Big 12 Breakdown and The Big Question For Each School : #6 Arizona
By Cade Welty and Sean A Dillon
We’re breaking down the Big 12 as we get closer to the 2026 season. We’re breaking down each team getting closer and closer to #1. Today we look at Arizona State.
#16 – Iowa State #15 – Colorado #14 – Kansas #13 – cincinnati #12 – Oklahoma State #11 West Virginia #10 UCF #9 Baylor
#8 – TCU #7 – Arizona State #6 – Arizona #5 – ?
Arizona: Can they run the table in 2026?
The Arizona Wildcats are usually trying to beat their instate rival ASU but they have now found themselves as a team to beat. Coming off just their third 9+ win season since 2014 after winning the Holiday Bowl in 2025. Along with that 9-4 record and finishing 6-3 in conference play the Wildcats have aimed their sights on a conference title.
The Wildcats enter year 3 under Brent Brennan and have seen uncharted territory for the head coach. In Brennan’s head coaching career his teams have only seen two seasons with a winning percentage above .600. Those two seasons are the shortened 2020 year where he went 7-1 at San Jose State and last season at 9-4. Brent Brennan hasn’t won a bowl game as a head coach and you start to see where the issues can arise.
There are questions on can they repeat the success of last year?
Well sure they could easily run back a 9-3 regular season or they could easily fall back to 7-5. During their 2025 season the Wildcats peaked at the right time by winning 5 straight to end the season but who did they play? Wins over Colorado, Kansas, Cincinnati, Baylor and Arizona State. Now we can’t punish the 2025 team for beating the teams they should beat but their schedule for 2026 has a much greater challenge. They will play TCU, Utah and Arizona State at home which could help them in their quest for a Big 12 title appearance. But then they play the top 6 finishers in the conference standings from the 2025 season with no real off days. Add on the fact they travel to BYU, Texas Tech and we start to see 5 games against top talent in the conference. Even if they go 3-2 in those games it then creates the scenario where they can’t drop another game or else the 10 win regular season is over. The issue is not the fact of talent more so talent vs the schedule they were presented with.
The key to all of this is quarterback Noah Fifita and his final season in Arizona. Fifta and his talent has been making the rounds across social media with quotes coming from his head coach such as.
“He definitely has a Heisman resume. He is the best story in college football. He is this rare human being that chooses the right things every day.” a quote from Brett McMurphy’s post on X.
Noah Fifita has been given the title as the Big 12’s best QB according to On3 and voted as the preseason 1st team QB. This shouldn’t come as a shock since his stats last season were 3,228 yards, 29 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. Which compositely ranked him 3rd in the conference in overall QB play. Add on to the fact he is one of two QBs returning from the top 5 last year and it begins to make sense.
Who is the supporting cast to this story?
Arizona is returning 8 total starters from the 2025 team with 5 on offense and 3 on defense. Those starters powered an offense that scored 31.5 points per game which ranked them 30th in the FBS. The defense was the stronger unit for that 2025 team by holding opponents to only 19.3 points per game which ranked 21st in the FBS.
The Wildcats brought in the 20th best transfer class to shift the team into all in for 2026. The class is overall solid, filled with a mixed bag of veteran talent and rising underclassmen. The talent pool is more reliant on development with their top portal, Senior TE Cole Rusk who only had 19 catches for 217 yards and one touchdown at Illinois or Sophomore WR DJ Jordan who caught 5 passes for 38 yards in one season at USC. Lastly is RB transfer Antwan Roberts who had a productive season at Marshall with 90 carries for 512 yards and 4 touchdowns.
On the defensive side they brought in a ton of secondary help since they don’t have a returning starter for that position group. Which it has been pointed out many times already but the secondary was the whole reason it was a top 20 defense in 2025. Daylen Austin is the headliner for that group as the R-SO transferred in from Oregon who had a top pass defense last year. Also the addition of Malcom Hartzog from Nebraska should create a very solid CB room in Tucson.
They are relying on a bunch of development from their players. Which yes, majority of college football programs are but for Arizona the teams who were above them brought in productive transfers and returned talent as well.
To compete for a conference title things have to go your way and with facing the top of the conference and no real off days as Week 2 you travel to BYU it could be another 7-5 season for head coach Brent Breenan. But for us the real goal is winning a bowl game for the first time in his career which should be a little alarming for fans in Tucson.
Arizona 2026 Football Schedule :
Conference Games *
9/5/2026, Northern Arizona, Time : 8:30P.M. CT
9/12/2026, at BYU, Time : 2:30 P.M. CT
9/19/2026, Northern Illinois, Time : 9:30 P.M. CT
9/26/2026, at Washington State *, Time : TBA
10/3/2026, Cincinnati *, Time : TBA
10/10/2026, at West Virginia * , Time : TBA
10/24/2026, Iowa State * , Time : TBA
10/31/2026, at Texas Tech *, Time : 6:30 P.M. CT
11/6/2026, TCU *, Time : 9:15 P.M. CT
11/14/2026, Utah * , Time : TBA
11/21/2026, at Kansas State* , Time : TBA
11/28/2026, Arizona State * , Time : TBA
Sean’s Thoughts:
Arizona was handing out “Noah Fifita for Heisman” flyers at Big 12 Media Days, and honestly, I couldn’t help but chuckle. Yes, Noah’s loyal. He’s spent his entire career at Arizona, one of only five active FBS starting seniors to stick around one program. But in today’s NIL world, nobody cares about loyalty. It’s ONLY about wins. Arizona faces four of my top five teams, with three of those games on the road (@byu, @TEXAS TECH @Kansas State). Do you see more than 2 wins for the Wildcats? Even with bifocals, I can’t. Heisman voters rarely look at QB’s outside the Playoff, and this Arizona team isn’t lifting a CFP trophy anytime soon, let alone Mjolnir.
When 40 percent of your roster enters the portal, graduates to run a Kwik-E-Mart or the NFL draft, you’re forced back to square one. Let’s be kind to the Wildcats, they are a basketball school, and 2026 isn’t changing that. Can a retooled WR room save them? Maybe, but Clifford Franklin in The Replacements has a better shot at catching a football with hands covered in stickum than this crew if Fifita starts forcing throws to chase his Heisman dreams.
Arizona will be decent grinding out 8 or 9 wins. Is this Heisman worthy support around him? Not even close. Christina Hendricks gets better structural support.
See you on Halloween!