Arizona Wildcats Latest Bowl Projection Sees Them Landing in Sin City
The Arizona Wildcats need three wins to become bowl eligible, and they hope to take their next step when they face the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday.
It’s six wins to reach a bowl game and the Wildcats (3-1, 1-0 in Big 12) are trying to head to a bowl game for the second straight season. Last year Arizona headed to the Alamo Bowl and defeated the Oklahoma Sooners.
After that, coach Jedd Fisch left the Wildcats for the Washington Huskies and Brent Brennan came in to take over the program.
If the Wildcats were to head to a bowl game based on their first four games of the season, The Action Network projects that Arizona would head due north to Nevada to play in the Las Vegas Bowl against Ole Miss.
It’s an interesting projection because the Las Vegas Bowl is tied to the Pac-12, where the Wildcats played last year. For the next couple of years, the four former Pac-12 teams in the Big 12 are still eligible to play in Pac-12 affiliated bowls.
That’s why the Wildcats could end up in the Las Vegas Bowl for the first time since 2008.
Arizona has a bowl game record of 10-11-1. That includes six appearances in a New Year’s Six bowl game, which includes the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange, Cotton, and Peach Bowls.
That record doesn’t include two bowls the program played before they appeared in the Sun Bowl in 1968. One was their appearance against now Division III Centre in the 1921 San Diego East-West Christmas Classic. The other was in one the now-defunct 1949 Salad Bowl.
Arizona has never made an appearance in the College Football Playoff. This year, with the expanded 12-team playoff, the Wildcats could reach the CFP if they win the Big 12, as the league will receive an automatic berth.
But, if the Wildcats were selected to one of the at-large berths based on their record, they would play an on-campus game in the first round before advancing to a New Year’s Six Bowl game.
In their history, the Wildcats have made three appearances in the Sun Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. Arizona has also made two appearances in the Alamo, Cactus, Holiday, New Mexico and Aloha bowls. Along with the Las Vegas Bowl, the Wildcats have made single appearances in the Independence, Foster Farms and Freedom Bowls.
