Last year Arizona began the season ranked in the Top 25 and picked to finish in the upper half of the Big 12 Conference. We drank the Kool-Aid, with every member of the AZ Desert Swarm staff predicting at least eight wins in 2024.
Turns out that was how many losses the Wildcats would rack up in their first season under Brent Brennan.
There’s been major turnover within the program since then, with more than 50 new players and several new coaches including coordinators. The schedule is just as tough
as a year before, with both teams that made last year’s Big 12 title game on the slate as road opponents.
Are there enough winnable games for the UA to get to six and make a bowl?
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Arizona’s season win total is set at 5.5. The Wildcats are +3500 to win the Big 12, the 4th-worst worst odds in the conference, and are +2500 to make the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Here’s how our staff thinks the 2025 season will go, with game-by-game predictions as well as explanations on what will make this a successful campaign and what needs to happen for that to be possible.
Brian J. Pedersen — 6-6
- Hawaii — W
- Weber State — W
- Kansas State — L
- at Iowa State — L
- Oklahoma State — W
- BYU — W
- at Houston — L
- at Colorado — L
- Kansas — W
- at Cincinnati — L
- Baylor — W
- at ASU — L
What would make this a successful season? Honestly, any increase in wins from a year ago would be considered progress, which itself is success. But being bowl eligible and getting to play in something like the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl would be a big deal for a program that had so much momentum at the end of 2023 and so quickly lost it all.
What are your keys to achieving that success? The offensive line has to be able to do enough to allow the new offense to operate, and playmakers have to step up at the skill positions to compliment Noah Fifita. Defensively, keeping teams from running at will and forcing turnovers are what’s needed. Giving up 20 to 25 points per game is fine if the offense is producing, as hoped.
Kim Doss — 6-6
- Hawaii — W
- Weber State — W
- Kansas State — L
- at Iowa State — L
- Oklahoma State — W
- BYU — L
- at Houston — L
- at Colorado — L
- Kansas — W
- at Cincinnati — L
- Baylor — W
- at ASU — W
What would make this a successful season? Bowl eligibility and pulling off the upset over ASU would make this a successful season. I predict both to happen, although the ASU upset would be a shocker. With the likelihood that UA will drop at least one game against a “beatable” team, I expect the game against the Sun Devils to be the one that either makes Arizona bowl eligible or keeps it out of the postseason.
What are your keys to achieving that success? The Wildcats will have to weather the ups and downs that are likely for a team that will face several opponents with more talent. In the ‘Cats favor, they are comparable in talent to several teams on their schedule, as well.
Both on3 and 247sports have UA’s transfer class hovering around or just inside the top 50. 247sports has the freshman class in the top 50 in both its composite and internal rankings. The classes are middle-of-the-pack in the Big 12. The players need to fulfill the expectations of at least being mid-tier in the league.
The offense will be key. Noah Fifita needs to be the redshirt freshman Fifita. The wide receivers need to fill the void left by T-Mac’s departure, although no individual player needs to (or can) be Tetairoa McMillan. The running game needs to be far more effective than it was last year. All of those things come back to the performance of the offensive line. That group will likely have more impact on Arizona’s success than any other.
Ezra Amacher — 6-6
- Hawaii — W
- Weber State — W
- Kansas State — L
- at Iowa State — L
- Oklahoma State — W
- BYU — L
- at Houston — W
- at Colorado — L
- Kansas — W
- at Cincinnati — L
- Baylor — W
- at ASU — L
What would make this a successful season? Arizona winning six games and reaching a bowl game would qualify as a success. An increase in win total would signify Brent Brennan and his staff have the program moving in a positive direction. Who those wins come against matters to some degree, too. If Arizona can go on the road and take down a respectable conference foe, or produce a big home upset, it’ll go a long ways in creating some excitement around the program.
What are your keys to achieving that success? Many followers of Arizona football, myself included, were checked out midway through last season after watching the offense consistently struggle to score in the red zone. I think the biggest key is for the offense to get back to putting up big numbers. Arizona has an exciting young offensive coordinator in Seth Doege, and added plenty of weapons around Noah Fifita. The tools are in place. Now it’s time to execute.
Adam Green — 6-6
- Hawaii — W
- Weber State — W
- Kansas State — L
- at Iowa State — L
- Oklahoma State — W
- BYU — W
- at Houston — W
- at Colorado — L
- Kansas — W
- at Cincinnati — L
- Baylor — L
- at ASU — L
What would make this a successful season? The bar is much lower this season than last, isn’t it? Making a bowl game would undoubtedly make this a successful season, though that is not a prerequisite for the season being labeled as such. Arizona could claim success if we end the year with renewed confidence in this coaching staff, not only in its ability to teach and game plan but to build a roster. Being competitive most games, featuring an offense that can move the ball (and score), a defense that can battle and improved depth across the roster would all lead to feeling pretty good about 2025, even if the Cats can’t reach six wins and a postseason game.
What are your keys to achieving that success? Better health than last season would be a start, but in reality competent play calling combined with quality talent evaluation with regards to portal additions would lead to an improved Arizona team. It’s funny to think that despite all that went wrong last year the Cats were two wins away from a bowl, which they could have and maybe should have acquired with wins over Texas Tech and West Virginia. Despite losing talent to the draft and portal there are still a number of good players on this roster, so if they were supplemented with quality and are being guided by competency there’s no reason why six or so wins should be hard to come by.
Juan Serrano — 8-4
- Hawaii — W
- Weber State — W
- Kansas State — W
- at Iowa State — L
- Oklahoma State — W
- BYU — L
- at Houston — W
- at Colorado — W
- Kansas — W
- at Cincinnati — L
- Baylor — W
- at ASU — L
What would make this a successful season? Getting back to a bowl game is one reason that this season could be a success. Going along with being bowl eligible, having an upset win will help out. Arizona has many opportunities for an upset, mainly due to the fact that the Wildcats are going to be overlooked by most teams.
What are your keys to achieving that success? Being able to be competitive in almost every game is going to be key to having success. Nowadays to win, all a team needs is a chance and Arizona was unable to do that time and time again last season. Along with being competitive, the Wildcats need to win the state. This goes beyond beating ASU. Eight out of the 12 games are within the state of Arizona, so if it can take care of business within the state, the program’s trajectory can begin to look upward.
Brandon Combs — 6-6
- Hawaii — W
- Weber State — W
- Kansas State — L
- at Iowa State — L
- Oklahoma State — W
- BYU — L
- at Houston — W
- at Colorado — L
- Kansas — L
- at Cincinnati — W
- Baylor — L
- at ASU — W
What would make this a successful season? his will sound harsh but the bar is low as to what will make a successful season. Arizona has to be competitive, even in losses. Last year was filled with too many blowouts. That is a surefire way to have apathy for the program to set in. And of course, the obvious answer is stacking up wins and getting to a bowl game. And I believe that the Wildcats can do just that this year.
What are your keys to achieving that success? As I stated above, the bar is low. But I will dig into what I think will make the ‘Cats reach that success.
First off, a semblance of an offense is needed. I think this milestone has already been met thanks to Offensive Coordinator Seth Doege. Have to say, after the failure of the Babers-Adkins experiment last year, good on Brent Brennan for hiring Doege. It’s safe to say that we shouldn’t see any 15 second delayed handoffs.
Second, the offensive line needs to be better than last year. That’s not saying they need to be the best o-line in the conference, but they need to be average. Noah Fifita cannot spend every game running for his life like he did last season. I’m interested to see what the line looks like this year under Doege.
Finally, the team has to have an identity. I cannot tell you what the identity of the team was last year. I’m not sure if Brent Brennan could either, especially since he couldn’t answer that question near the end of the season. I believe that problem has been resolved. Seth Doege and Danny Gonzales are two coaches who have a vision of what their side of the ball should look like. And that gives the team a purpose, a goal to reach. I don’t expect to see the d-line just throw themselves against the opposing offensive line like waves crashing into rocks like last year (reference Joe Seumalo’s infamous “just….go” quote). I think Joe Oglesby will be able to coach his guys up to what Doege is looking for, mostly because Doege has a clear vision.
All this being said, I think the ‘Cats go 6-6 and bowling this season. The team has a different feel this year….like they know what they are doing. With better coaching, schemes and better talent acquisition comes better results on the field.
All odds subject to change. Leave your season win predictions in the comments section!
