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The 2023 season was the best in years for the Arizona football team as it finished at 10-3, but there are a lot of changes on the 2024 Wildcats as they start their first season as a Big 12 member.

Here’s a look at what to expect with futures odds that you can find at MyBookie Sportsbook.

Arizona Over/Under Wins: 8
Odds to win Big 12: +1000
Odds to Reach Playoffs: Yes +600, no -1000
Expert Prediction: Over 8 wins as Arizona finishes 9-3 but doesn’t win Big 12 or reach playoff

Arizona’s Last Season

After finishing 5-7 in Coach Jedd Fisch’s second season in 2022, not much was expected from Arizona last year but the Cats finished 10-3, their most wins since 2014. They trounced rival Arizona State 59-23 and closed with a very impressive 38-24 rout of No. 12 Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl.

Arizona’s seven-game win streak to close out the season was tied for their longest single-season win streak in program history (twice, last, 1998). UA earned five wins over ranked teams in 2023, the most ranked wins in a single season in program history.

Very impressive considering that starting QB Jayden de Laura suffered a serious ankle injury in Week 4 against Stanford. Freshman Noah Fifita replaced de Laura and helped Arizona to those 10 wins and No. 11 finish in the AP Poll. Fifita threw for 354 yards and two touchdowns in the bowl game win over OU.

Jedd Fisch

The first big hit that Arizona took this offseason was rising star head coach Fisch leaving to take the top job at the University of Washington. Fisch got a 7-year contract worth $7.75 million a year, more than double what Fisch got last year at UA.

The school offered him a five-year contract extension worth $5.1 million a year, but money talks and Washington is headed to the Big Ten. In Seattle, Fisch replaces Kalen DeBoer, who left the UW program this week to succeed seven-time national championship-winning coach Nick Saban at Alabama. A dozen Arizona players followed Fisch to Seattle.

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MyBookie NCAA Football Lines for 2024/25 Season

Brent Brennan

Arizona did well to land former San Jose State coach Brent Brennan to replace him. Brennan was a finalist for the Arizona job in 2020 when Fisch was hired. Brennan, 50, guided San Jose State to a 26-19 record over the past four seasons, with three bowl appearances during that span.

He was a graduate assistant at Arizona in 2000 in Dick Tomey’s final season and also worked under Tomey as an assistant at San Jose State. Brennan hired two elite-level coordinators, ex-Syracuse head coach Dino Babers and Duane Akina, both of whom were part of Arizona’s historic 12-1 team of 1998.

Fifita & McMillan

In addition, de Laura has transferred out but Fifita and top receiver Tetairoa McMillan are back. Fifita, who was the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and Football Writers’ Association of American National Offensive Freshman of the Year, concluded his first season as Arizona’s starter with 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 72.4% of his pass attempts. He became the only UA quarterback in program history to complete over 70% of his passes in a season.

McMillan, who had 1,402 receiving yards with 10 touchdowns in 2023, was hurt during the spring and had a procedure on his left leg, according to Brennan, but is expected to be ready for the start of preseason camp. McMillan will be preseason All-Pac-12 and probably All-American.

He enters the 2024 season with the 8th most career-receiving yards in program history (2,104) and the 8th most career-touchdown receptions (18) in Arizona football history. Colorado transfer Montana Lemonious-Craig and tight end Keyan Burnett project as capable receivers to go with McMillan this year.

Fifita and McMillan were key cogs in an offense that finished fourth in the Pac-12 with 448.0 yards per game and fifth in passing (308.3) last year. However, starting offensive lineman Jordan Morgan is gone as he was a 2024 first-round draft pick selected by the Green Bay Packers.

Morgan was the lynchpin of the Wildcats’ offensive line and a force who set the tone for the entire group. Even though Arizona returned the rest of its starting line to Tucson, not having Morgan as an anchor to build the line around has forced the Wildcats to go back to the drawing board in figuring out what the unit will look like.

Also back defensively is 2023 first-team All-Pac-12 linebacker Jacob Manu. He led the conference with 116 tackles last year and was second on the team in tackles for loss (9.5 for minus 58 yards), trailing only defensive end Taylor Upshaw (11.5), and second in sacks (6.5).

Returning players & Schedule for 2025/35 Season

Also returning are safety Maldonado, cornerback Tacario Davis and safety Dalton Johnson, who combined for 192 tackles last year.

Arizona opens the season on Aug. 31 at home vs. New Mexico as a 30.5-point favorite. Former Lobos head coach Danny Gonzales was hired on Brennan’s staff earlier this year. Gonzales went 11-32 at New Mexico, his alma mater, before he was fired after last season.

The Wildcats conclude their non-conference schedule home vs. Northern Arizona and at Kansas State – yes, that’s a non-conference game even though K-State is in the Big 12.

It was scheduled years ago so they will just play it as not counting in the league standings. The Cats officially open Big 12 play on Sept. 28 at former Pac-12 rival Utah and then play their first home Big 12 conference game against former Border Conference rival Texas Tech on Oct. 5, a rivalry that has played 32 matchups since 1932.

Big 12 programs will continue to play nine league games without divisions. Regular season league play concludes over Thanksgiving weekend with a full slate of eight games.

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