Arizona

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Arizona football opens 2026 season against NAUour readArizona Football Adds Max Harris, Ismail Mahdi for Fifth-Year Eligibilityour readThe Arizona State rivalry

Big 12 · Brent Brennan, year 3 (14-13) · Arizona Stadium · 50,782 · 40,129 avg in 2026

The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
The model#27 CFB ZeitgeistSP+ #24 (+12.6) · FPI #43
The marketArizona by 34.5vs Northern Illinois · our model 89% Arizona · a number, not a pick

LastL 17–28 at BYU · Sat Sep 12 · Noah Fifita 230 pass yds, 1 TD, 1 INT

Nextvs Northern Illinois · Sat Sep 19 · 10:30 pm ET · Arizona Stadium · Arizona by 34.5 · first meeting on record · Game preview

Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2

Zeitgeist statureNational Program II#57 all-time– holding
The era · 2014 through 2025

The CFP Era

12 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.

Era record 65-78 12 seasons
Best season 10-3 2023
TRAJECTORY · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program Quality AP Rank (inverted) CFP Appearance
'14'16'18'20'22'24NOW
CHAPTERS · 12 seasons · tap to open the archive
'14 10-4 '15 7-6 '16 3-9 '17 7-6 '18 5-7 '19 4-8 '20 — '21 1-11 '22 5-7 '23 10-3 '24 4-8 '25 9-4

Arizona's 2014–2025 record is 65-78. The era is still being written; the CFP line is the one the program is arguing for.

Era win %
.454
Ranked seasons (AP)
6/12
Best AP finish
#12
THE RIVALRY · ARIZONA × ARIZONA STATE

Territorial Cup

89 meetings since 1931 See the whole history →
ALL-TIME 43-45-1 since 1931 · .483 win rate
STREAK W1 Arizona rolling
TROPHY The Rivalry Itself No trophy — the season is the argument
NEXT 2026 season date set by conference
Heat trajectory

Week-by-week rivalry heat isn't tracked yet for this matchup — check back as the 2026-27 season approaches and real fan-intel signal accumulates.

Fan Heat Index

Who's more worked up right now

Cross-fanbase rivalry sentiment for this matchup hasn't been measured yet this week — both sides show as neutral until real signal comes in.

Arizona
Awaiting
Arizona State
Awaiting
Arizona —
Arizona State —

THE LAST 5 · year-by-year

  1. W 2025 Win 23–7
  2. L 2024 Loss 7–49
  3. W 2023 Win 59–23
  4. W 2022 Win 38–35
  5. L 2021 Loss 15–38

Program outlook

Brent Brennan went 4-8 in his first season and nearly lost his job. He went 9-4 in his second and earned a contract extension. Arizona enters 2026 trying to decide which version of Brent Brennan just showed up — and whether a bounce-back is a program or a single good year.

Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs

Desert Swarm is the standard Arizona football reaches for. Dick Tomey's early-1990s defenses were genuinely feared — 30 rushing yards allowed per game, Sports Illustrated cover, a 1998 season that finished 12-1 and ranked fourth nationally, a Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska. That is the ceiling the Wildcats carry as identity, and it is a real one. Tedy Bruschi came out of Tucson. Rob Gronkowski came out of Tucson. Bear Down is a campus creed with a genuine origin — the dying words of a 1926 player-captain, adopted as the university's permanent standard. The building blocks of a program that can be feared again are in the record.

The path back has been uneven. After Jedd Fisch's 10-3 rebuild in 2023, he left for Washington and Arizona crashed to 4-8 in Brennan's first Big 12 season, with the fanbase openly calling for a change. Brennan answered with a 9-4 turnaround in 2025 — a 6-3 conference record, a Holiday Bowl bid — and a contract extension. The offseason moved belief: Arizona appears to have a coach capable of competing in the Big 12 on a sustainable basis, not just surviving it. That is the real shift entering 2026, and it is the first time in a while the program has been able to say it honestly.

The 2026 question is whether the 9-4 was the new floor or the new ceiling. Arizona's Big 12 schedule will not get easier; the top of the league — Texas, Oklahoma State, the programs that treat Tucson as a winnable road game — will be watching the Wildcats closely. The specific answer the season will provide: whether Brennan can build a defense worth fearing again. The offense has Air Raid-flavored infrastructure. The defense is where the Desert Swarm ghost either returns or stays dormant.

On the field

A defense-first identity at its historical best — the Desert Swarm tradition of swarming gang-tackling pressure, updated into the modern Big 12 era with Air Raid-flavored passing concepts on offense. Brennan's 2025 team ran a spread-oriented attack and mixed defensive schemes to hold opponents in check on enough Saturdays to reach nine wins. The identity is in transition: Arizona knows what it wants to be defensively (feared, physical, Swarm) and is still determining whether the current staff can get it back there.

program outlook · as of 2026-06-14

All-time record · Arizona

Arizona has won 51% of its games since 1916 — 60% at home, 39% on the road.

522-482-25 all-time · 102 seasons · 1916–2026

Home 342-220-10
Away 170-247-14
Neutral 10-15-1
1 g 1910s
7% 1920s
57% 1930s
53% 1940s
44% 1950s
50% 1960s
54% 1970s
59% 1980s
60% 1990s
42% 2000s
50% 2010s
43% 2020s

Coaching Era · Arizona

Brent Brennan

Brent Brennan in year 3 of the rebuild. The methodology is taking shape.

Era Brent Brennan · 2024–presentPrev: Jedd Fisch (2021–2023)OC: Seth DoegePrev OC: Dino Babers (2024)DC: Danny GonzalesPrev DC: Duane Akina (2024)
The full CFP-era story →The full coaching lineage →
3 years · era

Program memory

What this program never forgets

Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.

1994

Desert Swarm on the SI cover

The defense gracing Sports Illustrated — the moment the desert became nationally feared

The 1998 12-1 season

A 23-20 Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska, a #4 final ranking — the high-water mark of Arizona football

Moment of the season — so far · Arizona · 2026

Won 35-7 vs Northern Arizona

Week 1 of 2026. A statement margin. Recruiting boards re-rendered overnight.

Decisive Margin

NFL Draft Pipeline

2024–2026

Arizona has sent 11 players to the NFL Draft since 2024 — 2 of them in the first round.

Steady. Reliable mid-tier pipeline.

11 picks · 2 in round 1
#8 Tetairoa McMillan Wide Receiver · 2025 · Carolina · #4/466 final season
#25 Jordan Morgan Offensive Tackle · 2024 · Green Bay
#37 Jonah Savaiinaea Offensive Guard · 2025 · Miami
#52 all-time · 12 first-round picksthe talent factory →

More in this tab

Ladder finishHow far up the ladder this season got.

Season standing · 2026 · 1-1

Arizona is 1-1 and unranked in the season's first weeks.

Even or better through the season's first weeks. The resume is still forming.

Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
ConferenceWhere this team sits in this season's conference standings.

Big 12 standing · 2026

16th in the Big 12

Arizona is 16th of 16 in the Big 12 at 0-1. The path to the title is steep — the focus is on bowl access and rivalry wins.

#ProgramRecord
1BYU1-0
–Arizona State0-0
–Baylor0-0
–Cincinnati0-0
–Colorado0-0
–Houston0-0
–Iowa State0-0
–Kansas0-0
–Kansas State0-0
–Oklahoma State0-0
–TCU0-0
–Texas Tech0-0
–UCF0-0
–Utah0-0
–West Virginia0-0
16Arizona0-1
Coaching historyEvery hire and departure on record, not just the current era.

Coaching history

  • Hired Brent Brennan2024
  • Jedd Fisch departs16-21, 3 seasons
  • Hired Jedd Fisch2021
  • Kevin Sumlin departs9-20, 3 seasons
  • Hired Kevin Sumlin2018
  • Rich Rodriguez departs43-35, 6 seasons
  • Hired Rich Rodriguez2012
  • Hired Tim Kish2011
Coordinator lineageOffense and defense under each coordinator.

Unit lineage

Arizona’s offense and defense, by coordinator

FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.

Offense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2017 · co-Calvin Magee / co-Rod Smith2018–2020 · Noel Mazzone2021–2023 · Brennan Carroll2024 · Dino Babers2025–2026 · Seth Doege
Defense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · Jeff Casteel2016–2018 · Marcel Yates2019 · Marcel Yates / Chuck Cecil (interim)2020 · Paul Rhoads2021 · Don Brown2022–2023 · Johnny Nansen2024 · Duane Akina2025–2026 · Danny Gonzales
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customsThe gameday customs unique to this program.

Rituals

Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.

Bear Down

since 1926

more

'Bear Down' — dating to 1926, the final words of Arizona QB John 'Button' Salmon before he died from a car-crash injury — is the program's permanent mantra. The phrase is engraved on every Arizona facility + tattooed on alumni + spoken in every postgame interview. The most-storied two-word mantra in CFB outside of 'Roll Tide.'

1998 Desert Swarm Era

since 1998

more

Dick Tomey's 1998 12-1 + Holiday Bowl championship + #4 final AP rank — 'Desert Swarm' defensive identity — is the program's all-time peak. The defense forced 50+ turnovers + held offenses to single digits routinely. Tomey's tenure (1987-2000) defined the program identity that continues to anchor recruiting.

Cactus Bowl / Territorial Cup

since 1899 · trophy game

more

Arizona-Arizona State plays for the Territorial Cup — first played 1899, one of CFB's oldest trophy games. The in-state Big 12 rivalry has produced 90+ meetings. The Cup itself is a brass-and-leather trophy whose annual home depends on the outcome.

Cultural identityWhat college football loses if this program didn't exist.
BowlsEvery bowl this program's played, and how it did.

Bowl / Postseason Ledger

Recent postseason (2014-2025): 2-3

Most recent: 2025 — loss 24-19 (away). Last 5 postseason: 2-3.

20252023201720152014
Reddit blowupsThe plays that blew up on r/CFB.

r/cfb moments

1.5k
[Postgame Thread] USC Defeats Arizona 43-41 (3OT)
Oct 2023 · r/cfb
1.4k
[Postgame Thread] Northern Arizona Defeats Arizona 21-19
Sep 2021 · r/cfb
715
[Postgame Thread] SMU Defeats Arizona 24-19
Jan 2026 · r/cfb
671
[Postgame Thread] BYU Defeats Arizona 33-27 (2OT)
Oct 2025 · r/cfb
508
[Postgame Thread] USC Defeats Arizona 45-37
Oct 2022 · r/cfb

All-time top community posts · ranked by upvotes

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