It’s been six years since the Arizona Wildcats last reached a bowl game, with a pair of five-win seasons being the closest they’ve come in the interim.
Entering the third year of coach Jedd Fisch’s reign in Tucson, the Wildcats are listed squarely where they wound up a year ago, with oddsmakers at Caesars Sportsbook Arizona giving them a preseason win total over/under of 5.
In order to exceed their preseason win total, the Wildcats will likely have to pull off a trio of wins in the non-conference portion of their schedule.
That means Arizona will have to hold the line against Northern Arizona in Week 1 and UTEP in Week 3, while pulling off an upset win on the road against Mississippi State on Sept. 9.
From there, the Wildcats’ path gets perilous, with road games against Stanford, USC and Washington State offset by a home game against Washington — likely winnowing the program’s path towards bowl eligibility.
Arizona sports betting oddsmakers list the Wildcats at +8000 to make the Pac-12 championship game, ranking in a tie for 11th with Arizona State and Colorado.
If Arizona can spring an upset or two, they’d be in prime position to at least reach six wins this fall, with a second half that includes home games against Oregon State, UCLA and Utah, to go with road contests against Colorado and ASU.
To get a sense of where the Wildcats could go this fall, BetArizona.com compiled hypothetical odds on the program’s 2023 regular season record.
Arizona Regular Season Record Odds
Arizona Likely to Repeat 2022 Win Total
Fresh off a 2022 campaign that saw Arizona improve their year-end win total by four (from 1-11 to 5-7), it’s natural to assume the Wildcats will continue that upward arc in 2023 — if you think so, you can use Arizona sportsbook promos to make a little money.
However, thanks to the Pac-12’s nine-game gauntlet and the difficult early season showdown against the Bulldogs, it’s far from guaranteed the Wildcats will improve their win total this fall.
That’s why we give Arizona the best odds of going 5-7 (+300) or 4-8 (+320), while 6-6 (+400) and 7-5 (+550) face slimmer odds.
One way or another, Fisch and his players will look to continue the school’s renaissance in Tucson on Sept. 2.
