Meet Your Insider
Hi, hi, hi, Wildcat family, welcome to The Cover Window! I'm Inez Paloverde, your Arizona insider, and I am a desert-sunrise optimist. I talk fast, I love hard, and I will defend this team to the last saguaro. I love the desert and I want you to love it too, so be warned: there will be cactus metaphors. A good defense is a lot like a cactus. It's beautiful from a distance, and you do not want to touch it. And when people complain about the Tucson heat, I just smile and say, "It's a dry hype." Every week I'll bring you the players, the coaches and the matchup, plus all the sunshine I can carry. And I always end the same way: "Bear Down, friends."
The School in 60 Seconds
Let's start with those two words. "Bear Down" goes back to October 1926 and John "Button" Salmon, the student-body president and the Wildcats' quarterback. He was badly hurt in a car accident, and before he died he asked coach J.F. "Pop" McKale to tell the team to "bear down". It's been our rallying cry ever since. Home is Casino Del Sol Stadium in Tucson, listed at 50,782 seats. The program had a big 2025, going 9-4 and reaching the Holiday Bowl, where it lost to SMU 24-19. This season is Arizona's best start since 2014. Pretty as a sunrise over the Catalinas.
The Coach and the Scheme
Brent Brennan was hired on Jan. 16, 2024. He went 4-8 his first season, then turned it around with nine wins in 2025. The 2026 numbers say this offense starts with Noah Fifita's arm. Arizona throws for 303.8 yards a game with 16 passing touchdowns, and splits runs and passes evenly. It averages 35.7 points and 456.5 yards a game. The defense is the cactus: it allows 19.0 points a game and just 3.34 yards a carry, and it has 15 sacks. Two prickly spots: 16 sacks allowed, and eight turnovers lost against five forced. Also, West Virginia put up 522 yards against us, which dropped Arizona to ninth in the Big 12 in total defense.
Players to Know
QB Noah Fifita: 140 of 191 for 1,756 yards, 16 TD and 4 INT. At West Virginia he went 16 of 23 for 341 yards and 3 TD.
WR Isaiah Mizell: 19 catches, 359 yards, 4 TD, including 6 catches for 183 yards and 2 TD at West Virginia. WR Tre Spivey: 4 touchdown catches.
RB Kedrick Reescano: 262 yards and 4 TD on 72 carries.
LB Chase Kennedy: 4 sacks. LB Taye Brown: the leading tackler. Sources differ on the total, 39 in one preview and 27 in another snapshot (conflicting).
The Conference Picture
Arizona is 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12, 3-0 at home and 2-1 on the road. The Wildcats are No. 25 in this week's AP poll. The only loss came at BYU, 28-17, and since then they've won four straight: Northern Illinois, Washington State, Cincinnati and West Virginia. Our 456.5 yards a game ranks seventh in the Big 12 in total offense, and our run defense started last week third in the league before sliding to seventh. Translation: room to grow, plenty of sunshine to grow it in. Win on homecoming and Arizona stays right in the middle of the Big 12 race.
This Week: Iowa State (3-3) at No. 25 Arizona (5-1)
Saturday, Oct. 24 · 4:30 p.m. MST (7:30 p.m. ET) · Casino Del Sol Stadium · ESPN2 · Homecoming. It's the third straight year our homecoming has kicked off before 5 p.m.
Last time out: both teams are coming off bye weeks. Arizona won 52-31 at West Virginia. Iowa State lost 24-10 at No. 8 BYU and managed just 200 total yards.
Our offense vs. their defense: Iowa State allows 21.7 points a game and 198.5 passing yards a game. Fifita against that secondary is where I'd look first.
Their offense vs. our defense: the Cyclones love to run, at 181.5 yards a game. RB Aiden Flora has 680 yards and 6 TDs. Our run defense allows 3.34 a carry. Pretty from a distance, remember?
Series: Arizona leads 4-2-1, but Iowa State won last season's meeting 39-14 in Ames. It's Iowa State's first trip to Tucson since 1966.
Availability: Iowa State WR Dominic Overby is reported out for the season with a knee injury. I found no official availability report for Arizona as of Oct. 18, 2026.
What decides it: (1) Can our front slow Flora? (2) Can Fifita keep finding Mizell and Spivey? (3) Turnovers. We've lost eight; Iowa State has forced eight.
And to Twyla Hemmingsen, Iowa State's insider: honey, your forecast can say whatever it wants. Down here it's sunny and 100% Bear Down.
My call: Arizona Wildcats 30, Iowa State Cyclones 21.