Arizona opens the 2019 football season at Hawaii. If a school plays at Hawaii, the NCAA allows that school to schedule a 13th game. The idea behind the so-called βHawaii Exemptionβ is that an extra game, presumably at home, can help offset the cost of traveling to the islands.
Arizona elected not to schedule a 13th game. Instead, the Wildcats will have an extra bye β giving them three in a season in which most schools have two (which is one more than usual).
When the official β19 schedule came out Tuesday, many UA fans wondered why Arizona didnβt add a 13th game β especially considering that the Wildcats play the Rainbow Warriors in βWeek Zero,β before the majority of teams play their first game.
After conferring with two sources and doing some independent internet research, hereβs what I found out:
* Arizona isnβt the only school on Hawaiiβs 2019 home schedule that opted out of the 13th game. Of the four non-conference opponents slated to visit Aloha Stadium, only Army is playing an extra game. And it's worth noting that the Black Knights get an extra bye annually because the Army-Navy game is played in mid-December.
*Β Fellow Pac-12 member Oregon State also plays at Hawaii this year and isnβt playing an extra game. The Beavers played it the same way in 2014. Per the Oregonian, OSU did add a 13th game when it played at Hawaii in 2006. However, there was no Pac-12 Championship Game at the time, and the Hawaii game was on Dec. 2.
*Β As mentioned, Arizona plays Hawaii a week before the season really gets going, on Aug. 24. So why not schedule another home game? In short, school officials decided the potential benefits did not outweigh the real costs. Last year, Arizona paid Southern Utah $500,000 to play at Arizona Stadium. Would a home game against an opponent of similar caliber β on Labor Day weekend, when attendance typically is lacking β cover that cost? Maybe. But not by enough to make it worthwhile.
*Β Arizonaβs actual schedule also is a factor. The Wildcats play three home games in September as it is. Would Tucsonans have an appetite for a fourth game β kicking off at 7 p.m. or later because of the heat β against a relatively unattractive opponent? Recent attendance figures suggest they would not.
*Β We mentioned βOregon Stateβ and βPac-12 Championship Gameβ in the same paragraph above. Laugh all you want, but thatβs the goal for every Pac-12 school, no matter how down on their luck they are at the moment. Arizona unexpectedly played in the 2014 Pac-12 title game, followed by a bowl game β resulting in a 14-game season. Add an extra regular-season game to that, and itβs 15 β 25 percent more than the standard 12-game schedule.
*Β Instead of a potentially exhausting gauntlet of games, Arizona has three byes. And byes have benefits. They enable players to rest and recuperate from travel and injuries. They give coaches more time to recruit, teach and prepare for the next opponent. Ideally, Arizonaβs first bye would have fallen before the Texas Tech game, not the NAU game. Arizona looked into moving the NAU game to Week 1, but it didnβt work out.
*Β Youβd think having an extra game would make it easier for Arizona to gain bowl eligibility, but thatβs not necessarily the case. Teams must be .500 or better to be considered in the initial wave, and only one win against an FCS opponent can count toward that. Only if there arenβt enough eligible teams to fill all the bowl slots would a 6-7 team be considered. (This does not apply to teams that finish the regular season 6-6 but lose their conference-championship game.)
A way-too-early, game-by-game look at Arizona's 2019 football season
Game 1: at Hawaii
UpdatedWhen: Aug. 24
Where: Aloha Stadium, Honolulu
Series history: Arizona leads the all-time series, 5-0.
The last time: Arizona beat the Rainbow Warriors 27-6 in its 1998 season opener. The Wildcats went on to finish 12-1, the best win total in program history.
Did you know? Kevin Sumlinβs downfield passing attack stems from the offense used by former Hawaii coach June Jones and Rainbow Warriors assistant Mouse Davis.
Game 2: vs. Northern Arizona
UpdatedWhen: Sept. 7
Where: Arizona Stadium
Series history: Arizona leads the all-time series, 14-1
The last time:Β Arizona opened the 2017 season with a 62-24 win over the Lumberjacks at Arizona Stadium.
Did you know? NAUβs lone win in the series came Oct. 29, 1932, when NAU was known as Arizona State Teachers College.
Game 3: vs. Texas Tech
UpdatedWhen: Β Sept. 14
Where: Arizona Stadium
Series history: Texas Tech leads the all-time series, 26-4-2.
The last time: The Red Raiders beat Arizona 24-14 in 1989.
Did you know? Next season will mark the teamsβ first game in 20 years; however, the two schools were regular opponents for decades before Arizona joined the Pac-12. Consider: The schools played in 1971, β72, β73, β74, β75, β76, β77, β78 and β79 β with the Red Raiders going 7-1-1.
Game 4: vs. UCLA
UpdatedWhen: Sept. 28
Where: Arizona Stadium
Series history: UCLA leads the all-time series, 25-16-2.
The last time:Β UCLA beat Arizona 31-30 at the Rose Bowl in October.
Did you know? UCLAβs 2018 win over the Wildcats was the first game in the series decided by a touchdown or less since 2013, when the Bruins beat the Wildcats 31-26 in Tucson.
Game 5: at Colorado
UpdatedWhen: Oct. 5
Where: Folsom Field; Boulder, Colorado
Series history: Colorado leads the all-time series, 14-7.
The last time: Arizona beat the Buffaloes 42-34 when the teams met in November.
Did you know? The series resumed when CU joined the Pac-12 in 2011; before that, the teams had played just once twice since 1960. Arizona is 6-2 against Colorado since 2011.
Game 6: vs. Washington
UpdatedWhen: Oct. 12 (Family Weekend)
Where: Arizona Stadium
Series history: Washington leads the all-time series, 20-11-1.
The last time: The Huskies beat the UA 35-28 in 2016. The teams did not play in 2017 and 2018 because of a Pac-12 scheduling quirk.
Did you know? The lone tie in the series came in 1987, a season in which the UA finished 4-4-3.
Game 7: at USC
UpdatedWhen: Oct. 19
Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Series history: USC leads the all-time series, 34-8.
The last time: The Trojans beat the Wildcats 24-20 in September.
Did you know? The teams first played in 1916 in Phoenix, with the Trojans winning 20-7. USC received the moniker βTrojansβ just four years earlier; before that, the team was known as the Methodists or Wesleyans. Arizona switched its nickname from βVarsityβ to βWildcatsβ in 1914.
Game 8: at Stanford
UpdatedWhen: Oct. 26
Where: Stanford Stadium; Stanford, California
Series history: Stanford leads the all-time series, 16-14.
The last time: Stanford beat the Wildcats 34-10 in 2016. The teams did not play in 2017 and 2018 because of a Pac-12βs scheduling quirk.
Did you know? The teams moved their 1986 Pac-10 Conference game to Tokyo, a game the Cardinal won 29-24.
Game 9: vs. Oregon State
UpdatedWhen: Nov. 2 (Homecoming)
Where: Arizona Stadium
Series history: Arizona leads the all-time series, 24-15-1.
The last time: Arizona beat OSU in September, 35-14.
Did you know? OSU coach Jonathan Smith was the Beaversβ starting quarterback from 1998-2001, where he went 2-2 against the UA.
Game 10: at Oregon
UpdatedWhen: Nov.16
Where: Autzen Stadium; Eugene, Oregon
Series history: Oregon leads the all-time series, 26-17.
The last time: UA beat Oregon 44-15 in October.
Did you know? The teams played their 1961 game, a 15-6 UA win, in Portland. It marks one of just two times the series has been played outside of Eugene or Tucson. The other? The 2014 Pac-12 Championship Game, played in Santa Clara, California.
Game 11: vs. Utah
UpdatedWhen: Nov. 23
Where: Arizona Stadium
Series history: Utah leads the all-time series, 23-19-2.
The last time: Utah beat the UA 42-10 in October.
Did you know? Arizona and Utah played each other in the 1994 Freedom Bowl, held at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. The Utesβ quarterback in that game: Mike McCoy, who was (for a brief time) offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018.
Game 12: at Arizona State
UpdatedWhen: Β Nov. 29 (Friday)
Where: Sun Devil Stadium; Tempe
Series history: Β Arizona leads the all-time series, 49-42-1, though a handful of the games remain in dispute.
The last time: Arizona State rallied to beat the Wildcats 41-40 in November.
Did you know? The first-ever UA-ASU game, 1899, was played at Tucsonβs Carrillo Gardens, now the site of Carrillo K-5 Magnet School, 440 S. Main Ave. The gardens initially included boat rides, a shooting gallery, and β according to the Tucson Weekly β a race track where ponies were ridden by monkeys. Arizona lost the 1899 game, 11-2.