Arizona Wildcats Could Be the Big 12's Most Underrated Contender

Oct 24, 2026; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Brent Brennan celebrates during the third quarter against the Iowa State Cyclones at Casino Del Sol Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images Before the season began, the Big 12 looked like a two-horse race between Texas Tech and BYU. Those two were the only serious playoff contenders last year, and now, through the first seven weeks of the season, that seemed to be the case again.However, things have changed week to week this year in college football, and other teams have stepped up to challenge the big dogs. Utah is currently the highest-ranked Big 12 team in the AP polls and the only undefeated team left in the Big 12. Oklahoma State and Houston are both still ranked but have two losses each, with Houston choking in a big opportunity against Utah last week.Yet, even with all the fun teams competing for one of the final playoff spots, I feel one real contender in the conference has slipped through the cracks: the Arizona Wildcats. After losing a close road contest to BYU early in the season, Arizona has dominated every team in its path, including three straight conference wins by 20+ points.They’re one of the conference's more complete teams, currently ranking 12th in the nation in points per game and 22nd in points allowed. They still lack a bit of a rushing attack, but they’re led by their passing attack is led by the most underrated star in the country, Noah Fifita.Fifita ranks 13th in the nation in total passing yards, 17th in yards per completion, 9th in touchdowns, 13th in passer rating, and has only 4 interceptions this year. During this three-game conference winning streak, Fifita has played some of the best football of his career, averaging 311 yards per game, while the Arizona offense has averaged over 41 points a night.Arizona is currently +690 to win the Big 12, and +270 to make the Big 12 title game, and I think there’s some great value there. The schedule is pretty tricky the rest of the way for the Wildcats, but they still have full control of their destiny.If they can go on the road this week and beat Texas Tech, their odds of winning will plummet to where they should be priced. Tech looked unbeatable in conference play the last two years, and I think Cincy put the playbook out on how to beat them: make Will Hammond throw the ball.You can see why Texas Tech wanted Brendan Sorsby so badly: Hammond has been atrocious. Arizona’s pass defense has been solid all year, but their run defense, which has struggled at points, showed up in a big way in their close loss to BYU earlier this year. Limit touches to J’Koby Williams, and make Hammond air it out.Arizona are only +3.5 underdogs this week, and 64% of the money is on Texas Tech. Buy low on the Wildcats before the rest of the country realizes how good they might just be. From there, they’ll have only one more ranked game left on the schedule. Noah Fifita is the right guy to get Arizona back to being a winning football program. Our Current Best OffersChannel debug: football