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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.
How Do #21 Preseason AP Poll Teams Play?: Arizona’s Potential Trends
For the first time since 2015 and second time this century, the Arizona Wildcats were ranked inside the AP preseason top 25 earlier this month, setting the stage for a season that many in Tucson have waited months to start.
Fresh off a 10-3 campaign that saw the Wildcats go 7-2 in the school’s final season in the Pac-12, Arizona is back, though head coach Jedd Fisch is off to another conference expat (Washington), bringing Brent Brennan back to Tucson. Brennan arrived in Tucson after spending seven years at San José State, where he went 34-48 but with three seven-win seasons in his final four years with the Mountain West Conference program.
He also returned to Southern Arizona some 24 years after he served as a graduate assistant under legendary Arizona head coach Dick Tomey, providing a bit of a homecoming for the 51-year-old.
This year, Brennan’s first team at the U of A is ranked 21st nationally in the AP preseason poll, giving BetArizona.com ample reason to go through the history books to see how teams in that spot have fared when the season wraps up.
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Trends of # 21 Team In College Football Preseason AP Poll
Situation | Result |
Average Record | 7-6* |
Average Winning Percentage | .549* |
Bowl Game Appearance | 2 of 3 |
Final AP Poll Top 25 Appearance | 0 of 3 |
How Recent Teams Have Fared
Since 2021, the three teams that started the season at No. 21 went 21-17 overall, with the UNC Tar Heels and Ole Miss Rebels each going 8-5 in the last two seasons, while Texas went 5-7 three years ago.
Arizona’s never been ranked 21st nationally before but has been ranked 22nd (2014), 24th (1998), 19th (1995), 18th (1989), 17th (1974), 16th (1975), 14th (1983 and 1993), seventh (1994) and fourth (1999) nationally in previous preseason polls.
The last time Arizona was included in the preseason poll, they wound up going 7-6 with a 38-35 loss in the Foster Farms Bowl to Purdue to show for it, which is a fate that Wildcats fans will hope to avoid in 2024. Food for thought as you peruse Arizona betting apps before the season.
Where Oddsmakers See Arizona Going in 2024
The team at Bet365 Arizona currently pin Arizona’s win total over/under at 7.5 for 2024, with the Wildcats currently holding the sixth best odds of winning the Big 12 at +1000, ranking in a tie with Iowa State overall. Throw in QB Noah Fifita’s +2500 Heisman odds, which are good for 12th alongside Avery Johnson, and you have the full rundown on where the Wildcats are expected to go in Brennan’s first season on the sidelines.
For now, the Wildcats will look to take care of business in their opener against former WAC rival New Mexico on Aug. 31 in Tucson, in a game that Bet365 lists the U of A as a 30-point favorite in.
USA Today photo by Daniel Dunn.
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