Arizona Wildcats Have the Biggest Win in the Big 12 This College Football Season
The Arizona Wildcats shocked the nation on Saturday night by defeating the Utah Utes, the tenth-ranked team in the country.
The team rebounded quickly after falling to Kansas State Wildcats in their last game to finish a rare non-conference game between two Big-12 foes. As we head into conference play for the new-looking Big-12, the recent Wildcats win has taken an early lead as the most important game of the season for the league.
Utah went with true freshman quarterback Issac Wilson under center against the Wildcats as they continue to be cautious with starter Cam Rising. However, the game decision to move to Wilson turned into the Utes' first loss of the season.
Now, Arizona is 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in Big-12 play. They sit just outside the latest AP Top 25 poll, as they received the most votes for a team not in the rankings, with 106 votes. The conference currently has four teams ranked in the Top 25.
Arizona's win is the most impactful game so far for the newly realigned conference this season, as it has immensely changed the league's landscape heading into October.
Utah was the conference frontrunner before the loss on Saturday. They now move down eight spots in the national rankings to 18th in the AP poll and are tied for seventh in the Big 12 standings. For the first time this season, both the Iowa State Cyclones (16th) and the BYU Cougars (17th) are ahead of Utah in the rankings.
The Big 12 still has six teams that have yet to lose a conference game, and the Wildcats are one of them.
As for Utah, they will have three games against conference opponents who have already received one loss against Big 12 teams this season (Arizona State. TCU, Houston). They will have ample time to continue to work with their young quarterback or get Rising back to 100% before they are set to face BYU, who is currently ranked 17th and 5-0 for the third time in five seasons.
The return of Rising could be exactly what Utah needs to get its season back on track. On Saturday, Arizona's defense was outstanding against the Utes. They stopped them four times on fourth-down conversions and limited them to only 84 yards on the ground. Although Utah won the time-of-possession battle, they only scored 10 points in the whole contest.
Arizona will look to continue the momentum as they travel back home to host the Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-1, 2-0) on Saturday. Sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita will look to capitalize off his two-passing touchdown performance against Utah. Texas Tech will enter Saturday’s game as the third-worst team in the country (131st) in passing yards allowed, with 309 yards per game.
The game will kickoff at 11 pm EST and will be available on FOX.
