Arizona to debut red ‘Cats’ helmets in ranked battle at Kansas State

You would be correct if you picked the Wildcats to win Friday night. You would be correct if you think a ranked team wins, too.

But there is only one team of ‘Cats between No. 20 Arizona and No. 14 Kansas State if we’re going by the letters that appear on the two feline-oriented teams’ helmets.

Arizona will debut its “Cats” helmets on Friday in Manhattan, Kansas.

New combo unlocked 🔓

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— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 9, 2024

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Tucson’s Wildcats are donning the candy paint red tops with a white cursive mascot script on each side. There are blue outlines to the white letters, while white facemasks complement the helmets.

It’s the first red helmet worn by the school’s football team since a game against UCLA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.

It’s also the first game without any representation of the university’s staple “Block A” since the mid-1970s, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

On Friday, Arizona will match the helmets with a white jersey and red pants for the road test against a fellow Big 12 squad. The game won’t count as a conference matchup in the record books because it was previously scheduled before UA’s move to the Big 12.

Arizona revealed the plans for a new helmet design with the shortened nickname this summer, initially teasing a white helmet complete with red script. There was red, white and blue striping down the middle of those helmets and red facemasks.

The red and white are inverted for the Friday matchup, and there is no striping down the middle.