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Arizona

Wildcats · Big 12

Head coach Brent Brennan Year 3 with Arizona

Year-3 HCs (2015-2024) averaged -0.10 W vs. preseason expectation

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
7.1
Expected wins
7-5
Proj record
4 to 10
Win range (90%)
#32 (15–56)
Final rank (90%)
3%
Make playoff
2%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

3%

Baseline projection.

  • vs Utah
    Home · Nov 14
  • at BYU
    Away · Sep 12
  • at Kansas State
    Away · Nov 21
  • at Washington State
    Away · Sep 26

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

60 score
  • Quarterback 99% (4/5 )
  • Offensive line 52% (11/21 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 43% (16/29 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 54% (18/30 )
  • Secondary 21% (10/20 )
  • Special teams 32% (1/6 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

+0.3 rating

23 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • Everett Roussaw Jr. LB ← Memphis 112 impact
  • Lee Molette III S ← UConn 97 impact
  • Cole Rusk TE ← Illinois 85 impact
  • Antwan Roberts RB ← Marshall 80 impact
  • Rodney Gallagher III WR ← West Virginia 59 impact
  • Tyrese Boss CB ← Wyoming 57 impact

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 40.6% 73th — strong
  • Red-zone TD rate 12.1% 26th — below avg
  • 4th-down aggression 38.7% 63th — average
  • Late & close 5.7 yds/play 69th — average

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Hot Take

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona is operating at a 1650 ELO—the floor for a bowl-eligible team. Seven wins is the modal outcome. That's not a rebuild narrative. That's not a direction. That's standing still while the conference passes.

  • Analysis

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's rating holds steady at 1650 ELO, a midpoint that reflects a program caught between modest competence and the variance that defines mid-tier college football. The model projects 7.1 wins across a 12-game schedule—a number that…

  • Hot Take

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's Elo sits at 1650—middle of the FBS pack. The win distribution says 7 wins is the mode. That's not a ceiling. That's the expectation. Bowl eligibility as a best-case scenario, not a floor. The Wildcats aren't rebuilding. They're…

  • Analysis

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's rating holds steady at 1650 ELO, a reflection of a program caught in the middle band of college football — capable enough to win seven or eight games in a typical season, but without the margin for error that separates…

  • Hot Take

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's preseason ELO sits at 1650—right where a 7-win team should live. The model gives them a 20% shot at 9 wins, a 73% shot at finishing 6-8. Brent Brennan's rebuild is on schedule, which is another way of saying it's still a rebuild.

  • Analysis

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's 1650 ELO rating—a midfield projection that yields 7.1 expected wins—represents a program caught in the statistical middle of the Power Four landscape. The win distribution tells the story: the modal outcome is 7 wins (19.89%…

  • Hot Take

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's ELO rating: 1650. Expected wins: 7.09. The math says they're a .500 team playing in a conference that doesn't accept .500 teams anymore. That's not a hot take—it's a structural problem wearing a schedule.

  • Analysis

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's rating sits at 1650 ELO, a mark that projects to 7.1 wins across a full schedule—comfortably in bowl territory, though the distribution tells a more instructive story about the program's variance.

  • Hot Take

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's preseason Elo is 1650. That's not a typo—it's genuinely the floor. The model gives them a 19% shot at 7 wins, 68% at 6 or fewer. They're not a team with upside surprises waiting; they're a team that needs to exceed expectations…

  • Analysis

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's rating held flat at 1650 ELO this week, a stasis that reflects both the early-season nature of the preseason projection and the absence of new game data to shift the model's assessment. With no contests yet played, the Wildcats…

  • Hot Take

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's Elo sits at 1650—exactly where a team with a 7-win expectation belongs. The distribution is sharp: 39% chance they land between 6 and 8 wins. That's not volatility. That's consensus. Everyone agrees on what Arizona is.

  • Analysis

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's rating holds steady at 1650 ELO, a signal that the model sees no material change in the program's competitive standing this week. The distribution of outcomes tells a sharper story than the single number: the Wildcats cluster…

  • Hot Take

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's 1650 ELO says they're a coin-flip team in most games this season. The model gives them a 7.1-win expectation. That's not a ceiling—that's the mean. They're as likely to finish 6-6 as 8-4. The Wildcats are built on variance,…

  • Analysis

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's Elo rating sits at 1650, placing the program squarely in the middle tier of college football—competitive enough to win a bowl game, not quite positioned to contend for a conference title. The model distributes their 2026 wins…

  • Hot Take

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's preseason Elo is 1650. That's a 7.1-win expectation in a 12-game season. The math says they're a middle-tier Pac-12 team with no margin for error. One loss to a peer becomes two. Two becomes a bowl game that nobody remembers.…

  • Analysis

    Arizona holds 0 ELO points this week

    Arizona's rating holds steady at 1650 ELO, a mark that reflects a program caught between ambition and execution. With no games played this week, the model offers a clean snapshot of where the Wildcats stand before their schedule unfolds:…

  • Recap

    Arizona: 2025 Week 16 recap

    Arizona sits at No. 28 in GIE's ratings after a convincing 23–7 win over Arizona State in Week 14. The Wildcats' 9–4 record reflects a team that's steadied itself in Big 12 play, and that rivalry victory underscored their ability to…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.