Simulating Arizona football's 2026 season in College Football 27

The third installment of College Football is available for PlayStation and Xbox consoles everywhere. 

Arizona has the 30th-best overall team rating in College Football 27, just one spot behind the Jedd Fisch-coached Washington Huskies, because of course it worked out like that. 

The Wildcats have the top-rated quarterback in the Big 12 in Noah Fifita, who has a 90 overall rating — the only UA player with a 90-plus player rating. 

Following a 9-4 season in head coach Brent Brennan's second season at Arizona, along with Fifita returning for his final season, we simulated Arizona's 2026 season 10 times to see how the game projects the upcoming season for the Wildcats. 

Here's how it all went down.

Simulation 1: Arizona finished the season 7-6. The Wildcats beat Northern Arizona (known as FCS Midwest in the game), 35-18, then suffered a blowout loss to BYU, 41-12, in Provo. Arizona finished its nonconference slate with back-to-back losses to Northern Illinois and Washington State.

Arizona picked up steam in the bulk of its Big 12 schedule with five straight wins over Cincinnati, West Virginia, Iowa State, Texas Tech and TCU, but lost the final three games of the season, including a 42-17 beatdown by Arizona State in Fifita's final game at Casino Del Sol Stadium.

Arizona beat UAB in the Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl, 31-20. Fifita passed for 259 yards and a touchdown. Arizona running back Kedrick Reescano had two touchdowns and 130 yards. Illinois transfer tight end Cole Rusk had eight catches for 90 yards, and wide receiver Tre Spivey had the only receiving touchdown of the bowl game. 

Simulation 2: Despite Arizona going 6-6, the Wildcats didn't play in a bowl game. Arizona started the season 4-1 before losing to West Virginia — the first matchup between the Wildcats and WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez, who was fired by the UA following the 2017 season.

Arizona dropped the final four games of the season and lost by a combined 83-16 in the last two games to Kansas State and ASU. Big 12 champion BYU won the national championship. 

Simulation 3: Arizona completed the season with a 7-6 record. Even though the Wildcats had an up-and-down conference schedule (4-5 record in Big 12 play), they capped the regular season with a win over ASU in the 100th edition of the Territorial Cup. 

The Wildcats lost to San Diego State, 28-21, in the Alamo Bowl, which wouldn't happen in real life because the Alamo Bowl's affiliated teams are Big 12 and Pac-12 legacy teams; Arizona could play in the Alamo Bowl as a Pac-12 team. San Diego State is still considered a Mountain West team despite joining the Pac-12. 

Fifita passed for 3,288 yards, 21 touchdowns and three interceptions, and Arizona's leading tacklers on defense were linebacker Taye Brown, Charlotte transfer cornerback Dwight Bootle, Memphis transfer linebacker Everett Roussaw, UConn safety transfer Lee Molette and Oregon safety transfer Daylen Austin. The Wildcats finished 10th in the Big 12 standings. The second-place UCF Knights had a 12-3 record and lost to BYU in the conference championship.

Simulation 4: The Wildcats duplicated their 2025 season with a 9-4 record. Arizona started the season with a 7-2 record, with losses to BYU and West Virginia. Arizona lost to Utah by a field goal, but beat Kansas State and ASU, 52-14.

Fifita passed for 207 yards and three touchdowns on a 72% completion rate against ASU. Hartzog had 12 tackles in his final home game.

Arizona ended the season with a 23-21 loss to Kennesaw State in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana. Brown had 11 tackles and an interception in his final game as a Wildcat. Baylor won all nine conference games and won the Big 12 title. The Wildcats were ranked No. 17 in the final rankings of the season. 

Simulation 5: Arizona started 4-2 before the bye week, with losses to BYU and Washington State. Arizona kicker Michael Salgado-Medina made all three field goals and extra points in a huge win over Texas Tech.

Arizona ended the season on a sour note, losing to N.C. State in the Pop Tarts Bowl after falling to ASU — a Sun Devils team with a 4-8 record. 

N.C. State quarterback CJ Bailey passed for 315 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while Fifita threw 223 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in the bowl game. The Wildcats finished with an 8-5 record. 

Simulation 6: Holy 2024, Arizona! The Wildcats went 4-8 — 2-4 to start the season and then lost four straight in Big 12 play. Unlike the 2024 season, Arizona ended the season with a win over ASU — and if you ask any Arizona fan, a Territorial Cup win is a nice consolation prize for not making a bowl game.

Utah's Devon Dampier won the Heisman Trophy over John Mateer (Oklahoma), Marcel Reed (Texas A&M) and Arch Manning (Texas). 

Simulation 7: Avert your eyes, Arizona fans. The Wildcats went 8-5, sure, but they lost to NAU, 36-34. Arizona was 4 for 14 (28%) on third-down conversions against the Lumberjacks. Arizona dusted itself off and picked up wins over Texas Tech, Utah and ASU, beating the Sun Devils 38-3. The Wildcats beat Jacksonville State 28-20 in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl — informally known as the RichRod Bowl.  

Simulation 8: Arizona reached bowl eligibility before the Halloween showdown with Texas Tech, but the Wildcats lost to the Red Raiders. Arizona lost the final three games of the regular season, including a 17-10 letdown vs. ASU. The Wildcats were 3 for 18 on third- and fourth-down conversions and had 11 penalties for 90 yards.

Fifita completed 9 of 23 (39%) of his passes for no touchdowns and no interceptions in his final outing in Tucson. Arizona beat Rice, 31-24, in the Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl. Arizona running backs Quincy Craig and Antwan Roberts each scored two rushing touchdowns. USC transfer receiver DJ Jordan had eight catches for 168 yards in the bowl game. Arizona finished 8-5. 

Simulation 9: Arizona capped its 10-3 season with a 34-14 win over Marshall in the New Mexico Bowl — two seasons after Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege led the Thundering Herd to a Sun Belt championship. Austin and Hartzog each had an interception in the bowl game. 

Arizona finished sixth in the Big 12, losing to BYU, Texas Tech and ASU. Arizona finished the season No. 22 in the Top 25. Fifita won Big 12 Player of the Week in Week 10 for passing for 255 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 110 yards and a touchdown vs. TCU. 

Simulation 10: ASU prevented Arizona from going bowling, and the Wildcats ended Year 3 of the Brennan era with a 5-7 record — 3-6 in Big 12 play.

Fifita was sacked five times and passed for 283 yards in the Territorial Cup. Jordan was Arizona's leading receiver for the season with 832 yards and five touchdowns. Spivey had six touchdowns.

Brown led the Wildcats in tackles (82), and cornerback Jay'Vion Cole had four picks for the second straight season. Salgado-Medina made 17 of 19 field goals, including a season-long 51-yard field goal.

The Wildcats skated by NAU, 27-24. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings, who led the Mustangs to a win over Arizona in the Holiday Bowl last season, finished third in the Heisman race behind Mateer and Jayden Maiava (USC). USC beat Texas in the national championship. 

After 10 simulations, the over/under on wins for Arizona this upcoming season — according to College Football 27 — is around seven or eight.