After nine regular season wins, the No.14 Arizona Wildcat Football team will continue their season in San Antonio at the Alamo Bowl against No. 12 Oklahoma.
It’s Arizona’s first bowl game since 2017.
The 2023 season showed the fruits of Jedd Fisch and co.’s labor the past three season. The Wildcats had four wins against top-25 opponents, finished the season on a six-game win streak, lost to College Football Playoff-bound Washington by one touchdown and took USC to triple-overtime.
It’s a resumé that even the most diehard Wildcat fan would have felt was overly-ambitious two years ago when they won just one game.
The rebuild has been a mix of adding top-end talent and depth.
The Wildcats feature one of the best offensive lines in the Pac-12, headlined by tackles Jordan Morgan and Jonah Savaiinaea. Wide receivers Jacob Cowing and Tetairoa McMillan is a duo Fisch predicted (correctly) as one of the best duos in college football. Tanner McLachlan just surpassed Rob Gronkowski as the tight end with the most receptions in Wildcat history.
Redshirt freshman Noah Fifita has been a steady presence in the offense since taking over after Jayden de Laura was injured against Stanford in Week 4. He has totaled 2,515 passing yards, 23 passing touchdowns and just five interceptions this year.
Defensively, Bill Norton and Taylor Upshaw were big-time transfers along the defensive line who thrived in their first year wth the Wildcats. Jacob Manu continued to be the man in the middle for the Wildcats in the linebacker corps. Treydan Stukes and Gunner Maldonado provided experience in the secondary, and players like Dalton Johnson have come on strong late as a safety, showing the depth the Wildcats had in that group.
Oklahoma went 10-2 on the year under Brent Venables, including a win over rival Texas, who is bound for the College Football Playoff. The Sooners are led by quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who has thrown for 3,660 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Kickoff for the Alamo Bowl is on December 28 at 7:15 Arizona time in San Antonio.
