Arizona is coming to Morgantown this Saturday for a noon kickoff. They are 4-1 with their only loss to a top 10 BYU team, and coming off a nice win against Cincinnati. To give us some insight into the Arizona squad I threw some questions at Brian Pederson from the AZ Desert Swarm site. We even get into some Rich Rod talk towards the end.
It feels like Arizona has stayed under the radar in the Big 12 and national conversations so far this year. Are you surprised that you aren’t getting more attention
given that your only loss is to a top 10 BYU team and you had a dominant win against an undefeated Cincinnati team?
“It was a little surprising entering the season since Arizona was coming off a 9-win performance in 2025 and brought back Noah Fifita, who is such a rarity nowadays as a 5th-year senior at the same school. Once it lost to BYU, though, the expectation was that was going to be the chance to get on the radar. Next opportunity would be at Texas Tech on Halloween, but probably only if it is 6-1 going to Lubbock.”
Any concerns about the long road to trip to WV with a Noon eastern kickoff time? How does your team normally fare on east coast trips?
“Arizona practices in the mornings, so this game will be around the time it’s normally starting to warm up for preseason or game week workouts. Last year the Wildcats won at Cincinnati in a noon ET kickoff in November, while in 2024 they were blown out at UCF in the afternoon. They’ll fly out on Thursday to help acclimate but I don’t see the time change or body clocks being an issue. I think it’s much more of an impact for teams coming west and playing late, like Cincinnati kicking off at 11 p.m. ET this past weekend.”
Our next 2 games are against you and Cincinnati. You are coming off a 34-7 beatdown of Cincinnati. Did you all play a great game, or was Cincinnati an imposter with that 4-0 record?
“A little of both, but Arizona had a clear plan to keep Cincinnati from running the ball as effectively as it does and that made the Bearcats have to throw much more than they wanted. The game was only 10-0 in the third quarter, though, and if not for a Cincinnati played inexplicably batting an Arizona fumble out of the back of the end zone, leading to a UA touchdown two plays later, it might have been a very different game.”
We have all heard about your passing attack and how good Noah Fifita can be, but what jumped out to me was your 238 rushing yards against Cincinnati? Was that part of the game plan or just a product of having a big lead in the 4th quarter?
“The run game had for the most part underachieved prior to Cincinnati, despite a solid per-carry average when sacks were taken out. There was more dedication to being balanced in this game and it showed, and there’s depth at that position despite Ismail Mahdi (last year’s leading rusher) losing his eligibility case the night before and being unavailable.
Considering the potential strain West Virginia’s rush attack will put on Arizona’s defense, I expect the Wildcats to try and run it a fair amount again this week if only to make sure there are no super short drives that limit the amount of rest the D gets.“
When you look at the matchup against WVU are there any specific areas that give you concern?
“Mobile quarterbacks have been an issue for Arizona’s defense under Danny Gonzales, though it mostly handled Bear Bachmeier earlier this year. A lot of work will be done this week to drill into the defensive line and linebackers to stick with their assignments to avoid losing the ball in the backfield.”
How does the Arizona fan base look back on Rich Rodriguez and his time there?
“In the immediate aftermath of his dismissal there was misguided joy, thinking that 43-35 with five bowl games in six years just wasn’t good enough. Then Kevin Sumlin imploded the program and it took 5+ years to fix it, only to see Jedd Fisch jump and restart the clock a bit. Now, ironically, a certain faction misses his sideline antics and overall behavior because for some reason they don’t think Brent Brennan is exciting enough.”
Give me a score prediction.
“After seeing how well Arizona handled Cincinnati’s run game, which gained 74 yards after averaging 270 per game, my perception of the defense’s ability to slow down the West Virginia run game has improved. But I think Michael Hawkins Jr. is much better than the Bearcats’ QB, and assuming he can complete some big passes this feels like a shootout.
Noah Fifita is the X-factor here. West Virginia’s defense doesn’t look like it can take the pass game away, and if Arizona runs with any consistency it takes this one. Former RichRod employer 38, Current RichRod employer 34.“
What do you all think about this matchup? Anything mentioned here that makes you feel better or worse about our chances? Let me know in the comments.
