During its 5-game win streak to wrap up the regular season Arizona got the best of Buffaloes, Jayhawks, Bearcats, Bears and Sun Devils. Now the Wildcats will need to pony up to beat their next opponent.
Arizona will face the SMU Mustangs in the Holiday Bowl on Jan. 2 in San Diego. It is the Wildcats’ second bowl appearance in the last three seasons and the third time playing in the Holiday Bowl, first since 2009.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. MT on Jan. 2, with Fox broadcasting the game.
Ranked No. 17 in the final College Football Playoff rankings and No. 21 in the Associated Press poll, Arizona (9-3) will be trying to accomplish its fifth 10-win season in school history. SMU (8-4) will be making its second appearance in the Holiday Bowl—it played there in 1980—and first as a representative of the ACC, which it joined in 2024 at the same time the UA moved into the Big 12.
Arizona is technically representing the Pac-12 in this game, the last year that “legacy teams” from the old version of that conference are tied to its bowl arrangements.
The UA is 10-11-1 all-time in bowl games, the most recent one coming in 2023 when it beat Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. The two previous appearances in the Holiday Bowl had very different results.
In 1998 the Wildcats beat Nebraska 23-20 to complete the best season in school history, going 12-1. The 2009 appearance, again against Nebraska, resulted in a 30-0 loss to the Cornhuskers.
Arizona and SMU have played twice before, each winning on its home field. The last meeting was in 1985, in Tucson, when the Wildcats beat the 6th-ranked Mustangs.
The current version of the Holiday Bowl is played at Snapdragon Stadium, where Arizona opened the 2022 season with a 38-20 win over San Diego State.
