Failure is going to happen in college football. Unless you’re one of a small handful of teams at the highest tier of the sport there are going to be some losses along the way in a season.
How a team reacts
to that defeat, and bounces back from them—or doesn’t—determines just how successful their year is going to be.
Arizona (3-1, 0-1 Big 12) is coming off its first loss of 2025, a humbling 39-14 outcome at Iowa State last week to open conference play. It was the fifth time in the last six road games they lost by at least 21 points, including four in a row on the road like that.
The first of those road losses under Brent Brennan, last season at Kansas State, was responded with by a win at Utah. And the 56-12 loss at UCF was followed by a victory over Houston.
But both of those came with a bye in between. The Wildcats are less than a week removed from the Iowa State loss. Saturday’s Big 12 home opener against Oklahoma State provides an immediate chance to respond to that setback and regain momentum.
“I know our team is going to play hard,” Brennan said, who noted Tuesday’s practice had the highest “player load” of the season and Wednesday’s was the fastest. “The guys are getting after it.”
It will be Hispanic Heritage Day at Arizona Stadium—defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales has suggested wearing sombreros to the game, both for the culture aspect and to help block out the midday sun. Here’s what to watch for when the Wildcats and Cowboys battle at high noon on TNT:
An enigma of an opponent
Oklahoma State (1-3) is a team in turmoil. Longtime head coach Mike Gundy was fired after a home loss to Tulsa two weeks ago, and after losing to Baylor last Saturday for its 10th consecutive Big 12 defeat interim coach Doug Meacham fired defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
Several Cowboys players have either entered the NCAA transfer portal—which opened for 30 days for OSU’s roster after Gundy’s firing—or have elected to sit out the rest of this season to retain eligibility.
All of those changes make scouting OSU more difficult than it should be. The new defensive coordinator, Clint Bowen, had been an offensive analyst until this week.
“There’s a little bit of unknown,” offensive coordinator Seth Doege said. “It’s hard to say what you’re going to get. I would assume they’re clean up some stuff that (Bowen) feels like they need to clean up and try to stay a little bit more simple and let those guys play fast and obviously throw in what he feels like he can, he can get in. I don’t think he’s going to do a wholesale change, because I think that would be a disservice to those kids. That’s a lot of work just to go into the last week to do it.”
The Cowboys’ offense has already gone through in-season changes, with starting quarterback Hejny Hauss getting injured in the first game and replaced by third-year redshirt freshman Zane Flores. OSU also unleashed journeyman athlete Sam Jackson V, who has previously played at TCU, Cal and Auburn as both a quarterback and wide receiver, with some packages that added wrinkles to the offense.
“What he’s doing is very dynamic,” Gonzales said of Meacham, who is also OSU’s offensive coordinator. “You haven’t seen a mass (offensive) exodus to the portal … that means what Meacham is telling them and how he’s doing it, they believe in it. They still have opportunities.”
Returning to balance
Arizona ran the ball a season-low 24 times at Iowa State, 23 if you don’t count the one sack against Noah Fifita. It had averaged 39 carries during the 3-0 start, but then again it only trailed for less than three minutes and never by more than one score.
Doege said he’s always looking for balance, but often the game dictates otherwise either because of the score or the way the opponent is defending.
“When I’m attacking the defense, it’s more like, what’s working?,” he said. “If I feel like we’re running the ball well, you gotta lean on the run until they start loading that box, and then you gotta be able to throw.”
Doege said he had to abandon the run at Iowa State in order to “create explosives” on offense, which is easier to do through the air, though the UA has only nine more pass plays of 10-plus yards (33) than run plays (24) and has four runs of 30-plus compared to six passes.
Riding the heat wave
The forecasted high for Saturday is 92, which is two degrees cooler than the kickoff temperature for the season opener against Hawaii. That was a night game, though, while Saturday’s starts at noon. It’s the earliest in a season Arizona has played a home day game since 2004.
The Wildcats’ sideline is the the one that will be in the sun the most, while the west side of the stadium could provide shade for Oklahoma State’s bench in the second half.
That’s only an excuse if you let it be, Brennan said.
“We’re outside every day, in the direct sunlight at that time of day,” he said. “I don’t know how else you can address it. Every day we practice in that. I love it. I love the idea of wake up, take a shower, brush your teeth, have something to eat, and let’s go play, versus just waiting all day to play.”
The start time may have an impact on the crowd, but that’s nothing new with Arizona. Normally it’s the lateness of kickoffs that elicit complaints.
“I think it’s awesome for our fans,” Brennan said. “I think our fans can rally. If I’m in college, ;et’s get the party started at 8 am man, let’s get this thing going. We got a kickoff at noon. It’s kind of a catch 22, you hear well, the games are played so late. I get that. Well, it’s going to be hot. Well, I get that too. But really, there’s a big time college football game happening here on Saturday, and it’s going to be an awesome event.”
Sit or suit up?
With this being the fifth game of the 2025 season, it means that for certain players on the Arizona roster if they play on Saturday they’ve officially used up a year of eligibility.
There are more than 40 Wildcats who have a redshirt available, including 15 who have appeared in every game this fall. Several of those are starters but that group also includes true freshmen such as defensive lineman Mays Pese and defensive back Coleman Patmon.
Freshmen receivers Gio Richardson and Isaiah Mizell and running back Wesley Yarbrough have each played in three games, giving them one more during the regular season. Brennan gave the indication that those players aren’t going to be held out to retain eligibility.
“If you’re helping this football team win games, you’re playing,” Brennan said Monday.
An unusually big spread
Arizona is currently favored by 20.5 points, per FanDuel Sportsbook, after the line originally opened at 16.5. It could go up even more, and with each point will move this spread up the list of largest that the Wildcats have been favored against a conference opponent.
The last time the UA was favored by 20 or more against a league foe was 2017, when Oregon State came to Tucson as a 21-point underdog and pushed in a 49-28 loss. Before that it was a 2012 home game with Colorado, where as a 28.5-point favorite Arizona won 56-31.
Arizona’s last cover against a 20-point favorite in a conference game was 2009, against Washington State, when it easily covered a 32.5-point spread in a 48-7 win.
