Is Arizona football going bowling? Here's a few bowl projections for the Wildcats

If Arizona football wants any shot at the postseason, the Wildcats will need to find two wins in the next five games.

Arizona’s next five opponents have a combined record of 22-16. Arizona’s only remaining opponent with a losing record is Colorado (3-4), which faces Utah on Saturday. The Wildcats face the Buffaloes in Boulder next Saturday.

Even though Arizona hasn’t officially qualified for a bowl game, several college football outlets are projecting the Wildcats to get to the postseason.

Here’s what bowl games Arizona could conceivably play in:

Isleta New Mexico Bowl (ESPN, The Athletic)

When: Saturday, Dec. 27, at 3:45 p.m. on ESPN

Where: University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Opponent: UNLV

Comment: It would certainly be fitting for the Wildcats to return to Albuquerque a decade after they won the New Mexico Bowl in linebacker Scooby Wright’s last game at Arizona. Maybe Wright can stand on the Arizona sideline and be the “turnover sword” protector for the 2025 New Mexico Bowl? UNLV is 6-1 under first-year head coach Dan Mullen, who could be a name that pops up in the college football coaching carousel. The Rebels have former Arizona linebacker Justin Flowe, who has mostly played on special teams this season.

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl (ESPN, USA Today, Sports Illustrated)

When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, at noon on CBS

Where: Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas

Opponent: SMU

Comment: Even though SMU would be playing in Texas, it’s a closer commute from Tucson to El Paso. It’s about a four- or five-hour drive from Tucson to El Paso — 10 hours from Dallas to El Paso. Arizona has played in the Sun Bowl three times and has never won El Paso’s bowl game. The Wildcats lost to Auburn in 1968 and then tied Georgia in 1985 before losing again to Baylor in 1992. The winning coach of the current rendition of the Sun Bowl gets doused in Frosted Flakes cereal.

Rate Bowl (CBS)

When: Friday, Dec. 26, at 2:30 p.m. on CBS

Where: Chase Field, Phoenix

Opponent: Iowa

Comment: Arizona could complete the hat trick of playing in the Phoenix-area stadiums. The Wildcats play at Sun Devil Stadium — err, Mountain America Stadium in Tempe on a bi-annual basis, and played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale twice, when it was called University of Phoenix Stadium. The Wildcats played at the home of the Arizona Cardinals for the 2014 Fiesta Bowl, when they lost to Boise State, and then opened up the season against BYU in 2016. At Chase Field, Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey could be catching touchdowns in the same venue his father, Junior Spivey, hit home runs during his time with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Fifita named to Manning Award watch list

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita was one of 22 new players added to the Manning Award watch list, the Allstate Sugar Bowl announced on Thursday.

The Manning Award — named after Peyton, Eli and Arch Manning — is given to the top quarterback in college football.

Fifita, BYU’s Bear Bachmeier and Kansas’ Jalon Daniels are three additions from the Big 12. Other Big 12 quarterbacks that were on the preseason watch list include Rocco Becht (Iowa State), Behren Morton (Texas Tech), Sam Leavitt (Arizona State), Josh Hoover (TCU), Avery Johnson (Kansas State), Sawyer Robertson (Baylor) and Brendan Sorsby (Cincinnati).

Other notable quarterbacks on the Manning Award watch list include Fernando Mendoza (Indiana), Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt), Carson Beck (Miami), Joey Aguilar (Tennessee), Julian Sayin (Ohio State), Ty Simpson (Alabama) and Haynes King (Georgia Tech).

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Fifita has completed 155 of 235 passes (66%) for 1,829 yards, 17 touchdowns and four interceptions this season, which is on pace for a significant improvement following his 18-touchdown and 12-interception season in 2024. He’s third in the Big 12 in passing yards behind Robertson and Hoover.

Fifita recently completed 24 of 26 passes (92.3%) for 289 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in Arizona’s 31-28 loss to Houston last week. It’s the best single-game completion rate in school history (with a minimum of 20 pass attempts).

Fifita’s 92.3% completion rate is the third-best for a college quarterback on the road since 1996. The only two quarterbacks ahead of him are Sean Renfree and Jameis Winston. Arizona offensive coordinator and former Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege is sixth on the list for his 40-of-44 performance against New Mexico in 2011.

Fifita also recently passed Tom Tunnicliffe for the third-most career passing yards (7,515) by a Wildcat. Fifita trails Nick Foles and Willie Tuitama for the most career yards in UA history. Fifita is third in Arizona history with 61 passing touchdowns; he needs seven more to pass Foles and Tuitama.

Finalists for the Manning Award will be announced after the regular season, and the winner will be unveiled just after the College Football Playoff national championship on Jan. 19.

Tapa’atoutai is ‘moving in a good direction’

When Arizona rallied back from its two-touchdown deficit at Houston, redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Rhino Tapa’atoutai and redshirt junior tackle Michael Wooten were used for a seven-man offensive line for running back Kedrick Reescano’s touchdown on the goal line.

From left to right, Arizona’s offensive line was Tapa’atoutai, left tackle Ty Buchanan, left guard Chubba Maae, center Ka’ena Decambra, right guard Alexander Doost, right tackle Tristan Bounds and Wooten.

Fullback-converted-tight end Kayden Luke lined up as a fullback in a three-point stance, tight end Cameron Barmore motioned inside and sealed a block on Houston linebacker Brandon Mack II at the line of scrimmage, which allowed Reescano to plow his way up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown.

Tapa’atoutai, who started at left tackle as a redshirt freshman last season, has settled into a swing tackle role for the Wildcats — the official backup for Bounds and Buchanan.

Tapa’atoutai returned from a knee injury he suffered last October and started at right tackle against Weber State and Kansas State, but struggled in pass protection and committed several holding penalties. Tapa’atoutai played 61 snaps at left for the injured Buchanan against Oklahoma State.

“I think Rhino has been moving in a good direction,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. “There’s been a lot of positive and growth and development with that offensive line. I think (offensive line coach Josh Oglesby) is doing a great job with those players, and I think the production has been solid. Rhino coming off that injury, we’re basically at the line where he got hurt a year ago. It’s just now a year.

“A big person like that, the movement he has to do, his progress has been good. Also, we’re being smart with him in terms of making sure his path back to playing full-time and his path to being a consistent contributor, that he’s ready for that.”

Arizona is hopeful a year behind Bounds and Buchanan will help Tapa’atoutai become the best version of himself as a starter in 2026, when Bounds and Buchanan graduate.

“In truth, he hasn’t played a lot of football,” Brennan said of Tapa’atoutai, who has played 474 offensive snaps in 10 games for the Wildcats. “I’m excited about what he’s doing and the path that he’s on. We’re just going to continue to see more good things from him throughout his career.”

Barmore rising at tight end for Wildcats

Mercyhurst transfer tight end Cameron Barmore had the best game of his short Arizona career against Houston with a season-high four catches for 42 yards.

Barmore was Arizona’s highest-graded (87.1) offensive player last Saturday, according to Pro Football Focus.

After Tyler Powell suffered a season-ending leg injury and Keyan Burnett parted ways with the team after redshirting, sixth-year senior Sam Olson and the 6-6, 230-pound Barmore have become the Wildcats’ top two tight ends.

“They attack every day through all of the ups, through all of the downs,” Fifita said after the Houston game. “Even when they’re not getting the ball, they block extremely hard. Every single day, they’re the same person. I got so much respect and so much love for that room.”

Barmore was among the several transfer portal additions in the spring who had a pedestrian spring, but improved in training camp and throughout the season.

“It’s really exciting to see Cam playing the way he is,” Brennan said. “It’s really fun because what we asked him to do when he came here is so different than what he was used to doing. It’s exciting to see him become an effective blocker and play with physicality.

“That’s part of his developmental process. ... Everyone wants the freshman to show up and be the best player on the team or the transfer to come in and instantly light the world on fire. There’s a developmental process to becoming good at college football or getting good in the scheme or the situation at a different institution.

“To Cam’s credit, he has leaned into it. He has leaned into the coaching, he’s leaned into the hard work and you’re seeing him play his best football that he’s played.”