Valero Alamo Bowl – Arizona Wildcats (9-3) at Oklahoma Sooners (10-2)

December 27, 2023

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ARIZONA WILDCATS NOTES:

ARIZONA NOTES & NUMBERS

» The #14 Arizona Wildcats will face #12 Oklahoma Sooners in the 31st annual Valero Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28 at 7:15 p.m. MST in the Alamodome and will broadcast live on ESPN. » Tom Hart (PxP), Jordan Rogers (Analyst) and Cole Cubelic (Sideline) are the ESPN broadcast team. » The 2023 Valero Alamo Bowl is the first matchup against Oklahoma in a bowl game and the third contest overall (1-1) between these two teams. The last time the Wildcats took on the Sooners was in 1989 when Arizona used a game-winning 40-yard field goal by kicker Doug Pfaff to come away victorious 6-3. » The Wildcats finished 9-3 overall and 7-2 in the Pac-12 for third in the conference behind Washington (13-0, 9-0) and Oregon (11-2, 8-1). The program’s eight-win improvement from its 1-11 campaign in 2021 is the largest two-year improvement in program history. » Arizona won six straight games to end the regular season, becoming the longest winning streak since 1998. The nine wins are the most since going 10-4 in 2014, marking the seventh time in program history that Arizona has won nine-plus games in a season. » The Wildcats last appeared in a bowl game when they participated in the Foster Farms Bowl against Purdue on Dec. 27, 2017. Arizona’s last win in a bowl game came on Dec. 19, 2015, against New Mexico (W, 45-37) in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. » Noah Fifita threw for a school-record 527 yards and five touchdowns, Michael Wiley scored three times and No. 16 Arizona put an emphatic end to the Pac-12 era of the Territorial Cup rivalry with a 59-23 rout over Arizona State. » It marks the second appearance in the Valero Alamo Bowl in program history. First (Dec. 29, 2010 vs. Oklahoma State).

ABOUT LAST GAME:

Noah Fifita threw for a school-record 527 yards and five touchdowns, Michael Wiley scored three times and No. 16 Arizona put an emphatic end to the Pac-12 era of the Territorial Cup rivalry with a 59-23 rout over Arizona State on Saturday. The Wildcats (9-3, 7-2 Pac-12, No. 15 CFP) were humiliated 70-7 by Arizona State two years ago, the wound salted by a mocking billboard erected by Sun Devils’ fans along Interstate 10 between Tempe and Tucson. Arizona fans may want to put up a billboard of their own after the embarrassment shifted north in the final game before the rivals head to the Big 12 next year. The Wildcats took no pity on the injury-riddled Sun Devils (3-9, 2-7), racking up 619 yards of offense. Tetairoa McMillan had a Territorial Cup-record 266 yards and a touchdown on 11 catches. Jacob Cowing had nine catches for 157 yards. Fifita finished 30 of 41 to break Anu Solomon’s school record of 520 yards passing against California in 2014. Arizona also intercepted Jaden Rashada twice – both set up touchdowns – to complete its first six-game winning streak since 1998. Rashada threw for 82 yards and a touchdown on 10-of-22 passing in his first game since Sept. 9 – nowhere close to good enough the way the Wildcats were rolling. Arizona got some relief last season, ending Arizona State’s five-game Territorial Cup winning streak with a three-point home win. The Wildcats wanted even more in their return to Tempe and got it, hitting chunk plays in the passing game to set up short touchdowns while racing off to a 38-7 halftime lead. Tanner McLachlan scored on a 3-yard, side-armed pass from Fifita. Jonah Coleman burst up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown. Wiley scored on runs of 22 and 1 yards. All four touchdowns were set up by passing plays of 15 or more yards to McMillan or Cowing. Fifita had the most passing yards by an Arizona quarterback in Territorial Cup history by halftime, hitting the 357-yard mark on a 22-yard TD pass to Wiley.

THE VALERO ALAMO BOWL:

No. 14 Arizona (9-3, 7-2 Pac-12) faces No. 12 Oklahoma (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) in the Valero Alamo Bowl. The Wildcats have faced the Sooners twice in their series history with each team claiming a win. This is the first Bowl Game matchup between Arizona and Oklahoma. It marks the second trip to the Alamo Bowl in program history for the Wildcats. The first was on Dec. 29, 2010, when Arizona fell to Oklahoma State 36-10 in San Antonio. Arizona last faced Oklahoma in 1989 when the Wildcats came away with a 6-3 win in Tucson on Dec. 16. Kicker Doug Pfaff made a 40-yard game-winning field goal. Arizona has a 9-11-1 record all-time in bowl games dating back to 1921. Arizona’s last bowl was the Foster Farms Bowl against Purdue (L, 38-35) on Dec. 27, 2017, in Santa Clara, Calif. The Foster Farms Bowl capped a 7-6 season that included four straight wins from Oct. 7-28. QB Khalil Tate threw for 302 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for 58 yards. Tony Ellison caught four passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns, Shawn Poindexter finished with five receptions for 71 yards and one touchdown, and Shun Brown caught four passes for 62 yards and one touchdown.

SIX PACK:

The Wildcats have won six in a row for the first time since the 1998 season when they finished the season with seven straight wins over Oregon State (28-7), Louisiana-Monroe (45-7), Oregon (38-3), Washington State (41-7), California (27-23), Arizona State (50-42), and Nebraska (23-20 in the Holiday Bowl).

EXPLOSIVE OFFENSE:

Over the past two seasons, Arizona has had one of the most explosive offenses in college football, finishing tied for 14th in the regular season with 72 plays of 20-plus yards in 2023 and finishing 9th in college football with 84 plays of 20-plus yards in 2022. Prior to the last two seasons, the Wildcats were 71st (2021; 57 plays of 20-plus yards), 116th (2020; 20 plays of 20-plus yards), and 47th (2019; 64 plays of 20-plus yards) from 2021 to 2019. Arizona’s 72 plays of 20-plus yards this season are one play behind Valero Alamo Bowl opponent Oklahoma (12th, 73 plays).

VS. RANKED OPPONENTS IN PAC-12:

Arizona played six straight games against AP Top-25 opponents going 4-2 during that span with losses to No. 7 Washington (31-24) and No. 9 USC (43-41), and wins against No. 19 Washington State (44-6), No. 11 Oregon State (27-24), No. 19 UCLA (27-10), and No. 16 Utah (42-18). It marks the first time in program history that the Wildcats have beaten three straight ranked opponents in a single season. In 2014, the Wildcats won three of four matchups with top 25 opponents, defeating No. 2 Oregon (32-24) on Oct. 2, dropping a 17-7 contest to No. 25 UCLA on Nov.1, and then beating No. 20 Utah 42-10 on Nov. 22, and No. 13 Arizona State 42-35 on Nov. 28.

OKLAHOMA SOONERS NOTES:

OPENING KICK

• No. 12/12/12 Oklahoma (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) takes on No. 14/14/14 Arizona (9-3, 7-2 Pac-12) in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 28, at 8:20 p.m. CT at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. OU will be the designated home team. The game will be televised by ESPN with Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers and Cole Cubelic announcing. • This marks Oklahoma’s 57th bowl appearance, fourth most nationally. Thirty-nine of those 57 have come in bowls that comprise the current New Year’s Six (Orange [20], Sugar [8], Fiesta [5], Cotton [3], Rose [2] and Peach [1]). The 39 does not include OU’s BCS Championship Game appearance against Florida on Jan. 9, 2009. • OU is making its 25th consecutive bowl appearance, by far the longest streak in school history (the previous record was eight from the 1975-82 seasons under Barry Switzer). Beginning in Bob Stoops’ 1999 debut season as head coach, it is the second-longest active streak in the nation (Georgia; 27) and the longest ever by a current Big 12 program. • The Sooners own a 31-24-1 (.573) bowl record. Their 31 bowl wins are tied for the fourth most nationally. • An Alamo Bowl win would result in Oklahoma’s 11th victory of the season. The Sooners entered the year ranked first nationally with 27 all-time campaigns of at least 11 wins (one ahead of Alabama, which is 12-1 this season). OU’s 42 seasons of at least 10 wins are one behind Alabama for the all-time lead. The Sooners’ 19 campaigns of 10 or more victories since the start of the 2000 season are tied with Ohio State for the most in the country. • Entering bowl season, Oklahoma is the only team in the country to score 59-plus points in at least four games this season (73 vs. Arkansas State, 66 at Tulsa, 59 vs. West Virginia and 69 vs. TCU). It is also the only team to score at least 50 points in five games (the Sooners also scored 50 vs. Iowa State). • The Alamo Bowl will mark OU’s last football contest as a member of the Big 12 Conference, as the Sooners will move to the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024. • Oklahoma owns a 68-32-3 (.676) record against programs that are current members of the Pac-12 Conference. That includes a 4-3 bowl game record. • The 2023 season marks the 129th in OU football history. The Sooners lead the country with their 50 all-time conference championships, 33 AP top-five finishes, 27 11-plus-win seasons (tied), seven Heisman Trophy winners (tied) and five No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks (tied). They rank third with their seven AP national championships, their 101 weeks as the AP’s No. 1 team and 431 weeks in the AP’s top five, and fourth with their 57 bowl appearances and 414 NFL Draft picks.

KEY STORYLINES

• Oklahoma and Arizona have split their two-game all-time series. Under head coach Barry Switzer, No. 4 OU posted a 28-10 win on Sept. 17, 1988, in Norman. The following year, under head coach Gary Gibbs, the No. 6 Sooners lost a 6-3 contest on Sept. 16 in Tucson. Coached by Dick Tomey, the Wildcats were unranked in both games. (More information on these two games is on page 5 of these notes). • Oklahoma has scored at least 28 points in each of its last seven bowl games and at least 32 points in six of those seven. Over their last three bowls (two wins), the Sooners are averaging 44.7 points and 581.3 yards per outing. They are also averaging 8.0 yards per play, 340.0 rushing yards per game and 7.1 yards per carry in the three. • OU will be playing without unanimous first-team All-Big 12 quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Entering bowl season, the redshirt senior ranked in the top 10 nationally in a bevy of categories, including third in points responsible for per game (21.0), fourth in total offense (336.1 ypg), fifth in passing offense (305.0 ypg), sixth in pass efficiency rating (172.0) and yards per pass attempt (9.5), seventh in passing TDs (30) and 10th in completion percentage (.693). He leads the Big 12 in all of those categories except yards per pass attempt and completion percentage (ranks second in both). Gabriel also ranks fourth in FBS history in career touchdowns accounted for (152), seventh in career passing yards (14,865) and eighth in career passing TDs (125). • Freshman signal-caller Jackson Arnold is slated to make his first career start in the Alamo Bowl. The 2022 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, Arnold enrolled at OU last January and won the backup job. In his six games, he has completed 18 of 24 passes (75.0%) for 202 yards and two touchdowns, and run 20 times for 78 yards and one TD. He was 11 for 11 for 114 yards and a touchdown in his debut against Arkansas State in the season opener and threw a 50- yard bomb to Nic Anderson for a TD at Tulsa in week three before playing the entire second half two games ago at BYU and helping OU to a 31-24 win (the game was tied at 17 at halftime). • Sixth-year receiver Drake Stoops is tied for the Big 12 lead with 10 touchdown receptions while redshirt freshman Anderson has nine (matches the OU freshman record set by Marvin Mims Jr. in 2020). • The Alamo Bowl will mark the last game in the college career of Stoops, who earned first-team All-Big 12 honors this season. His 78 receptions on the year are twice as many as his previous career high of 39 last season, and his 880 receiving yards in 2023 are more than double his previous career high of 393 in 2022. He has played the best football of his career down the stretch, with 38 catches for 486 yards and five touchdowns over the last four games. He caught a TD pass in OU’s 2021 Alamo Bowl win over Oregon when his dad, Bob Stoops, served as the Sooners’ interim head coach. • Anderson, a freshman All-American by The Athletic, leads the nation with his 23.4 yards per reception. His nine touchdowns have come on 31 catches, giving him a 29% TD reception rate, good for No. 2 nationally and No. 1 among Power Five players this season (min. 8 TD catches). He has registered five games of at least 90 receiving yards, including three of the last four contests. • The Sooners’ four highest yards-per-rush averages this season have come in the last five games (4.9 yards at Kansas, 5.5 at Oklahoma State, 5.3 vs. West Virginia and 5.0 vs. TCU). OU has rushed for 16 touchdowns over those five contests. Redshirt freshman running back Gavin Sawchuk, who has started the last six outings, has rushed for over 100 yards each of the last four outings (111 at Oklahoma State, career-high 135 vs. West Virginia, 107 at BYU and 130 vs. TCU; average of 120.8) and averaged 6.8 yards per carry in November to rank third in the Big 12. Arizona ranks fifth in the Pac-12 by permitting just 111.3 rushing yards per game and only 3.4 yards per rush. • Oklahoma ranks second nationally (first in Power Five) with its 19 interceptions (Liberty has 21), its most through the first 12 games of a season since 2003 (20). Ten Sooners have registered at least one interception this season, tied for the Power Five lead. The last time more than 10 OU players notched at least one pick in a season was 1986 (11 players). Four Sooners have two or more interceptions this year (Billy Bowman six [one shy of national lead], Gentry Williams three and Kendel Dolby and Key Lawrence two each). Arizona’s 10 interceptions thrown are tied for seventh most in the Pac-12. UA redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita has only thrown five interceptions in his 11 games. • After ranking 49th nationally last year in third-down conversion percentage (.405) and 87th in third-down conversion percentage defense (.409), OU ranks in the top 15 in both categories in 2023. The Sooners have converted 49.4% (780-162) of their third downs to rank 10th out of 130 teams. And OU ranks 14th by allowing foes to convert just 30.4% (55-180) of their third-down tries. Arizona ranks seventh nationally in third-down conversion percentage (.497) and 87th in third-down conversion percentage defense (.410).

SEVERAL SOONERS TO MISS ALAMO BOWL

• As of Dec. 11, the following Sooners who saw extensive action this season are not expected to play in the Alamo Bowl: • Offensive lineman Savion Byrd — Played in nine games this season and made four starts at left guard. • Quarterback Dillon Gabriel — A unanimous first-team All-Big 12 pick who leads the conference in points responsible for per game (21.0), total offense (336.1 ypg), passing offense (305.0 ypg), pass efficiency rating (172.0), passing TDs (30) and completion percentage (.693). u Offensive lineman Tyler Guyton — Started nine of his 10 games this season at right tackle. • Defensive back Key Lawrence — Started six of 12 games at free safety and registered 44 tackles (fifth most on team), 4.0 tackles for loss, two interceptions, three pass breakups and a forced fumble. • Offensive lineman Andrew Raym — Started all 12 games at center this season and 29 games during his career. He was a 2023 second-team All-Big 12 selection.

SOME KEY OU TAKEAWAYS

• Oklahoma enters bowl season ranked second in the country with its 2.1 takeaways per game (25 total; Bowling Green has 27) and fifth with its +0.9 turnover margin per contest. • In its 10 wins, Oklahoma is outscoring opponents 98-17 off turnovers. The Sooners have 21 takeaways in those contests and just eight giveaways. In its two losses (by a total of eight points), OU has been outscored 23-13 off turnovers (six giveaways and four takeaways). On the year, it is outscoring its foes 111-40 off turnovers. The 111 points are second most nationally (one behind Michigan, which has played in one more game) and the +71-point differential ranks as third best in the country.

PRAISING ARIZONA

• Arizona is under the direction of third-year head coach Jedd Fisch and is making its first bowl appearance since 2017. At 9-3, the Wildcats’ only losses were at Mississippi State (31-24 in overtime), vs. undefeated and CFP No. 2 team Washington (31-24) and at then-No. 9 USC (43-41 in triple overtime). After starting 3-3, they have won their last six games (their longest winning streak since 1998) and are averaging 39 points in those victories. • UA sports a balanced attack, ranking 18th nationally in total offense (453 ypg) and 25th in scoring offense (34 ppg), and 36th in total defense (341 ypg) and 26th in scoring defense (21 ppg). It also ranks seventh nationally in third-down conversion percentage (.497), 11th in red zone defense (.745), 12th in passing offense (304.5 ypg) and 13th in red zone offense (.926). • Redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita was named Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year after passing for 23 touchdowns against just five interceptions in his 11 games. He ranks fourth nationally in completion percentage (.736) and eighth in passing efficiency rating (167.5). • Wide receivers Jacob Cowing (11) and Tetairoa McMillan (10) have combined for 21 receiving touchdowns. Cowing has 696 receiving yards while McMillan, a second-team All-Pac 12 pick, has 1,242. • Running back Jonah Coleman has rushed for 851 yards and five touchdowns. The 5-9, 225-pounder averages 6.9 yards per carry to rank eighth in the country. • The Wildcats are led on defense by linebacker Jacob Manu, a first-team All-Pac-12 selection who leads the league with his 108 tackles. u Placekicker Tyler Loop is a second-team all-league honoree. He is 16 for 21 on field goals and has made all 50 extra-point attempts

MORE OU-ARIZONA SERIES HISTORY

2-0 IN SAN ANTONIO

• Besides the 2021 Alamo Bowl, Oklahoma’s only game in San Antonio was a 38-17 win over No. 1 Missouri in the 2007 Big 12 Championship game that gave the Sooners their fifth of 14 Big 12 titles. • The game was tied 14-14 at halftime, but the Sooners outscored the Tigers 14-0 in the third quarter and 10-3 in the fourth in qualifying for the Fiesta Bowl. • Playing under head coach Bob Stoops, ninth-ranked OU was led on offense in the Alamodome that night by redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Bradford, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Running backs Allen Patrick (13 carries for 88 yards and a TD) and Chris Brown (23 carries for 71 yards and two TDs) led OU’s ground attack, while receiver Malcolm Kelly caught four passes for a team-high 72 yards. One of Bradford’s touchdown passes went to current OU cooffensive coordinator and tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley, a senior tight end who finished with a team-high five catches for 34 yards. • Linebacker Curtis Lofton, currently a member of OU’s support staff, led Brent Venables’ defense with nine tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, a sack and an interception that he returned 26 yards.

Valero Alamo Bowl – Arizona Wildcats (9-3) at Oklahoma Sooners (10-2)

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