Arizona Wildcats vs. TCU Horned Frogs football game preview, Digi Mart USA News (Tucson, Arizona): No. 24 Arizona (6-2, 3-2 Big 12) will welcome TCU (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) to Casino Del Sol Stadium on Friday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m.
MST in Tucson.
Friday’s game will be televised on ESPN with Anish Shroff, Andre Ware, and Morgan Uber on the call. It will also be broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with play-by-play from Brian Jeffries.
This will be the fourth meeting all-time between the programs and the second matchup since Arizona joined the Big 12 in 2024. Arizona and TCU have met three times previously, with games dating back to 1999, and the Horned Frogs hold a 2-1 edge in the all-time series.
The only previous meeting in Tucson came in 2023, when the Horned Frogs beat the Wildcats, 13-10.
QB Noah Fifita has thrown 92 career touchdown passes, the most in program history and tied for the 53rd most among all players in FBS history. Fifita has also thrown for 11,664 yards in his career at Arizona, the most in program history and the 63rd most among all FBS players.
WR Isaiah Mizell has recorded 499 receiving yards over the last three games, more than any other Arizona receiver has recorded this season. Fifita has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 21 straight conference games dating back to 2024, the longest active streak by any FBS player.
The Wildcats passing offense is averaging 324.1 yards per game this season, the sixth best mark in the nation. Arizona has posted a +3 turnover margin over the last three games after going -4 over the first five games.
The Wildcats return to Tucson for the first of two consecutive home games. They have won six straight home games at Casino Del Sol Stadium, dating back to Nov. 8, 2025.
Arizona’s five-game win streak was snapped with a 34-26 loss at No. 13 Texas Tech last weekend, when Fifita and Mizell led the passing attack and RB Kedrick Reescano paced the ground game with a pair of rushing touchdowns.
Fifita and Mizell connected on a 94-yard touchdown at Texas Tech, the longest pass of Fifita’s career and the longest passing play for Arizona since 2015. Across the program’s history, the Wildcats have logged just eight pass plays of 90 or more yards.
With their win over Iowa State two weeks ago, the Wildcats became bowl eligible for the second time under head coach Brent Brennan. This marks the first time Arizona has been bowl eligible in back-to-back seasons since 2014 and 2015.
The Wildcats have played in 23 bowl games in program history, with a record of 10-12-1. Arizona’s most recent bowl appearance was the 2025 Trust & Will Holiday Bowl against the SMU Mustangs.
Mizell has strung together three consecutive 100-yard receiving performances, making him one of just two Arizona receivers in the last decade to accomplish the feat, along with Tetairoa McMillan in 2023. He has scored at least one touchdown in each of his last three games, accounting for 499 receiving yards and four touchdowns over that stretch.
Fifth-year quarterback Noah Fifita, one of just five senior or redshirt senior quarterbacks in FBS who spent their entire career at the same school, is the program’s all-time leader in career passing yards and passing touchdowns. He broke the career passing touchdowns record with a 15-yard strike to Gio Richardson at Cincinnati on Nov. 15, 2025, and the career passing yards record with a seven-yard throw to Mizell against Northern Illinois on Sept. 19, 2026.
He has posted a 26-16 record as the starting quarterback and has logged 42 consecutive starts dating back to 2023.
Arizona’s defense has been strongest in the red zone this season. The Wildcats have allowed opponents into the red zone just 20 times in seven games and have allowed scores on 14 of 20 opportunities, a 70.0% mark that ranks seventh in the FBS and fourth in the Power Four.
The defense has tallied multiple sacks in five of eight games, and linebacker Chase Kennedy already has six sacks this year.
Fifita also ranks second among all FBS quarterbacks with a 74.1% completion percentage. The Wildcats offense has converted 52.4% of third downs this season, seventh among all 138 FBS programs.
Arizona has retained its head coach, offensive and defensive coordinators, and starting quarterback from last year’s nine-win team, one of only 12 FBS programs that can make that claim.
