Arizona football is off to its best start in a dozen years but the Wildcats haven’t done enough yet to earn the trust of most Associated Press poll voters.
Arizona (5-1) is three spots outside of the AP Top 25 in this week’s rankings after beating West Virginia 52-31 in Morgantown on Saturday. Arizona received 82 votes, which was third-most in the receiving votes category behind Wisconsin and Oregon.
The Wildcats received 92 votes in the Coaches Poll, putting them two spots outside of the rankings.
Former Wildcat Rob Gronkowski was among the voices publicly vouching for Arizona to be ranked following back-to-back convincing conference wins against West Virginia and Cincinnati.
Brent Brennan’s Arizona program was last ranked at the end of the 2025 season, when Arizona cracked the Top 25 following a Territorial Cup win over ASU.
BYU, the lone team to beat Arizona this season, is the Big 12’s top ranked team at No. 8.
Arizona plays two other Big 12 teams ranked in the top 15: Texas Tech is No. 10 and Utah is No. 11. The Wildcats face Texas Tech in Lubbock on Oct. 31 and host Utah on Nov. 14.
Houston is also ranked, checking in at No. 20.
Arizona is on a bye week, with its next game at home against Iowa State on Oct. 24.
