A lot can still change when it comes to which teams make the College Football Playoff, and consequently which ones end up in the other New Year’s Six bowl games. But unless one of the results from this weekend’s conference championships has a major trickle down effect, Arizona has not only its bowl destination but also its opponent.
Every major national outlet that does bowl projections has the Wildcats (9-3) facing Oklahoma (10-2) in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28 in San Antonio. If that happens it would mark their first matchup since 1989.
Arizona finished third in the Pac-12, its 7-2 record tied for most conference victories in school history, and it would have been in Friday’s conference title game had Oregon State beat Oregon. Same goes for Oklahoma, which ended up tied for second in the Big 12 but lost out on the title game to in-state rival Oklahoma State because of a head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Alamo Bowl pays out more than $8 million for each team, though that money goes to the conferences to split up among all members.
It would be ironic if this is Arizona’s final game as a Pac-12 school, since Oklahoma is also leaving its conference for the SEC and thus this won’t be a preview of a Big 12 contest.
The UA has played in the Alamo Bowl once before, at the end of the 2010 season when it lost 36-10 to Oklahoma State. The Sooners’ only appearance in the game was in 2021, 47-32 victory over Oregon.
Since becoming a Pac-12/Big 12 matchup in 2010, the Big 12 has won 10 of 13 games.
