Simulating Arizona’s season in EA Sports College Football 27
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There are only a few more weeks until Arizona football gets started with training camp and less that 50 days until kickoff against NAU. In anticipation for the actual 2027 season, we have simulated the Wildcats’ campaign for a third year using EA Sports’ College Football 27.
Last season’s simulation produced a good result compared to Brent Brennan’s first season IRL. Arizona went on to surpass the 7-5 simulated record with a 9-4 overall mark and 6-3 Big 12 record.
One update from last year’s game that stayed in this year’s version is the integration of actual coaches. This includes Brennan, offensive coordinator Seth Doege and defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales.
A couple of new updates that weren’t in last year’s game include the ability to add in support staff, athletic director expectations, crowd color coordination (Redouts), and the highly anticipated addition of “Mascot Mode” that includes Wilbur Wildcat.
In order to make the simulation as realistic as possible, the gameplay level was raised to the ‘Heisman’ level. This is out of the following levels: Freshman, Varsity, All-American and Heisman.
The schedule was not changed, however since NAU is not in the game, it will be represented by “FCS West”. The depth chart is also unchanged, as it is pre-set by EA Sports and doesn’t include all of the players on the 2026 roster.
Strong start to season
Starting the season off with a 20-0 home win against the FCS West Rivertoads (NAU), the Wildcats established themselves on the ground. Kedrick Reescano ran for 79 yards on 13 carries and Quincy Craig had 98 yards on five carries for two touchdowns with one coming from 52 yards out.
Noah Fifita started to find a connection with tight end Cole Rusk as he had six catches for 77 yards. Malcolm Hartzog and Mays Pese had the first turnovers of the season with an interception and forced fumble and recovery.
Arizona turned its attention to a highly anticipated road matchup against BYU (1-0). While UA kept it close, it was the Cougars that prevailed with a 24-17 win. Fifita finished 8-17 for 70 yards, DJ Jordan caught his first touchdown of the season, and Reescano ran for another touchdown.
It was a 58 yard rushing touchdown from Bear Bachmeier that sealed the Wildcats’ fate. Returning home, Arizona took on Northern Illinois (1-1) and rebounded from the road loss with a 20-7 win. Tre Spivey caught his first touchdown of the season while Taye Brown and Lee Molette III both had interceptions.
Finishing out the nonconference schedule, the Wildcats took their second road trip of the season to Washington State (1-2). It was a lot closer than expected but Arizona left Pullman with a 17-13 win.
Fifita went 13-15 for 176 yards but it was Reescano with two major touchdown runs. A 31 touchdown rush won it for the Wildcats and went into the rest of conference play with a 3-1 record.
Midseason struggles
Standing at 3-1, Arizona welcomed Cincinnati (2-2) to Casino Del Sol Stadium for the first time. The Bearcats got revenge for the loss last season with a 20-7 win. It was a disaster all around, Fifita went 9-26 for 110 yards and threw two interceptions and there was no rusher that rushed for more than 10 yards.
The game was tied at seven and after a Cincinnati field goal Fifita threw a pick-six and it was all downhill from there. Arizona now had to focus on a road trip to West Virginia (3-2) where it faced off against former Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez.
In the “RichRod Bowl,” Arizona left Morgantown with a win in an absolute thriller. Fifita threw for 169 yards and Rodney Gallagher III caught his first touchdown. Despite a Michael Hawkins Jr. 58 touchdown that brought the game within three, it was a Michael Salgado-Medina 45 yard field goal that proved to be the difference for a 17-14 win.
Following a bye week, the Wildcats welcomed Iowa State (2-4) to Tucson as they tried to inch closer to bowl eligibility. However, the Cyclones were the better team that day as they handed Arizona a very disappointing 17-13 loss.
Now Arizona had to face its toughest test of the season going to Lubbock and taking on Texas Tech (7-0). The Wildcats showed a true “Bear Down” like performance and it looked like they were set up for a huge road upset win, but the Red Raiders pulled off the unthinkable with a 50 yard hail mary for a 31-27 win.
Fifita had his best game of the season going 22-29 for 277 yards and a touchdown pass to Rusk. Reescano ran for two touchdowns and seemed to have the game-winner before Texas Tech’s miracle.
Redline to finish line?
With three of the final four games of the season at home, it should provide a nice path to bowl eligibility. TCU (5-3) came to town and after building a 17-0 lead, Arizona could not come back from the deficit and took its third straight loss. In a 24-18 game, Fifita threw for 253 yards and Spivey had seven catches for 95 yards.
The Horned Frogs took care of the ball and it was also the first game without forcing any turnovers for Arizona. With an inability to handle high scoring games or close games, it looked like Arizona needed to start making games ugly. With Utah (7-2) up next, that’s exactly what the Wildcats did.
After starting the game down 5-0, Arizona took a 10-5 lead on a Craig three yard touchdown run. A 47 yard touchdown pass from Devon Dampier put the Utes on top, but a failed two point conversion only gave them a one point lead.
Salgado-Medina came through with a 44 yard game winning field goal for a major 13-11 upset win. Arizona was now one win away from bowl eligibility as it went into its final road game of the season.
In a matchup of Wildcats, another close game proved to be too much for Arizona as it fell to the hands of Kansas State (7-3). With 1:14 left in the game, Kansas State hit a go-ahead field goal for a 13-10 win.
The season came down to the most important game of every season, the Territorial Cup. ASU (6-5) was already heading to a bowl game and the Wildcats were still trying to reach bowl eligibility.
Arizona left it all out on the field and showed the redline spirit with a 17-9 rivalry win over the Sun Devils. Fifita finished the game going 11-19 for 153 and a touchdown pass to Gallagher III. Molette III and Dwight Bootle both secured interceptions to keep ASU from building any type of confidence on offense.
The Wildcats finished the season with a 6-6 overall record and a very abysmal 3-6 Big 12 record for a 12th-place finish. While getting to the 6-win minimum for bowl eligibility, Arizona did not get to eligibility in time and did not receive an invitation to a bowl game, making the ASU game the de facto bowl game.
Here are some of the final individual stats for the virtual season:
- Noah Fifita: 150-253 for 1,789 yards and five touchdowns
- Kedrick Reescano: 127 carries for 634 yards and 11 touchdowns
- Quincy Craig: 56 carries for 227 yards and five touchdowns
- Tre Spivey: 45 catches for 614 yards and one touchdown
- Cole Rusk: 36 catches for 442 yards and one touchdown
- Rodney Gallagher III: 23 catches for 292 yards and two touchdowns
- Taye Brown: 46 tackles, 39 solo tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries
- Malcolm Hartzog: 42 tackles, 37 solo tackles, and a forced fumble
- Tre Smith: 23 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks
- Michael Salgado-Medina: 16-22 on field goals, 20-20 on extra points
Other national results
Miami’s Darian Mensah went on to win the Heisman Trophy after leading the Hurricanes to a perfect regular season and an ACC championship. To no surprise, Texas Tech and BYU played in the Big 12 championship for a second consecutive season.
It was the Cougars who came out on top but both teams made it to the college football playoffs. Texas Tech handled a first round home matchup against UNLV while BYU went to Virginia and got the victory.
Both teams fell in the quarterfinals, Texas Tech to Oregon in the Rose Bowl and BYU to Miami in the Peach Bowl. Miami went on to beat LSU in the Orange Bowl for a spot in the National Championship and Oklahoma beat Oregon for the second spot.
The college football simulated season ended with the Sooners blasting the Hurricanes in the championship to end Miami’s perfect season dreams.
Arizona will hope for a better result than what the simulation showed as aspirations for a Big 12 title and a spot in the college football playoffs are in the sight lines of players, coaches, and Wildcat fans.
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