arizona-wildcats-football-regular-season-grades-stats-analysisJuan SerranoTue, December 2, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC·8 min readAfter a disappointing 4-8 season in Brent Brennan’s first year in Tucson, he has been able to complete a very impressive turnaround in a very short time in just his second season. The Wildcats finished the regular season at 9-3 and 6-3 in Big 12 play.
What was the key to the successful season? Perhaps the addition of offensive coordinator Seth Doege, or the promotion of defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales. Maybe it was the veteran leadership of players like Dalton Johnson and Noah Fifita.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRegardless, Arizona had improvements on both sides of the ball. In some games the offense was unstoppable, and in other games it was the defense that dominated the day.
There is obviously still room for improvement, particularly looking at the special teams unit, but the Wildcats have now laid down the foundation to be a competitive program in the Big 12.
Here are the grades for the offense, defense, special teams, and coaching from Arizona’s 9-3 regular season:
Offense: B+
Following low production from last season, Brennan went out and hired Doege to help boost the offensive numbers. Coming from Marshall, he brought an offense that was mainly focused on the air attack but was able to still stay balanced.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis season, the offense was able to produce a lot more yardage than last season, but the problematic part came in the red zone. The offense had 54 trips to the red zone and scored 42 times.
While this is good on paper, 13 of those 42 trips were field goals. Now that number becomes 29-54 in being able to score a touchdown in the red zone.
Yes, it’s an improvement from last season, but if touchdowns are scored instead of settling for field goals more often then more games are well in the hands of the Wildcats earlier in their games.
Arizona averaged 32.58 points per game and averaged 404.8 yards per game. It scored 46 total touchdowns on offense and averaged 5.8 yards per play.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAveraging 30:44 in time of possession, the Wildcats had the ball for nearly half the game in most matchups. On third down, Arizona was 65-162 (40.12%), so it will be an area to improve in for next season.
Fourth down was more successful for the offense as it went 18-27 (66.67%). There were only five lost fumbles and just seven interceptions thrown.
Ismail Mahdi led the Wildcats in rushing yards with 826 yards and scored four touchdowns. Kedrick Reescano had 394 rushing yards and led in rushing touchdowns with nine.
Arizona’s wide receiver room was led by Kris Hutson who finished with 57 catches for 740 yards and four touchdowns. Tre Spivey led in touchdown receptions with six.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe ringleader for the improvement in offensive production was Fifita. His sophomore year was pretty sluggish, and it was imperative that his performances got better.
A big reason why he had a very successful season was his ability to take care of the ball. Fifita only threw three five interceptions, compared to his 26 touchdowns and he was one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12.
He also finished with 2,963 yards of passing, which was third in the conference. One of his biggest assets that finally came into play was his legs.
Fifita had 149 rushing yards, and even though that is not a lot of yardage, most of the time they were key yards on third/fourth and short.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGoing down in Wildcats football lore, he also broke the all-time career passing touchdown record, which was held by former Wildcats Nick Foles and Willie Tuitama.
Next season, Fifita will look to add to his record, and the offense will look to score more touchdowns in the red zone.
Defense: A
This was by far and away the best unit of the season. Gonzales pretty much had a bend don’t break defense. They will let the offense march down the field, but very rarely let them in the end zone.
Arizona lived with field goal attempts by its opponent or either forced them to turn the ball over. The Wildcats forced 19 interceptions and nine fumbles. The specialty of the defense was the secondary.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOnly allowing 155.92 yards per game, the 19 interceptions forced were the main difference in not allowing other team’s passing games to flourish.
The weak spot came in the run defense. While the defense only allowed 145.7 yards per game, in the three losses it was the main difference. Iowa State, BYU, and Houston ran all over Arizona and with a lot of ease.
Nevertheless, the Wildcats’ defense was time and time again why Arizona was competitive and had a shot in every game this season.
The defense had three separate games where it forced five turnovers. Johnson led the team in overall and solo tackles with 48 and 97 respectively. Taye Brown led with 52 assisted tackles.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementChase Kennedy led the team in sacks with four, and in total the defense had 21 sacks. Deshawn McKnight led the team with 11 tackles for loss. Johnson, Treydan Stukes, and Jay’Vion Cole tied for the most interceptions this season with four each.
Genesis Smith led the team in forced fumbles as well as fumble recoveries. Johnson also finished the season with back to back Big 12 defensive player of the week awards.
Led by veteran leadership, the defense was the x-factor for success in Arizona’s 9-3 season.
Special Teams: C-
It was a season of struggle and some disappointment for the special teams unit. Following in the footsteps of now NFL kicker Tyler Loop, it seemed like those shoes may be a bit too big (right now) for Michael Salgado-Medina.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHe finished the season going 19-31 in field goals, but did go 46-47 on extra points. His area of struggle came from field goals between 40-49 yards. Otherwise Salgado-Medina went 11-14 between 20-39 yards and 3-5 from 50+ yards.
Isaac Lovison did improve as the season went on. His punts allowed his coverage team to get down and shut down any chance of a return. 11 of his 32 punts were downed or caught inside the 20s. Lovison also had five punts of 50+ yards.
If there was an MVP for special teams, or even an unsung hero, it would be Ian Wagner. While it may not go down as a stat, his place holding for Salagado-Medina may have gone unnoticed.
He did not allow any bad snaps to go astray, and there were many bad snaps. Wagner was also the main kickoff guy. He had 66 touchbacks on 75 kicks, and only one went out of bounds.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCraig Naivar was brought by Brennan last offseason and while it was not a horrendous year as a unit overall, there will definitely need to be improvements made in the offseason.
Coaching: A
It was clear from the fan base that the 4-8 season last year was not good enough and some even called for Brennan’s job. He could have easily folded and said “Hey, maybe I’m too in over my head.”
Instead, he attacked the offseason in almost all aspects. From the coaching hires he made, to keeping key veteran players and bringing in valuable additions from the transfer portal.
Let’s start with the obvious, the coaching hire of Doege as offensive coordinator and Gonzales’ promotion to defensive coordinator.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDoege’s offense finished seventh in total yards and fourth in points per game. Gonzales had his defense ranked second in yardage allowed, and fourth in points per game.
Those numbers alone speak for themselves. Some of the reason why those numbers are as good as they are is due to certain players deciding to come to Arizona despite the rough year.
Players like Spivey, Wagner, Mahdi, and McKnight all impacted the field this season. There are also other players who may have not led in the stat sheet, but led by example.
Riley Wilson, Max Harris, Javin Whatley, Quincy Craig, and Michael Dansby are some of those who lead by example.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe best job done on the staff was probably done by someone who does not get enough credit. Offensive line coach Josh Oglesby probably had the most underrated coaching jobs this season.
Not only did he bring in experienced transfers like Ka’ena Decambra, Tristan Bounds, and Ty Buchanan, but he was able to take a player who was a defensive lineman last year and turn him into an impactful part of the line.
Chubba Maae was inserted into a starting role for the Kansas State game and never looked back. He helped the rushing attack become more and more effective as the season progressed.
All in all, it was an unexpected finish to the season, but now Brennan has laid down the foundation for what his program will look like moving forward. The Wildcats only await to see which bowl game they will play in this postseason.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
