Washington State hosts Arizona. No market line yet; the model calls it close to even.
What’s at stake
Make the CFP field
Win the conference
Win it all
CFP odds as of September 3, 2026
The series
Arizona leads the series 28-19
47 meetings since 1963 · Arizona won the last meeting
- 2023Arizona 44–6
- 2022Washington State 31–20
- 2021Washington State 44–18
- 2018Washington State 69–28
- 2017Arizona 58–37
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Arizona
The chip · vs the national mediaWildcat fans say the sport filed Arizona under 'Pac-12 survivor' the day the old league died and never updated the file — they say a 9-4 Big 12 season barely moved the needle, and the desert is tired of being treated as filler.
What this game touches
The 2024 crash that nearly cost a coach his job. After a 10-3 rise under Jedd Fisch, Arizona watched him leave for Washington, then collapsed to 4-8 in Brent Brennan's first season and its debut Big 12 year — the fanbase openly calling for a coaching change before the 2025 rebound made the question moot.
Washington State
The chip · vs big brotherCougar fans watched the bigger schools sprint to richer leagues and leave the loyal ones behind, and they have not forgotten which neighbor pulled the ladder up. They say the ones who ran abandoned the conference; the Cougs are the ones who kept it alive.
What this game touches
Left behind in the Pac-12 collapse. In 2023 the Pac-12's biggest names bolted for the Big Ten and Big 12, and Washington State — too remote, too small a market — got no invitation. WSU and Oregon State were the only two left holding the conference's name, forced to schedule against a borrowed league while everyone who ran cashed in.
Best players
Washington State
- Titus Miller (DL) · 1 tackles
- Cameron Weir (WR) · 13 rushing yards
- Dylan Paine (RB) · 3 rushing yards
Arizona
- Taye Brown (LB) · 2025: 93 tackles
- Noah Fifita (QB) · 2025: 3,228 passing yards — Heisman odds: 34th (+10000)
- Max Harris (LB) · 2025: 78 tackles
The line, and the room
Arizona fans are feeling it more than most fanbases this week (75th percentile) — the mood matches the numbers.
Conditions
Washington State is 72% at home, 38% on the road since 2018 (33-13 home, 15-25 away).