Arizona is no longer playing like a team trying to prove it belongs. After a close road loss to BYU early in the season, the Arizona Wildcats have beaten every team in their path and won three straight conference games by 20 points or more, a run that has put Noah Fifita at the center of a real Big 12 title push.
That is why Fifita is being searched now. He has thrown only four interceptions while ranking 13th in the nation in total passing yards, ninth in touchdowns and 13th in passer rating, and during Arizona’s three-game conference winning streak he has averaged 311 yards per game as the offense has topped 41 points a night. The Wildcats are scoring enough to look like a contender and defending well enough, too, sitting 12th nationally in points per game and 22nd in points allowed.
The numbers explain the sudden shift around Arizona better than the standings do. Through the first seven weeks, Texas Tech and BYU were treated as the two-team race in the Big 12, but Arizona has forced its way into the picture by winning with margin. The betting market has noticed, too: Arizona is +690 to win the Big 12 and +270 to make the title game, a gap that shows how hard it is to win the league outright compared with simply reaching the championship round. In other words, the Wildcats do not need to be the best team in the conference to get there, but they do need to keep banking wins in a crowded race.
That is where the next test matters. Arizona is only a 3.5-point underdog against Texas Tech this week even though 64% of the money is on Texas Tech, and the road game arrives with only one more ranked matchup left on the schedule after it. Opponents have focused on the places Texas Tech has looked vulnerable: a defense can make a game uncomfortable if it takes away clean passing lanes and keeps the offense from turning drives into easy points. Arizona has the quarterback to answer that challenge, but this trip will show whether its surge is a hot stretch or the start of a path to the Big 12 title game.
