It’s been an up-and-down start to the 2022 season for the Arizona Wildcats, with Jedd Fisch’s squad pulling off an upset win across the top Arizona sportsbooks over San Diego State on the road, followed by a 39-17 shellacking at the hands of Mississippi State this past Saturday.
The Wildcats have found wins few and far between of late, failing to win more than four games in a season since 2017, when they went 5-7.
Overall, Arizona has gone 92-98 since the 2006 season, winning more than nine games just once during that span, when they went 10-4 in 2014.
There have been a few noteworthy wins during that time frame, during the tenures of head coaches Mike Stoops, Rich Rodriguez, Kevin Sumlin and Fisch.
BetArizona.com tallied those wins to see where Arizona’s season opening 18-point victory over the Aztecs ranked.
Though the Wildcats’ win doesn’t qualify for the top-10 listed below (as Arizona was a 6-point underdog against SDSU), they still can lay claim to one of the largest road wins in the program’s recent history across Arizona betting apps.
Arizona Wildcats Biggest Upsets Since 2006
1. 2014: Oct. 2: Beat Oregon (31-24) on road as a 21.5-point underdog
2. 2013: Nov. 23: Beat Oregon (42-16) at home as a 20.5-point underdog
3. 2006: Nov. 4: Beat Washington State (27-17) on the road as a 16-point underdog
4. 2006: Nov. 18: Beat Oregon (37-10) on the road as a 14-point underdog
5. 2006: Nov. 11: Beat Cal (24-20) at home as a 13-point underdog
6. 2007: Nov. 15: Beat Oregon (34-24) at home as a 10.5-point underdog
T-7th: 2011: Nov. 19: Beat ASU (31-27) on the road as a 10-point underdog; 2012: Sept. 8: Beat OKST (59-38) at home as a 10-point underdog
T-9th: 2009: Dec. 5: Beat USC (21-17) on the road as a 7-point underdog; 2017: Oct. 7: Beat CU (45-42) on road as a 7-point underdog; 2018: Oct. 27: Beat Oregon (44-15) at home as a 7-point underdog; 2021: Nov. 6: Beat Cal (10-3) as a 7-point underdog
Where Arizona’s SDSU Win Stacks Up
Arizona’s season-opener was still a shocker, as any team that goes from 1-11 to beating a team that won double-digit games in its following opener counts as a sizable upset across Arizona college football betting.
Other victories that just missed the cut were Arizona’s 10-3 win over Cal in 2021, which was their lone victory of the year, along with wins over Utah in 2014 (4.5-point underdog) and 2015 (5.5-point underdog).
The Wildcats also upset the USC Trojans, 39-36, in 2012 as a 5.5-point underdog, rounding out the major victories that the program has put up over the last 15-plus years.
For now, Fisch’s bunch needs to avoid a face-plant against FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, which comes to Arizona Stadium at 8 p.m. local time Saturday, in a contest that FS1 will televise nationally.
Though no official line has been issued for Saturday’s Arizona-North Dakota State contest, one can assume that the Wildcats will be heavily favored on BetMGM Arizona in the FBS-FCS showdown.
Whether the Wildcats can avoid finding themselves on the flipside of BetArizona.com’s biggest upsets list in school history remains to be seen.
For now, at least Fisch’s bunch can hang their hat on matching the school’s win total from last year through two games of the 2022 regular season.
