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ARIZONA WILDCATS FOOTBALL

Arizona Wildcats bowl eligible for 1st time under Brent Brennan after coming back vs. Kansas

Arizona football is headed to a bowl for the first time since 2023 after pulling out a comeback win against Kansas on Saturday.

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Arizona football is headed to a bowl for the first time since 2023 after pulling out a 24-20 comeback win against Kansas on Saturday.

Running back Quincy Craig scored a clutch 24-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left after Arizona carved up Kansas with its run game on a two-minute drill, including an earlier 18-yard pickup from Craig on third-and-short and 20 yards on two QB keepers by Noah Fifita.

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“That was definitely one of my favorite touchdowns I’ve experienced,” Craig told reporters postgame. “It was definitely a comeback win and a full-team win.”

Arizona (6-3, 3-3 Big 12) got a key stop against Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels on a third-and-long rush, and Kansas (5-5, 3-4) missed the ensuing field goal wide right to keep it a three-point game with 2:39 left.

“That (missed) field goal late in the game? … That crowd mattered in that moment. That crowd impacted that moment,” Brennan told reporters postgame. “That’s what we’re talking about [with] building a real, just challenging, hard home-field advantage at Arizona Stadium.”

The Wildcats were down by as much 17-7 late in the first half, but key scoring drives to end the half and begin the third quarter opened a window.

The win gets Arizona to its first bowl game under head coach Brent Brennan in his second season. It’s just the second bowl-eligible season since Rich Rodriguez, now the head coach at West Virginia, left the program after the 2017 season.

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“This is a stepping stone, like ‘yay, we got six (wins),'” Brennan said. “That’s not good enough for me. That’s not good enough for these kids, right? We want to keep playing good football. How can we continue to find ways to elevate Arizona football? That’s what we’re doing.”

Craig finished with 47 yards and the lone touchdown on three rushes, most importantly on the go-ahead drive.

Fifita was 16 of 31 for 158 yards and two passing touchdowns and no interceptions. He added 71 yards on eight rushes (excluding 46 yards lost on five sacks).

The Wildcats play at Cincinnati (7-2, 5-1) on Nov. 15 before finishing the regular season at home against Baylor (Nov. 22) and at Arizona State (Nov. 28).

Damon Allred ASU reporter, ArizonaSports.com editor

Damon Allred is the Arizona State reporter for Arizona Sports and is a web editor for arizonasports.com and KTAR.com. Born and raised in the Valley, Damon has lived in the metro Phoenix area for most of his life. He began covering ASU in fall 2024… Read more

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