Arizona Wildcats 2025 College Football Preview, Prediction, Betting ideas
Arizona Football Preview For 2025
I entered this offseason thinking Arizona was a team I was going to be fading. When I looked under the hood and did some digging I had to reconsider my thought process! By all accounts its been a cultural reboot in Tucson. Last season going 4-8 in Brent Brennans first year in charge was a disappointment. Especially given you had a top 10 pick as well as 3 other NFL draft picks, and overall the direction Jedd Fisch had this program heading in the right direction. Enter new OC Doege from Marshall, who doesn’t love a young exuberant coordinator hire, Gonzales gets promoted to run the defense. The buy in seems high this season. Can this team and staff get more out of Fifita? That’s the big question after having thrown 25 tds and 6 picks in ’23! He dropped to 18 tds and 12 picks last year, can a culture shift and new scheme get this program back on track?
Recruiting: Arizona added the 9th ranked class in the Big 12 in ’25, love to see that improvement after coming in at 15 in ’24, which is to be understood given the coaching change.
Wildcats 2025 Portal
Arizona came in at 14 in the portal ranking. They lost a bit to Washington understandably as the players wanted to rejoin the old coach. Davis hurts. I don’t love seeing programs like this losing players to the likes of Washington, Boise St, and Tennessee. The additions though are quite interesting! Mahdi (RB) was first team all Sun Belt from Texas St. While Barmore (WR) moves up a level, he was also first team NEC. Lastly Malachi Bailey (Edge) comes from Alcorn St and had serious PFF grades. Let’s see what the lower level talent can do. I like that Brennen knows those levels quite well.
Arizona Wildcats 2025 Roster
Fifita will certainly need to regain the form he had in ’23 if this team wants any chance at success. They’ve added some nice pieces around him at RB and WR as stated above, I like some players on O line(Decambra)(Doost). Defensively this line could potentially be salty. Smith returns, Owens is back, Bailey is in as a transfer, and let’s see what Savea is all about coming over from Texas.
Statistical pulse: ‘Zona graded out bottom 5 in all defensive PFF grades last year except pass rush. They also allowed 250 yards through the air last season, pretty tough to be getting thrown on like that. One interesting bit is they ranked 119th according to Bill Connelly on expected turnover margin last year, but considering they had their doors blown off in many games last season not sure they were to be considered unlucky.
2025 Schedule
Remember that early K-State game is not a Big 12 matchup, but what an opportunity for Arizona to make a statement. Short week and K-State will be coming off a battle with Army that’s a tricky spot for K-State! Overall the schedule is not too menacing, road trips to Iowa St, Colorado and the big one at Arizona St prove to be tough road trips. Home games vs Baylor and BYU will be challenging.
2025 Prediction for Arizona Wildcats
Maybe I’m buying the hype about the cultural reset at this program too much. You hear it all the time after a down year, but what I like is they went and did something actionable, new coordinator who by all accounts is fantastic, and a bunch of interesting pieces in the portal. I think Fifita bounces back maybe not to the heights of ’23 but certainly better than last year. I think Arizona finds a way to 6-6 behind a stout defensively line.
