In the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season, which were unveiled Tuesday evening on ESPN, the Arizona Wildcats checked in at No. 22.
Arizona is ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history. The Wildcats were ranked in the CFP rankings last season, 2023, 2017 and 2014.
The Wildcats are also ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. Arizona is ranked in the AP Top 25 for the fourth consecutive season, which hasn’t happened since the “Desert Swarm” era from 1992-95.
Arizona is one of five teams from the Big 12 ranked in the CFP rankings, along with No. 3 Utah, No. 9 BYU, No. 15 Texas Tech and No. 17 Houston. The SEC has 10 teams, the most of any Power 4 conference, in the initial CFP rankings, followed by the Big Ten (six), Big 12 (five) and ACC (two).
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The third-ranked Utes come to Tucson on Saturday, Nov. 14. The last time Arizona hosted a top-five opponent was Oregon in 2013. The Utes could be the highest-ranked team to play Arizona in Tucson since No. 2 Oregon in 2007.
The top 10 teams in the initial College Football Playoff rankings are Miami, Georgia, Utah, Indiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, UCLA, BYU and Ole Miss.
No. 22 Arizona (6-2) hosts the TCU Horned Frogs (4-4) at Casino Del Sol Stadium on Friday at 8:15 p.m.
Contact Justin Spears, the Star's Arizona football beat reporter, at jspears@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @JustinESports
Justin Spears
Sports Reporter
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