Arizona football falls out of final AP poll after Holiday Bowl loss to SMU

Climbing into the Associated Press Top 25 late in the 2025 season was a significant moment for Arizona, an indication it had managed to bounce back from the previous year’s poor showing. But after dropping their final game, the Wildcats won’t finish the season ranked.

The UA dropped out of the final AP poll, released Tuesday, the byproduct of its 24-19 loss to SMU in the Holiday Bowl. Arizona, which was 21^st in the previous poll, finished the equivalent of 30^th place with 54 total vote points.

Arizona

has only ended a season ranked eight times, most recently after the 2023 season when it finished 11th. That was the UA’s highest season-ending ranking since 1998 when it finished 4th.

Five Big 12 schools were ranked in the final poll, led by conference champ and College Football Playoff qualifier Texas Tech (7^th). BYU (11^th), Utah (14^th), Houston (22^nd) and TCU (25^th) were the others.

Arizona’s 2026 schedule, which will be announced Wednesday morning, includes games at BYU and Texas Tech while TCU and Utah come to Casino del Sol Stadium.