What to watch for when Arizona football opens 2026 season vs. NAU
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The long Wildcat Nation nightmare is over, college football is back. And following one of the best seasons in school history, optimism is in the air for Arizona going into the 2026 season.
The UA returns more than half its starters from a 9-4 squad, just the eighth time it has won at least nine games. That hasn’t translated into national attention, though, as Arizona was not ranked in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 or is on any lists of teams to watch this fall.
NAU is the first of seven opponents the UA will host at Casino Del Sol Stadium, which underwent some notable upgrades this offseason.
Here’s what to watch for from the 2026 season opener, set for 6:30 p.m. PT Saturday on ESPN+:
Newcomers and first-time starters
Arizona returns more than 17,000 snaps from last season’s top, among the most in the country. A year after having nearly half its starters in the first game coming from the NCAA transfer portal, the Wildcats are projected to start 17 returners against NAU.
“We’ve said that from the beginning, we’re going to be a developmental program,” UA coach Brent Brennan said Monday.
But quite a few newcomers, both transfers and freshmen, will play on Saturday. Ex-Washington center Zachary Henning and former Illinois tight end Cole Rusk are atop the depth chart at their respective positions, while on defense there are transfers projected to start at linebacker (Cooper Blomstrom) and cornerback (Dwight Bootle II, Malcolm Hartzog Jr.).
The secondary will look the most different from a year ago. Cornerback Jay’Vion Cole made four starts in 2025, and safety Gavin Hunter started three times, but each played less than half the defensive snaps. And junior Quinn Olson, a walk-on, will be making his first career start at safety after being one of the most impressive players in training camp.
Among freshmen, receivers RJ Mosley and Caleb ‘Jet’ Smith should be in the rotation in the opener with Smith handling punt and kickoff returns. On defense quite a few first-year players should see time including defensive linemen Keytrin Harris, Kaisi Lafitaga and Prince Williams and linebacker Dash Fifita.
Fifita’s final go-around
Speaking of Fifitas, Saturday will mark the 35th consecutive time Noah Fifita starts at quarterback for Arizona. The school record for QB starts is 38, by Willie Tuitama, yet another place Fifita will find himself in the UA record books.
Already the single-season and career leader in touchdown passes, Fifita enters 2026 needing 829 yards to top Nick Foles‘ UA career yardage mark. He’ll pay Tuitama for second with 29 yards on Saturday.
Arizona has spent the offseason marketing Fifita as a Heisman Trophy candidate, passing out resumes at Big 12 Football Media Days and putting up a trio of billboards (including two near ASU).
Fifita’s Heisman odds right now are slim, sitting at +10000 per FanDuel Sportsbook, though as the season goes on they figure to improve if Arizona is winning and he’s putting up big numbers. Just don’t expect the Wildcats to go out of the way to pad his stats.
“All Noah cares about is winning, and if we’re keeping him out there for something that is selfish or about Noah, I don’t think he’d be up for that,” Brennan said. “If the goal is to play great football every week and have a chance to be in every game and win every game, then thinking about it in terms of stats doesn’t hit my brain the right way.”
Offensive coordinator Seth Doege echoed that sentiment, saying his play calling against NAU won’t be with stats in mind.
“I’m gonna call this game to win this game, period,” Doege said. “And Noah is on board with that.”
A ‘badass’ opposing QB
NAU played in Week Zero and won, rallying from down 24-3 at home to beat Eastern Washington 34-27. The Lumberjacks were led by senior quarterback Ty Pennington, who threw for 164 yards and two TDs and ran for 61 yards.
“That dude is a savage,” UA defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. “He’s a badass. He is tough. He refuses to slide. It’s my goal to make that sucker slide. He refuses, which is freaking awesome.”
Mobile quarterbacks were an issue at times last season for Arizona, as BYU’s Bear Bachmeier and Houston’s Connor Weigman used their mobility to beat the Wildcats. Pennington, who began his career at Division II Pittsburg State before following coach Brian Wright to NAU, was sacked three times by the Wildcats in the 2024 game but also ran for 39 yards.
Crowd concerns
Despite having one of the best seasons in school history in 2025, Arizona’s home attendance did not reflect a fanbase that was sold on that success. The UA averaged just 41,782 fans last season, down nearly 5,000 per game from the year before and the lowest since 2021 when the program was in the midst of a 20-game losing streak.
This offseason the school set out to make a slew of improvements to Casino Del Sol Stadium to improve the gameday experience. There’s an upgraded sound system and new lighting, both of which will be hard to ignore.
A new video board was also part of the plans for this season but that project has been pushed back to 2027.
Arizona has also brought back the Cat Cruiser, a free shuttle that will take fans from Hi Corbett Field to the stadium. Departures begin at 4:30 p.m. PT and run every 15 minutes up until kickoff, with return trips starting in the fourth quarter and going until 45 minutes after the game is over.
Reservations are required and can be made here.
Another significant change at Casino Del Sol Stadium involves the opponents, who will now have their sideline on the east side with the Zona Zoo at their back. That could lead to some colorful interactions between students and NAU players.
“I’m sure they’ll have some really fun and colorful things to converse about with our opponents over the course of the season, which I’m definitely looking forward to,” Brennan said. “I hope they’re wild, and I hope they let them hear it.”
Whether there’s weather
Despite being in the middle of the monsoon, Arizona hadn’t had a weather delay at home since 2009 … until it had two of them last season. The start of the Weber State game was delayed by nearly two hours, then the showdown with BYU was paused between the first and second quarters due to lightning in the area.
Could that happen again Saturday? The National Weather Service currently doesn’t have any chance of rain in the forecast, though that could change depending on how moisture from a Pacific hurricane affects the area.
If weather has an impact, Arizona will be prepared. According to Gonzales, the UA “practices” a delay last Saturday during its mock game.
“We got lightning, so we went inside and we waited it out just like we would on game day,” he said. “And if we were going to be here till midnight, we were going to stay in there till midnight to get this thing done. You have to act and prepare for every situation and make it no big deal, so the kids don’t overreact.”
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