Arizona sits at 4-2 at the midpoint of the 2025 season, needing two wins over the final six games to become bowl eligible. The last time it was in this position, in 2019, it didn\u2019t win again for two years.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) are coming off a heartbreaking double-overtime home loss to unbeaten BYU, a game the trailed by 14 early and led by 10 late. That kind of result could either crush a team or embolden it, and the latter appears to be the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Sunday, you would think, with that type of loss our kids would be down,\u201d offensive coordinator Seth Doege said. \u201cIt was probably the most energetic Sunday I\u2019ve been a part of, not because they don\u2019t care, just because they got a lot of confidence. And they know they should have won the game. And so we got to do a better job offensively, putting our team in a better position to win, and finding ways to win games late.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the disappointing 2024 season, particularly in Big 12 play, one loss had the tendency to carry over and snowball. The Wildcats lost five in a row at one point, each seeming to be worse than before, but so far this season the UA bounced back from its lone setback with a win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the good thing is that we saw that not happen after Iowa State,\u201d UA coach Brent Brennan said. \u201cLike everybody else in Wildcat Nation, I\u2019m pissed off we didn\u2019t get it done (against BYU). But we don\u2019t have time to feel sorry for ourselves about how that ended, because we have an incredible challenge this week, and it\u2019s on us, and so we have to go work attacking this next thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
It will be an early one on Saturday, with Arizona kicking off against Houston (5-1, 2-1) at 11 a.m. local time and 9 a.m. in Tucson. Here\u2019s what to watch for when the Wildcats make their first trip to the Space City since 2018:<\/p>\n
Arizona is 1-5 on the under Brennan, and since winning at Utah to open Big 12 play last season the four losses have been by an average of 28 points including a 39-14 setback at Iowa State last month.<\/p>\n
Very little has gone right for the UA in those last four road games. The last three have seen it trailed by two or more scores early, as it was down 22-0 at Iowa State before finding the end zone just before halftime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing is we just have to not turn the ball over, let\u2019s start with that,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cIt sounds so simple. And I think that was the thing that Iowa State did that really hurts. We came into that game saying we had to win the turnover battle, and we turned the ball over four times. And so against a really good team on the road, that\u2019s really, really hard to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The four turnovers Brennan is mentioning includes a pair of turnovers on downs. Throw in the missed field goal on the opening drive and Arizona had five possessions that ended with it giving Iowa State the ball without a punt or kickoff.<\/p>\n
That was mostly the case in the road losses in 2024, as well. Arizona turned it over four times at BYU, and also went 0 for 2 on fourth down, though it won the turnover battle and didn\u2019t give it away once at TCU.<\/p>\n
Senior safety Dalton Johnson has been a part of seven wins in 22 tries in true road games during this career. He said the key for the players is to be all systems go from touchdown in that city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would just say it\u2019s really just how you prepare that Friday, when you\u2019re traveling, just make sure you\u2019re detail oriented,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cYou just have everything handled before, from school and just knowing the playbook. When you arrive to Houston, we should be game ready, ready to play that instant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arizona scored on two of three trips inside the 20-yard line against BYU, but one of those was a field goal. It then managed just three points in two overtime periods that start at the 25. And while the Cougar defense played a big role in those results, they also speak to a season-long trend for the Wildcats.<\/p>\n
The UA is 23 of 28 in the red zone this season, which is tied for 86th out of 136 FBS teams and tied for 11th in the Big 12. Only 13 of those scores are touchdowns, a 46.4 percent rate that\u2019s 125th nationally and second-worst in the conference.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth noting, though, that the 28 red zone trips are already four more than Arizona had all of last season. The opportunities have been there, the execution has not.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe make too many mistakes in the red zone,\u201d Doege said. \u201cToo many mistakes in the red zone, whether it be penalties, whether it be missed assignments, whether it be missed throws, you\u2019re not gonna be able to score that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houston has scored on 18 of 19 trips to the red zone, with 11 TDs. The Cougars have only allowed seven red zone TDs in 17 possessions, which is tied with BYU for best in the conference. Arizona is right behind, at 47.1 percent.<\/p>\n
Even with 33 points allowed, Arizona is only giving up 18.5 per game. Last year that number was 26.5, and the Wildcats are yielding 1.3 fewer yards per play than in 2024.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats are 15th nationally in total defense, allowing 275.7 yards per game. Houston isn\u2019t that far behind, at 25th (305.6), along with 17th in scoring defense (17.5).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s another good defense that we\u2019re gonna have to have a great plan for and go execute,\u201d Doege said.<\/p>\n
Under coordinator Danny Gonzales, Arizona leads the nation in opponent passer rating at 84.11, with one TD allowed and nine interceptions. The Wildcats picked off only eight passes all of 2024.<\/p>\n
Houston QB Connor Weigman has thrown for 1,216 yards and eight TDs with two interceptions but he is vulnerable when pressured. Per Pro Football Focus, Weigman has been blitzed on 42.9 percent of dropbacks and pressured nearly 42 percent of the time, completing 47.2 percent of his throws in those instances.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where the loss of Tre Smith could play a big role. Smith, who underwent season-ending surgery last week, did not have a sack in 144 snaps this season but he often helped make sacks possible with his ability to draw a double team.<\/p>\n
\u201cTre Smith is a vital part to what we do defensively, because he\u2019s so physical,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cOn the statistics, it wasn\u2019t showing up for him, having significant tackles for loss, sacks and all that stuff, but the disruption he has … because he can eliminate two people because of his power.<\/p>\n
Gonzales said the hope is to get Smith a sixth year of eligibility. In the meantime, Arizona may again go with a 3-man front with three linebackers but LBs Chase Kennedy and Riley Wilson will often be fourth (and sometimes fifth) pass rushers when in the game.<\/p>\n
An early start and and a lot of family in the stands<\/p>\n
Arizona and California players make up more than half of the UA\u2019s roster, but third-most are Texans. The Wildcats have 21 from the Lone Star State including Johnson, Wilson, linebacker Max Harris, offensive lineman Ty Buchanan and running backs Ismail Mahdi and Kedrick Reescano. Johnson and Reescano are both from Houston-area suburbs and will have large contingencies in the crowd at TDECU Stadium.<\/p>\n
Those coming from further away will need to hit the road Friday for this 11 a.m. start, which will feel like 9 a.m. in Tucson. Brennan isn\u2019t expecting much of an issue in terms of body clocks, but to prepare for the early kickoff Thursday\u2019s practice inside Arizona Stadium was done in the morning instead of at night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for our team and for our program, that\u2019s the time of day we practice every day, so I like it in terms of what the players are used to,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arizona sits at 4-2 at the midpoint of the 2025 season, needing two wins over the final six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4938,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-9255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-arizona-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}