Arizona and Baylor will meet for the first time as Big 12 Conference foes on Saturday morning in Tucson, Ariz.
The only previous meeting between the schools came in the 1992 Sun Bowl, when Arizona was still in the Pac-10. The Wildcats moved to the Big 12 last season and have nearly doubled their win total from a year ago.
“For us, it’s always a one-week season, that’s it,” said Arizona coach Brent Brennan, whose team is riding a three-game winning streak. “And so right now, we’re locked into Baylor, because it’s the most important game of the year, and that’s where our headspace is. We’re not spending any time living backwards or forwards. We’re about right now.”
Arizona (7-3, 4-3 Big 12) is coming off a 30-24 win at then-No. 25 Cincinnati, a game that saw Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita become the school’s career passing touchdowns leader with 68. He has 24 this season, against four interceptions, with TD passes to 10 different players.
Baylor (5-5, 3-4) has the nation’s leader in passing yards (3,210), Sawyer Robertson. The senior is also second in the country in touchdown passes (29) after throwing for 430 yards and three TDs with two interceptions last week in a 55-28 home loss to then-No. 13 Utah. He has thrown for at least 300 yards six times this season.
“Without Sawyer, we’re not able to win any games,” Bears coach Dave Aranda said. “We’re not to be in any type of position to be in a bowl game, be competitive, any of those things.”
Bears receiver Josh Cameron leads the conference with 60 catches and is second in receiving yards (746), while tight end Michael Trigg’s 649 receiving yards are second most in the FBS at his position.
Arizona owns the top pass defense in the league at 159.5 yards allowed per game, having yielded 200 passing yards in a game just twice this years. Baylor’s defense has struggled of late, permitting at least 34 points in four of the past five games.
Both teams are susceptible to allowing big plays on the ground. The Bears gave up 380 rushing yards and five rushing TDs to Utah, while the Wildcats yielded an average of 171.8 yards on the ground over the past five games.
–Field Level Media
