Author
Christopher Boan is the lead writer at BetArizona.com after covering sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
Looking up at a five-game losing streak and with their postseason hopes on the line, Brent Brennan’s Arizona Wildcats answered the call in Tucson on Friday night, routing the Houston Cougars, 27-3, to snap the team’s five-game losing streak in Big 12 play and across Arizona sports betting.
Behind 224 passing yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Noah Fifita and 107 rushing yards and a score by running back Quali Conley, the Wildcats pounced on the visiting Cougars early and often, taking a 10-3 halftime lead and shredding any semblance of a doubt in a 17-0 third quarter to pull off the wire-to-wire win.
With the victory, Arizona moved to 4-6 for the season and 2-5 in Big 12 play, opening up a semblance of a shot at bowl eligibility in Southern Arizona, with the Wildcats finishing the season with a road game against TCU on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Arizona time before the year-end showdown with ASU in Tucson on Nov. 30.
All year long, BetArizona.com will update Arizona’s bowl game odds, with this week’s version again reflecting the increasing reality that the Wildcats will miss out on bowl season entirely in 2024.
Bowl | Location | Odds | Percentage Chance |
Independence Bowl | Shreveport, Louisiana | +525 | 16% |
LA Bowl | Los Angeles, CA | +900 | 10% |
No Bowl |
| -250 | 71.4% |
While the odds are still stacked against the Wildcats when it comes to reaching the six wins needed to qualify for a bowl game in the first place, there’s no denying that Friday’s win over Houston opened the door for a possible three-game win streak to hit the number in 2024.
The deck remains stacked against the Wildcats, however, as the team at ESPN Analytics gives them a 21.5% shot at beating 6-4 TCU in Ft. Worth on Saturday, while oddsmakers from Bet365 Arizona have the U of A down as a 12-point road underdog in the contest.
As for postseason odds themselves, the two Big 12 tie-ins we see Arizona competing in this year are Shreveport’s Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, which clocks in at +525 this week, while the LA Bowl is the other option, at +900.
The odds of Arizona missing out on bowl season entirely are much stronger than either contest this week, with the Wildcats still looking at -250 odds of failing to win out this season, though we’re saying there’s a chance when Brennan and company return to the gridirons of the Big 12 on Saturday afternoon deep in the heart of Texas.
Stick with BetArizona for the best Arizona sportsbook promos ahead of the college football season.
Year | Bowl | Result |
2023 | Alamo Bowl | Win, 38-24 against Oklahoma |
2022 | No Bowl Game |
|
2021 | No Bowl Game |
|
2020 | No Bowl Game |
|
2019 | No Bowl Game |
|
Arizona’s last five years have seen one bowl game, with the Wildcats reaching the Alamo Bowl last season to snap the program’s five-year postseason drought. Prior to that, the Wildcats’ last trip to a bowl game came in 2017, when they lost the Foster Farms Bowl in the Bay Area to Purdue by a 38-35 score to finish off the Rich Rodriguez era in Tucson.
The Wildcats reached bowls in four straight seasons from 2012 to 2015 and three straight under Stoops from 2008 to 2010, with Arizona missing bowl season entirely from 1999 to 2007.
For the 2024-25 college football season, Arizona is currently projected to miss out on a bowl game.
Arizona has not yet qualified for a bowl game. Their most recent bowl game was in the 2023 Alamo Bowl win against Oklahoma.
Author
Christopher Boan is the lead writer at BetArizona.com after covering sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
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