On Arizona’s unconventional ‘revenge game’ and other Big 12 thoughts | Michael Lev

We in the media love a good narrative.

We’re especially fond of a particular tried-and-true narrative called the “revenge game.”

This isn’t that.

Yes, Iowa State handed Arizona by far its worst loss of the 2025 season — a 39-14 shellacking in Ames.

No, the rematch Saturday is not about payback.

Why? Because hardly anyone from that Iowa State team is still at Iowa State.

After Matt Campbell left to become the head coach at Penn State in December, a slew of Cyclones followed him. Penn State announced 48 roster additions on Jan. 16, and 24 were Iowa State transfers.

Per 247Sports’ database, ISU had 48 incoming transfers this cycle and 55 outgoing transfers. Among the 126 players on the Cyclones’ fall roster, 83 were newcomers.

Among the 22 offensive and defensive players who started last year’s game, only three are still with the team. Arizona has seven starters back from the lineup that started that game — nine if you include the currently ineligible Ismail Mahdi and Max Harris.

Only one Iowa State coach, special teams coordinator Rob Grande, is back from last year’s team. Arizona, meanwhile, lost only one of its 11 primary assistants.

Given all that turnover and the preseason expectations for Iowa State — pretty much the consensus pick to finish last in the Big 12 — I have to agree with what Brent Brennan said about first-year ISU coach Jimmy Rogers.

He has, indeed, done a “fantastic job” by getting the Cyclones to 3-3 at the halfway point of the season. All three of the losses were competitive and against ranked teams: Iowa (16-13), Utah (31-17) and BYU (24-10).

“Considering the timeline of that hire and the roster he's built, how well-coached they are, the physicality they play with,” Brennan said. “The timing of it and what they had to put together, the amount of people that left with the previous head coach, all that stuff.”

Brennan participated in a massive rebuild at San Jose State. But times were different a decade ago. The transfer portal, NIL and revenue-sharing did not yet exist.

Primarily because of the portal, it’s possible to turn over almost your entire team in one offseason. Heck, Iowa State doesn’t even lead the Big 12 in newcomers. Oklahoma State has 91, which is believed to be an FBS record.

So yes, the jerseys will say “Iowa State” on Saturday. But in almost every other way, this is a different ISU team.

If the Wildcats truly wanted to avenge last year’s game, they’d need to face Penn State.

Take that for data!

It’s usually unwise to compare any Arizona defense to “Desert Swarm.”

But this UA defense has a chance to do something that hasn’t been done since those days.

Danny Gonzales’ blitz-happy Wildcats have 19 sacks through six games. If they maintain that pace over the second half of the season — plus a bowl game — they’d finish with 41 sacks.

Arizona has not had 40-plus sacks in a season since 1998. The Wildcats regularly accumulated 40 or more in the ’90s. They did it in ’92 (40), ’93 (59), ’94 (47), ’97 (47) and ’98 (46).

In the ensuing 27 seasons, two UA teams came close: The 2000 and 2014 squads each had 38 sacks.

The ’26 defense needs just three more to surpass the ’25 defense. It’s unlikely to happen this week; Iowa State allows just 1.5 sacks per game. But opportunities are looming.

TCU (Nov. 6) has yielded the most sacks in the Big 12 (17). Arizona State (Nov. 28) has surrendered the third most (15).

(Rincon) Market report

Going up: Heisman hopefuls

While Noah Fifita continues to do his thing without much in the way of national recognition, three other Big 12 quarterbacks are climbing the Heisman Trophy odds board. BYU’s Bear Bachmeier, Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker and Houston’s Conner Weigman are among the top 14 candidates listed on FanDuel. Bachmeier declared his candidacy by leading the unbeaten Cougars’ upset of Notre Dame. Mestemaker has put up prolific numbers, but the 4-2 Cowboys likely would have to run the table for him to have any chance. Weigman conceivably could leapfrog both of them if Houston upsets Utah on Saturday and he plays a big part in it.

Going down: Buffs’ bowl chances

Colorado played its best ball since the opener last week, but CU still lost to Utah 27-24. The Buffaloes have dropped four straight to fall to 2-4 — and it’s hard to find the four wins needed for bowl eligibility on their second-half schedule. Colorado visits Oklahoma State, ASU and Cincinnati; it hosts Kansas State, Houston and UCF. If the Buffs fall short, they will have gone bowl-less in three of Deion Sanders’ four seasons. His overall record is 18-25. The program does not appear to be making progress. What’s the end game with Coach Prime?

A question from my X

“What's the health status of (the) WR/TE group and how does that impact the lineup?” – @its_me_on_x_ via X

Tre Spivey is out for the season. Giovanni Richardson, Chris Hunter and Cole Rusk were listed as out on the availability report. So it’s going to be the same group that played vs. West Virginia.

That went better than anyone could have expected. Isaiah Mizell had a career game. Brandon Phelps continued to make plays. Tyler Powell and Shane King basically split time at tight end. King had a hiccup or two, but Arizona totaled 52 points (45 on offense) and easily could have scored more.

All that being said, Iowa State’s defense is better than West Virginia’s. Pretty much everyone’s is. I don’t envision Mizell and Phelps running through the ISU secondary without resistance.

The Cyclones also have a full game’s worth of film on those players. They can predict how they’ll be utilized.

So as challenging as that first assignment was, this one might be even tougher.

Threads

I’m a big fan of Arizona’s traditional white-blue-white kit. I love the throwback “A” that the Wildcats will sport on their helmets. I don’t understand why this is a “fans wear red” game when (A) the team is wearing blue; and (B) one of Iowa State’s main colors is cardinal. The coordination has been off all year. The opener vs. NAU (whose colors are blue and gold) was a wear-blue game. Week 3 vs. NIU (cardinal and black) was a wear-red game. It wouldn’t be hard to get all of this properly aligned.

What he said ...

“Coach B mentioned it yesterday, the impact that Provo had on the game against Notre Dame on Saturday night. Have that same impact here. ... Get after their tails, ZonaZoo. Get after their tails, City of Tucson. Let's have just one hell of an environment. And then everybody will start talking about the problem that the Big 12 has in Tucson.” – Gonzales

What he meant ...

“No excuses this time, my fellow 520 residents. If we don’t pack The Sol on Saturday, it’ll be a friggin’ calamity. The game isn’t too early. It isn’t too late. The forecast looks fantastic. It’s Homecoming. Heck, I’ll stand on the corner of Sixth and National Championship Drive and give tickets away if I have to.”

The other side

“I see a lot of similarities between them and what West Virginia tries to do. It's chaotic, right? The D-line, the stunts, different pressures coming from different areas, how they want to play coverage and sticky man coverage. It's a tough group.” – Iowa State offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl comparing Arizona’s defense (No. 45 in the nation) to West Virginia’s (No. 137)

Pick to click (aka #fadelev)

UCF plus-6.5 against BYU is extremely tempting; this is the ultimate trap game for the Cougars. But we’re going with the Houston Cougars, who also are getting 6.5 points in their Top 25 showdown with Utah. If any team is equipped to handle a night game at Rice-Eccles Stadium, it’s Houston. The Cougars don’t turn the ball over (five giveaways, tied for second fewest in the Big 12), and they convert third downs better than anyone (61.4%, best in the nation). I also believe Houston is a better, more well-rounded team than Utah, no matter what the AP poll suggests. (Season record: 2-4)

One last thing

I’m generally opposed to the expanded 24-team College Football Playoff that’s coming next season. Some outcomes simply won’t have the same impact — the same sense of utter devastation — that they have now.

But as a chronicler of Arizona football who has friends and relatives who are Wildcats and/or UA fans, I can see the appeal.

The way we’d be covering this season would change dramatically if a 24-team Playoff were in place now. We’d examine the polls intensely, talk about the “bubble” weekly and compare résumés regularly. That’s good content.

Both Brennan and Gonzales talked about the increased “access” that the 24-team Playoff will afford; that’s a good thing if you’re in the upper-middle class of the Big 12.

If they were to finish 9-3 this year, the Wildcats would land in a bowl game. If they did the same next year, they could be in the Playoff.

Think about last year’s team. Arizona did go 9-3. The Wildcats were 17th in the final CFP ranking. They won five in a row down the stretch. They were the team you didn’t want to face.

Now put that team in the Playoff. The guys who opted out of the Holiday Bowl would’ve played. Arizona would’ve faced No. 16 USC in the first round.

That would’ve been pretty awesome.