged final six games by any measure. Arizona’s last six opponents have a combined record of 25-11, and every one of them is at .500 or better. By comparison, the first six teams on the schedule were 21-19 combined, and six of those wins came from FCS Northern Arizona.
The program has been here before, at least in a broad sense. Last season, Arizona stood at 4-2 at the midpoint, then shook off a walkoff loss at Houston and won five straight to climb to No. 17 in the final playoff rankings.
And if the Wildcats want to chase the ceiling they reached in 2014, they’ll know exactly what that looked like. That team was ranked No. 7 heading into the Pac-12 Championship Game, back when the playoff field was only four teams. The last time Arizona opened 5-1, in 2014, it matched that mark in the back half of the season and earned its only trip to a conference title game.
In Other News...
Arizona Just Got The Spotlight Brent Brennan Wanted
A week off did not slow Arizonas climb, and it finally put Brent Brennans program in the kind of national conversation he has been pushing toward. The Wildcats landed at No. 25 in the AP Poll for the first time in 2026, a reward for a 5-1 start and for staying in position while higher-ranked teams ahead of them, including Oklahoma State and Mississippi State, took losses.
Now the challenge is making the ranking mean something beyond a brief spot in the poll. Arizona returns home next to face Iowa State, with a chance to protect its place in the standings and show the voters the rise is built on more than timing and chaos elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]