The 2018 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

in the

2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 149th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

. The season marked the Wildcats's 119th season. They played their home games at the

Arizona Stadium Arizona Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. It is the home field of the Arizona Wildcats of the Big 12 Conference. Origin ...

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

(for the 90th year) and competed members of the

South Division South Division may refer to: * South Division (AFL), a division of the Arena Football League * South Division (MPBL), a division of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League * South Division (CFL), a former division of the Canadian Football League ...

(8th season) in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

(41st overall season). They were led by first-year head coach

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the associate head coach, co-offensive coordinator, and tight ends coach for the University of Maryland. Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University of ...

. The Wildcats finished the season 5–7 and did not qualify for a bowl game. They went 4–5 in Pac-12 play, tying

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

for third place in the South Division.

Offseason

Offseason departures

The Wildcats have 17 senior graduates only graduated players noted until spring practice. As well as one junior who would choose to forgo their senior season in pursuit of an earlier NFL career. The Wildcats would lose four more players from the 2017 team due to various reasons. Notable departures from the 2017 squad included.

Recruiting

On December 20, 2017, NCAA Football started the first ever early signing period which they signed 15 recruits. On the national signing day the Wildcats received 2 more high school recruits tipping off the signing period with a total of 20 high school recruits, 1 walk-on HS recruit, 2 JUCO transfers and 4 college transfers which totals 28 total recruits in the 2018 offseason. ''Source:''

Incoming transfers

In addition to the 2018 recruiting class, Arizona add two JC transfer players from junior college and six transfer players from college, which includes eligible for the current season, to the 2018 roster: Position key

Returning starters

Arizona returns 30 starters in 2018, including 15 on offense, 9 on defense, and 5 on special teams. Offensive starters Defensive starters Special Teams starters † Indicates player was a starter in 2017 but missed all of 2018 due to injury.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Pac-12 media poll

The 2018 Pac-12 media days are set for July 25, 2018 in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

(

Head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Khalil Tate Khalil Tate (born October 23, 1998) is an American gridiron football quarterback who is a free agent. After playing quarterback at the University of Arizona, he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2020. Early life T ...

( QB) & Colin Schooler ( ILB) at Pac-12 media days. The Pac-12 media poll was released with the Wildcats predicted to finish in third place at Pac-12 South division.

Spring game

The 2018 Wildcats had spring practice on March 19, 2018. The 2018 Arizona football spring game will take place in Tucson, AZ on April 14, 2018, and time to be determined.

Schedule

Arizona announced its 2018 football schedule on November 16, 2017. The 2018 Wildcats' schedule consists of 7 home and 4 away games for the regular season. Arizona will host nine Pac-12 conference opponents

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and arch-rival

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

for the 91st annual

Territorial Cup A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

to close out the regular season and will travel to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

and

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. Arizona is not scheduled to play Pac-12 North opponents

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

in the 2018 regular season. The Wildcats bye week comes during week 11 on November 10. Arizona's out of conference opponents represent the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

and Big Sky conferences. The Wildcats will host two non–conference games which are against

Southern Utah Dixie is a nickname for the populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County, the southwest corner of the State of Utah, bordering nearby Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. The area lies in the northeastern Mojave ...

(first ever meeting) from the Big Sky and BYU ( NCAA Division I FBS independent) and travel to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

from the

Game summaries

vs BYU

at Houston

vs Southern Utah

at Oregon State

vs USC

vs California

at Utah

at UCLA

vs No. 19 Oregon

vs Colorado

at No. 8 Washington State

vs Arizona State

This game featured one of the most biggest comebacks/collapses in Arizona football history. The Wildcats, needing a win to become bowl-eligible, dominated ASU for the first three quarters to lead 40–21 going into the fourth. However, Arizona, feeling like the game was over due to their 19-point lead, began to play conservatively by draining the clock, which led to being prone to turnovers, which seemed to motivate Arizona State. The Devils capitalized on the Wildcats’ errors and scored 20 points to take the lead with over three minutes left. The Wildcats drove down the field in the final minute to possibly regain but missed a field goal attempt and the Territorial Cup remained in the Phoenix area for another year. The Wildcats ended the season with a record of 5–7 (4–5 in Pac-12 play). Many fans blamed Sumlin and the coaching staff for the loss by calling more running plays than passing ones in the final quarter. Sumlin said that the team wanted to run the ball more to drain more time to keep the lead, but that doing so would lead to mistakes. He also believed that the loss affected the program, particularly in recruiting, which led to mixed results on the field and a period of futility, in which it became a factor in Sumlin's firing after the 2020 season.

Personnel

Roster

Coaching staff

Arizona's coaching staff has finalized as of February 22, 2018.

Depth chart

Starters and backups. Depth Chart Source: 2018 Arizona Wildcats Football Fact Book ''True Freshman''
Double Position : *

Rankings

Preseason polls

In-season polls

Statistics

Team

Non-conference opponents Pac-12 opponents Score total by Quarters

Offense

;Rushing Note: G = Games played; ATT = Attempts; YDS = Yards; AVG = Average yard per carry; LG = Longest run; TD = Rushing touchdowns ;Passing Note: G = Games played; COMP = Completions; ATT = Attempts; COMP % = Completion percentage; YDS = Passing yards; TD = Passing touchdowns; INT = Interceptions; EFF = Passing efficiency ;Receiving Note: G = Games played; REC = Receptions; YDS = Yards; AVG = Average yard per catch; LG = Longest catch; TD = Receiving touchdowns

Defense

Note: G = Games played; Solo = Solo tackles; Ast = Assisted tackles; Total = Total tackles; TFL-Yds = Tackles for loss-yards lost; Sack = Sacks; INT = Interceptions; PD = Passes defended; FF = Forced fumbles; FR = Forced recoveries

Special teams

Kick and punt returning ''Note: G = Games played; PR = Punt returns; PYDS = Punt return yards; PLG = Punt return long; KR = Kick returns; KYDS = Kick return yards; KLG = Kick return long; TD = Total return touchdowns'' Kicking ''Note: G = Games played; FGM = Field goals made; FGA = Field goals attempted; LG = Field goal long; XPT = Extra points made; XPT ATT = XPT attempted; In20 = Kicking inside the 20; 20-29 = Kicking inside the 20-29; 30-39 = Kicking inside the 30-39; 40-49 = Kicking inside the 40-49; 50 = Kicking inside the 50; TP = Total points'' Punting ''Note: G = Games played; P = Punts; YDS = Yards; AVG = Average per punt; LG = Punt long; In20 = Punts inside the 20; TB = Touchbacks''

Awards and honors

Midseason award watch lists

Weekly awards

:: Pac-12 Rose Bowl Player of the Week, week 3 vs Southern Utah *

J. J. Taylor Joseph Justyn Taylor (born January 4, 1998) is an American professional football running back, and return specialist for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arizona Wildcats. Taylor is a ...

:: Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, week 4 vs Oregon State

All-Americans

, RB – AP Third Team

All-Pac-12 teams

3rd Team *

, Running Back (AP-3)

Postseason

Bowl game

Senior Bowl

All Star Game

2019 NFL draft

Team players drafted into the NFL

Media affiliates

Radio

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

– (ESPN Tucson 1490 AM & 104.09 FM) – Nationwide (Dish Network, Sirius XM,

TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the privately held company TuneIn Inc. based in San Francisco, California. The comp ...

radio and

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

) * KCUB 1290 AM – ''Football Radio Show'' – (

Tucson, AZ Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson metropolitan s ...

) * KHYT – 107.5 FM (Tucson, AZ) *

KTKT KTKT (990 AM) – branded ''La Buena 94.3FM & 990AM'' – is a commercial Spanish language adult hits radio station licensed to serve Tucson, Arizona. Owned by Lotus Communications, the covers the Tucson metropolitan area and Southern Arizona ...

990 AM – ''La Hora de Los Gatos (Spanish)'' – (Tucson, AZ) *

KGME KGME (910 AM) is a commercial radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, featuring a sports format known as "Fox Sports 910." Owned by iHeartMedia, the station's studios are located in Phoenix near Sky Harbor International Airport, and broadcasts with ...

910 AM – (

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics *IMG (file format), file that stores a complete and uncompressed copy of the contents of a storage device * IMG, a prefix for camera ima ...

Sports Network) – (

Phoenix, AZ Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

) * KTAN 1420 AM – ( Sierra Vista, AZ) * KDAP 96.5 FM (

Douglas, Arizona Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, that lies in the north-west to south-east running Sulphur Springs Valley. Douglas has a Douglas, Arizona Port of Entry, border crossing with Mexico at Agua Prieta and a history of min ...

) * KWRQ 102.3 FM – ( Safford, AZ/

Thatcher, AZ Thatcher is a town in Graham County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 4,865. It is part of the Safford Micropolitan Statistical Area. Thatcher is the home of Eastern Arizona College (EAC), ...

) * KIKO 1340 AM – (

Globe, AZ Globe ( "Place of Metal") is a city in and the county seat of Gila County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,249. Globe was founded c. 1875 as a mining camp. Mining, tourism, government and retiree ...

) * KVWM 970 AM – ( Show Low, AZ/ Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ) *XENY 760 – (

Nogales, Sonora Heroica Nogales (), more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and the county seat of the Municipality of Nogales in the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located in the north of the state across the U.S.-Mexico border, and is abutted on its north ...

) (Spanish)

TV

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Family - KOLD (CBS),

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ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Family -

KGUN KGUN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sierra Vista–licensed independent station KWBA-TV (channel 58). The two stations share stu ...

(ABC),

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

, *

FOX Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

Family -

KMSB KMSB (channel 11) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KTTU-TV (channel 18); Tegna maintains a shared services agreement ...

(FOX),

/ FS1, FSN *

Pac-12 Network The Pac-12 Network (P12N), sometimes referred to as Pac-12 Networks, was an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Pac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities were headquartere ...

(Pac-12 Arizona)

References

{{Arizona Wildcats football navbox

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Arizona Wildcats football seasons

Arizona Wildcats football The Arizona Wildcats football program represents the University of Arizona (UA) in the sport of American college football. Arizona competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member ...