Arizona's first-ever Big 12 football schedule was unveiled Tuesday morning, confirming the Cats will face a mashup of new opponents, recent nonconference foes who the UA now shares a league with and fellow Pac-12 expats.
Seven of the UA's 12 regular-season games will also be at Arizona Stadium, with the season kicking off Aug. 31.
Although the Wildcats are scheduled to face Kansas State for the third game of the season in Manhattan, Kansas, the head-to-head series scheduled before Arizona joined KSU's conference will still be considered nonconference play.
Arizona's first official Big 12 game will be on Sept. 28 against Utah in Salt Lake City. The Wildcats' first conference home game will be against Texas Tech on Oct. 5.
In addition to nonconference home games against New Mexico and NAU, the Wildcats have Big 12 home matchups against the Red Raiders, Colorado, West Virginia, Houston and ASU. The Territorial Cup rivalry game will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 30.
Brigham Young defensive back Hayden Livingston (28) comes away with the interception behind Arizona wide receiver BJ Casteel (5) in the Wildcat end zone, ending their scoring threat in the fourth quarter of the Vegas Kickoff Classic, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nev., September 4, 2021.
Arizona's road contests are at Utah in Salt Lake City, at BYU in Provo, Utah, at UCF in Orlando and at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas. The Wildcats have two bye weeks β first when entering Big 12 play following the Kansas State game and again after the UCF contest in November.
The Big 12 football championship game will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 7.
As part of the conference's new media rights deal, all of Arizona's games will be televised on either Fox or ESPN's platforms; those can include broadcast channels like Fox and ABC, cable channels like ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1, and ESPN+, the network's streaming platform. Each team in the Big 12 will receive a $31.7 million share from the media rights deal.
Through its history, Arizona has faced every opponent in the 16-team conference except West Virginia and UCF. The UA most recently played Texas Tech in 2019, beating the Red Raiders 28-14, in the first β and ultimately only β game of an originally planned home-and-home series; the game in 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas Tech and Arizona were formerly Border Conference rivals; Arizona is 5-26-2 all-time against TTU.
Arizona and BYU have played each other six times since 2006, including season-opening games in 2016 and '21.
Five teams on Arizonaβs 2024 schedule that played in a bowl game last season are Kansas State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Utah and UCF.
TCU, UCF and BYU all finished in the bottom half of the Big 12.
Arizona wonβt play Oklahoma State, which went 10-4 this season, until the following season in Tucson. If the Wildcats play the Cowboys in 2024, it would have to be for the Big 12 title game in suburban Dallas. Arizona also doesnβt play Baylor, Kansas, Cincinnati and Iowa State until 2025. Arizona will have at least one game in the state of Texas every season.
Although the Wildcats have a favorable schedule in their first year in a new conference, some of their opponents are also on the rise. Colorado, Texas Tech, TCU, UCF, Utah, ASU and West Virginia currently have the highest-rated recruiting classes in the Big 12, according to 247Sports.com; the Wildcats are 16th, which is last place.
However, the Wildcats return what may be the top quarterback-wide receiver tandem in college football in Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan, along with All-Pac-12 linebacker Jacob Manu, who led the Pac-12 in tackles this past season. Arizona also returns four of its five starting offensive linemen from the 2023 season.
Defensively, the Wildcats will need to bolster their defensive line with the losses of edge rushers Taylor Upshaw, who is out of eligibility, along with transfers Isaiah Ward and Russell Davis II. Second-year cornerback Ephesians Prysock followed former head coach Jedd Fisch and his staff to Washington; his cornerback counterpart, Tacario Davis.
Arizona ended its 2023 season on a seven-game winning streak, which included a victory over former Big 12 team Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl, and finished with a 10-3 record, becoming the fourth team in program history to win at least 10 games. Arizona finished No. 11 in the Associated Press Top 25, the highest ranking to end a season since 1998.
The Wildcats enter a new conference under first-year head coach Brent Brennan, who is excited for the "new rivalries, new opponents, new stadiums, new venues to play, new opponents to come to Arizona Stadium."
Brennan is hopeful UA fans are "excited about that," too.
"I think there's always a part of us that's going to miss the Pac-12, too. It was a great conference for a long time.
"But on the same token, let's move forward with what we got, and the teams are good. The ball is going to be great. I'm looking at it like, 'Whew, there's a lot of good football teams in this conference.' I think that's exciting."
VIDEO:Β Arizona Daily Star staffers Justin Spears (Arizona football beat reporter), Michael Lev (senior writer/sports columnist) and Brett Fera (sports editor) break down who's coming to Tucson β and when, which was announced Tuesday β for the UA's first Big 12 season, and where the Wildcats will play (and also when) in the 2024 season.
