2025 season thread

[azcat49]

Saw some early odds on winning the XII and not surprising the cats are the longest odds at +6500 (by comparison Houston at 15th was +5000). Just very disappointing to see this but we know ASSU had some long odds and they won the conference

[Merkin]

16th here too. https://athlonsports.com/college-footba ... 16-arizona

[Carcassdragger]

That's because we suck.

[pc in NM]

16th here too. https://athlonsports.com/college-footba ... 16-arizona

Great!! We're not gonna under-perform next year like we did this year!!!

[PHXCATS]

That's because we suck.

[Chicat]

Saw some early odds on winning the XII and not surprising the cats are the longest odds at +6500 (by comparison Houston at 15th was +5000). Just very disappointing to see this but we know ASSU had some long odds and they won the conference

We are going to shock the world and finish 12th.

[Merkin]

“There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”
― NCAA football sports prognosticators


Wilner says 13th although he says the bottom 3-4 teams could be interchangeable: https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/01/28/ ... na%20State

[Carcassdragger]

I think Wilner is right. Fighting for the best of the worst teams.

2026 might be better.

[AZCatGirl]

Schedule reveal show on tomorrow morning:

[azgreg]

2025 Arizona football schedule
8/30 Hawaii
9/6 Weber State
9/13 Kansas State
9/20 BYE
9/27 at Iowa State
10/4 Oklahoma State
10/11 BYU
10/18 at Houston
10/25 BYE
11/1 at Colorado
11/8 Kansas
11/15 at Cincinnati
11/22 Baylor
11/28 at ASU (Friday)

[Merkin]

Apparently the ASU date, and others are not set in stone.

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/football/ ... 6uR9mBPHDQ

The Territorial Cup could be played on Friday or Saturday, a decision yet to be made. Additional date changes could come, such as moving a game to a Thursday or Friday after a bye.

[Fishclamps]

Weird that home and away is almost split outside of those 2 stragglers near the end

[Merkin]

Pretty funny look at the schedule.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/486062074538402

[TheCatInTheHat]

That's pretty funny...very creative. (I particularly like the savate-trained bear.)

[Carcassdragger]

5-7. At best.

[azgreg]

According to Brian Pederson we will have 53 new players in camp this year. That's over half the roster.

[azgreg]

[PHXCATS]

5-7. At best.

Okay....

[azcat49]

It’s reasonable to conclude that we won’t improve much given the losses we have had to transfers and the NFL.

That said, with the portal it’s impossible to know what we have (see ASSU).

[Merkin]

The one bright spot next season will be the offense under Doege. Pretty confident he can get Fifita back into the form he had 2 seasons ago, assuming Brennan stays hands off.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Everybody can, and usually does, assume the worst for football and then be "pleasantly surprised" if they do any better than that. I get it; we've never had the necessary continuity in administrative and financial support to avoid the roller coaster effect, so it makes sense to be skeptical, to say the least. And I was as discouraged and disgusted by last year's product as I was at the end of Mackovic's term.

That said, I think there were three factors that resulted in our success in 2023.

A lot of that was defensive line size, led by the transfer in of Bill Norton, but also some others. If you can stuff the run and pressure the QB without blitzing all the time, it changes everything. Last year, we were back to our traditional undersized/understaffed line getting overwhelmed and worn down. This year, we've got some returnees, but we're also bringing in nine large transfers there, which is unprecedented in my over 50 years of following Arizona football. People understandably scoff at the transfers' schools or their ratings. But you can't teach size or numbers, and it's nice to be in a position to have enough appropriate bodies to pick the fastest and most motivated and rotate them in.

Fifita's performance was another factor. But he needs everything to be right to perform at his best. So we've added four or five transfer OLs, which may be a "meh." But the right system can minimize blocking deficiencies by using space and keeping the defense guessing.

Which gets to the third factor. Fisch is rightly vilified as an opportunist carpetbagger and poacher; but he's a good OC. Last year, we were complete crap in that department. It'll take Doege a while, especially with all the new players. But, if he's the real deal, remember what RichRod was able to do in his first year while also installing a radically different offense.

There are lots of ifs, so it's certainly safer to fold 'em. But even the wildest optimist isn't predicting more than a grand total of 6 or 7 wins, which is at least theoretically reachable if things fall right. In any event, I can't complain about what's been done in the offseason, and it's provided some reason to be hopeful, which beats the alternative.

[Carcassdragger]

Again. Worse roster and better coaching staff. We'll improve

To 5-7.

[PHXCATS]

Again. Worse roster and better coaching staff. We'll improve

To 5-7.

Roster wise you are looking at it like the podcasters with agendas

You can say the starters seem to be not as talented sure. But players 23-85 are significantly better in 2025 than 2024 as of now on paper

[AZCatGirl]

The loss of T-Mac will be big. And Brennan still needs to prove he knows what he's doing. Unlike Tommy his team didn't improve at all last year.

[azgreg]

The loss of T-Mac will be big.

True, but it has the possibility of being a positive as well. Fifita has lost his security blanket, now he must learn to use the receiving squad as a whole.

[TheCatInTheHat]

I agree with both points. The hope is that a qualified OC can utilize an undersized, but experienced and talented QB behind a (hopefully) marginally adequate O-line and implement a system to get the ball to (what looks like) a reasonably talented group of WRs and RBs in space with some rhythm and confidence. That, rather than run our backs into a brick wall, have Fifita run for his life, and force everything to T-Mac. Too bad Doege doesn't have him for one more year in a more balanced approach. My only thought on Brennan is to assume it's the Herm Edwards CEO/PR approach with most things delegated and the staff re-shuffling and personnel changes can address some of the worst deficiencies. But it's not wrong to be very skeptical until better results are shown.

[CatsbyAZ]

2025 Arizona football schedule
8/30 Hawaii
...
11/22 Baylor

Will aim for going to one of these two. The Hawaii game has the advantage of getting a game in before hope is potentially lost later in the season. For the Baylor game, will already be heading into town around that time for Thanksgiving week.

[azgreg]

[AZCatGirl]

Glad the rivalry game is back where it belongs. Never felt right on any other date.

[Merkin]

No more spring football game?

https://arizonawildcats.com/news/2025/3 ... wcase.aspx




TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona Football presents the Spring Showcase on April 19 at 6 p.m. MST at Arizona Stadium.

The Wildcats are ready to host their fans for the Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 19 at 6 p.m. inside Arizona Stadium. The football program will celebrate the end of spring with a free evening full of family fun events like a kid zone, egg hunt, skill challenges, fan involvement, beer garden, and post-game movie on the field.

The Spring Showcase is free to attend and will be highlighted by the following events.

Spring Showcase
Gates Open at 5 p.m.
Bear Down Takeover
Live music
On-field Kid Zone opens at 5 p.m. MST
Face painting
Inflatables
Balloon artist
Caricature artists
Egg hunt
Yard games
Spring Showcase begins at 6 p.m. MST
Skills challenges
On-field beer garden
Post-game movie on the field selected by a fan vote.

The Pride of Arizona, the spirit squad, and Wilbur and Wilma will attend the Spring Showcase to celebrate the end of camp.

Arizona Athletics Reporter Mackenzie Hamilton will conduct live interviews throughout the Showcase.

Make sure to meet with our marketing and ticket sales representatives at the Spring Showcase, or click here to renew your season tickets for the 2025 campaign.

The Wildcats open the 2025 football season on Aug. 30 against Hawai'i at Arizona Stadium.


Been reading several schools are dropping it.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... me-changes

[TheCatInTheHat]

I used to argue with a guy about injuries from too much hitting in practice. You just hate to hear that a key guy is lost from practicing, but if you "practice like you play", there's more chance in practice than in a game, because of more practice time than game time. His argument was that you can't limit hitting ever, or you'll be a poor tackling team, and he cited Tony Mason's teams as an example of his ideal approach. I argued for a medium ground of some full contact, but tapering off at times to keep people healthy, which was more like Larry Smith. Hard to say what the perfect approach is, but we were certainly a poor tackling team last year. Outside of the big Southern teams, making a big deal out of spring games is a relatively recent phenomenon. I like them, as I think it helps build and sustain fan interest, and the more it resembles a real game the better. You can break up the teams for balance, just like in hoops and baseball, and you can put in rules to take it a little easy just for one "friendly." Tomey didn't care a whit for them, treating them like a practice with fans, and UCLA could never draw flies. So I'm a little concerned that, after making a terrible first impression, the judgment of UCLA/Tomey product Brent Brennan now seems to be to have a kid's easter egg roll replace what had been the growing tradition of Arizona's Spring Game.

[Merkin]

The Pigskin Classic debacle is a perfect example of what happens when you don't have tackling practice.

[Postmaster]

It does say poastgame movie.

[Postmaster]

I don't think $20 beers and Easter egg hunt is my type of fun.

[AZCatGirl]

[TheCatInTheHat]

We've been giving up a lot of sacks in spring scrimmages, and you have to note the absence of G Jordan Brown and T Rhino Tapa'atoutai with injuries. Meanwhile, we got a truckload of transfers on the D-line, and DT Chubba Maae played on both sides of the line in HS. So, all those factors probably played into moving him to G and potentially backup C. Still, it's concerning that we're giving up so many sacks with a quick-out offense, and also that Brown and Tapa'atoutai won't get time in the new offense until fall.

The other side of the coin is that we've got enough depth on the D-line to give up Maae. Among those getting reps on the D-line are returning DTs Julian Saviinaea (6-3 270), Isaiah Johnson (6-1 320), and Jarra Anderson (6-2 270), and DEs Tre Smith (6-5 260) and Dominic Lolesio (6-4 245). Newcomers playing a pretty big role are DTs DeShawn McNight (6-3 300: UT-Martin), Leroy Palu (6-3 300: Cerritos CC), Tiaoalii Savea (6-4 310: Texas), and DEs Chancellor Owens (6-3 260: Northwestern St), and Malachi Bailey (6-2 275: Alcorn St).

We also signed DTs Zac Siulepa (6-7 365:Garden City CC) and Ezra Funa (6-3 300: San Mateo CC), but they won't show up until fall, and past experience tells me not to count any chickens until they're eligible and show up.

Two other transfer linemen we supposedly signed, DT Tavion Coleman (Texas St), and DE Braden Siders (Wyoming), were apparently flipped and are now listed on Colorado's and West Virginia's rosters respectively.

[azcat49]

I had high hopes for Oglesby being a top level OLine coach but now I am thinking we may have wiffed here.

Word was that the new OC wanted his own OLine coach but CBB said big Josh was untouchable. I guess we will see how it plays out

[TheCatInTheHat]

Time will tell. I realize it's unfair with a new offense and everything, but FWIW so far, you'd have to say Joe Salave'a's kicking ass.

[azcat49]

https://www.heartlandcollegesports.com/ ... e_vignette

Still picked to finish last after spring football

[TheCatInTheHat]

There's a lot to dislike about the current era of college football, but one difference from the traditional past is the instant impact of non-redshirting transfers and much less patience on the part of athletic administrations with coaching staffs. Whether or not anyone insists programs should build brick-by-brick with high school recruits like the old days for the long haul, with the current setup, many of those efforts are as likely as not to result in a farm system buffet for wealthier programs.

And part of that new setup is the virtual impossibility for any credible individual to keep up with all of the moving pieces of high school recruiting, both directions of the portal, system changes, injuries, and weighing all the resulting talent and schedules and then realistically ranking 16 conference teams as a result. Exhibit A is ASU's worst-to-first experience just last season. Whether it's a Jon Wilner in San Jose, a Greg Hansen in Tucson, or some softball columnist in Norman, Oklahoma, if anybody could consistently and legitimately pull off such a Carnac routine, they wouldn't be writing for some little newspaper/website. But that doesn't stop them from cranking out their "content."

Limiting the aperture just to Arizona, Brennan must know that if he doesn't beat both Hawaii and Weber, he might as well start investigating other job opportunities. In-conference, there are at least 2 or 3 winnable home games. And, like last year's unexpected win at Utah, very possibly a win or two on the road. That's a floor of at least one more conference win than last year, and even then we didn't finish last. With two non-conference wins, and even with the most conservative league prediction, you'd be just one upset away from reaching the goal of six and post-season. It may be an embarrassingly modest goal, but that's where we are as one of the vast majority of college football programs riding the up-and-down rollercoaster of our football fortunes.

[azcat49]

@ home in conference:

Okie St
BYU
Kansas
Baylor

Road games

Iowa St
Houston
Colorado
Cincinnati
ASSU

With the new schemes on both sides of the ball we have a chance to surprise but I can’t look at this roster and say it’s talented. Sometimes though the parts come together and we get surprised so there’s that

[TheCatInTheHat]

Not to be a broken record, but I like to look at line play, specifically on the defensive side.

It's a lot of fun when we've got high-level skill position guys, and it's a fact that you can win that way and overcome other team deficiencies. But when I look at Arizona's (P5/P4) football history, by quick estimate, about 85% of the time we've been generally pushed around by the strongest teams. On offense, you can compensate for a mediocre O-line with a good system (Axman, Homer Smith, RIchRod), even with some modest talents (Tunnicliffe, Freeman, Ward, etc.) And I'm optimistic that this will be the case with Doege and Fifita, Spivey, Powell, and Craig.

But, I'd put Salave'a's D-line up with that 15% group we've had here. There are no Bruschis or Cleveland Crosby types, but they're big, pretty quick on the edge, and they go three-deep, which is close to unprecedented here. You don't have to have generational talents or run a gimmicky scheme if you've got enough line size and depth to withstand injuries and slug it out all season without excessively blitzing and still frustrating opposing offense running games. That seemed to be somewhat the case in 2023.

In conference games (including KSU), we averaged 18 ppg scoring, both home and away. On defense, we gave up 29 ppg at home (held down by 3 to Houston), and 37 ppg on the road (held down by 10 at Utah, but inflated by the blowout at UCF, so maybe a wash.) If you want to look at "swing states", we lost by 6 to Texas Tech (I've rarely been more furious after a game, even after all these years), and 5 to West Virginia. Suppress their offenses just a bit and have just a little more competence on offense (as well as avoid the worst blunders in last year's pathetic kicking game), and you've got six wins and a bowl. Maybe it's asking/expecting too much, but I don't think so. I'll probably be thwarted yet again, but that's my formula.

[azcat49]

Well thought out CITH and like RR’s teams we had to out scheme teams. When we could run the ball effectively we had a chance. I just have not seen enough from this O Line or its coach to give me confidence.

We are going to be playing 65-80 snaps a game and the defense will play the same. We don’t move the ball and the defense will tire out.

Our wins probably come from Houston, Cincy, Kansas, Baylor or Colorado. Hopefully we can win on the road and get 4 of those 5

[Winger]

Heard a couple things you all might find interesting.

First the atmosphere in the locker room now is much better than it was last season.

Second you cant compare prior seasons (especially Rich Rod taking over a Stoops’ roster that was 10 x what this one is) because in the current landscape Arizona cant afford to compete. Like, zero chance.

Seems someone is going to have to fix this mess. I dont see how that can be accomplished without player contracts and a “salary cap”, but I dont know hardly anything about how this is going to shake out.

Probably going to take some influential people and powerful institutions who, while not on the same level as Arizona, also know they cant compete, getting to Washington. But I worry that the immediate outcome of that will be the SEC and B1G forming their own deal and starting their own CFB Playoff.

I was for players being paid, tho that was for true NIL not this freakshow we have now, but when I hear that Arizona cant afford to compete it makes me wonder if any of this is worth doing anymore.

It was always difficult for Arizona to compete. But it was never an impossibility.

[Chicat]

Frankly I’d be ok with funneling nearly all of our money into basketball outside of the bare minimum to field a team. More bang for the buck and way more of a culture and history of success.

[Carcassdragger]

5-7 at best.

[pc in NM]

Frankly I’d be ok with funneling nearly all of our money into basketball outside of the bare minimum to field a team. More bang for the buck and way more of a culture and history of success.

I guess a corollary to that would be to be easier on the coaches...

[Fishclamps]

Frankly I’d be ok with funneling nearly all of our money into basketball outside of the bare minimum to field a team. More bang for the buck and way more of a culture and history of success.

But then you're just neglecting the thing that actually makes money for your athletics department

[Chicat]

Frankly I’d be ok with funneling nearly all of our money into basketball outside of the bare minimum to field a team. More bang for the buck and way more of a culture and history of success.

But then you're just neglecting the thing that actually makes money for your athletics department

Basketball also makes money for the AD, and I believe it’s only like a $5M difference between the two. But I’m not advocating for getting rid of football. If it can make $15-20M in a super shitty year like last season, what’s the incentive to pump more money into it? Just keep being shitty and let the basketball team which is actually successful reap the benefits.

[AZCatGirl]

Glad to hear the atmosphere in the locker room is better than last year. Maybe that'll get us a few more wins?

The money issue is tricky, but if football has zero chance of being competitive we may as well make sure basketball stays as competitive as possible.