The No. 18 BYU Cougars (5-0) travel to Tucson to take on the Arizona Wildcats (4-1) this week. The Cougars are rolling right now, while the Wildcats are coming off an impressive 28-point win over Oklahoma State. Here's your preview heading into this weekend's contest.
Arizona football recent history
The last nine-plus seasons have been mostly tough for our friends from Tucson. Going back to 2016, the Wildcats have had just two winning seasons, with the most recent being a 10-3 campaign in 2023, their last year in the Pac-12. The Wildcats have appeared in just one bowl game in the last seven years, which was their 10-3 2023 season, when they beat Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll.
This less-than-stellar recent history has led to a host of coaching changes. In 2018, Kevin Sumlin replaced Rich Rodriguez. In 2021, Jedd Fisch took over for Sumlin. Last year, current head coach Brent Brennan took the reins from Fisch.
Last year wasn't just Brent Brennan's first year as Arizona's head coach, it was also the Wildcats first season in the Big 12 after the implosion of the Pac-12. Last year Arizona went 4-8, including a 2-7 mark in conference play.
Talent vs. talent
The recruiting and talent evaluation service 247 Sports provides what's called a "Team Talent Composite" showing how much "talent" is on a team's roster based on player recruiting and transfer ratings.
On paper, Arizona has the slight edge over BYU in the talent department.
Per 247 Sports, Arizona has nine 4-star and 54 3-star players on its roster. Wildcat players have an average rating of 86.2. Arizona's talent profile ranks No. 13 in the 16-team Big 12 conference.
BYU, meanwhile, has eight 4-star and 62 3-star players with an average player rating of 85.4, so just a few decimal points behind Arizona in that category. The Cougars rank No. 14 in the conference in terms of talent, one slot below the Wildcats, so BYU is starting with a slight talent deficit.
What to watch for: Arizona's pass defense
The Wildcats have a really solid defense. Arizona's D is surrendering just 15.6 points per game which ranks fourth in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech, BYU, and Utah.
Arizona is particularly effective against the pass. They are allowing opposing quarterback to complete just 51.3% of their pass attempts while averaging just 147.2 passing yards per game.
In all, the Wildcats defense is allowing just 3.9 yards per play, which is fourth best in the nation trailing only Oklahoma, Toledo, and Ohio State.
What might define this game is if BYU's freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier can solve the riddle of Arizona's secondary, something almost no quarterback has been able to do this year. Bachmeier is coming off his best performance of the season and seems to be gaining confidence every week. The fate of this game could easily rest on a freshman quarterback's ability to stare down one of the most formidable passing defenses in the country.