College Football

Arizona football schedule 2013: Dates, toughest opponents and more

The Wildcats took some people by surprise in 2012, but is a repeat performance in store in the desert? Let’s take a look at their schedule and see how it breaks down.

by Peter Berkes

Aug 28, 2013, 3:00 AM UTC

USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats surprised a lot of people in 2012, making it to a bowl game and competing hard the year after hitting bottom. Head coach Rich Rodriguez got the offense up and running quickly, but he'll have to adjust once again after the departure of quarterback Matt Scott to the NFL. Will the Wildcats take a step back, or can they keep the positive momentum going? Let's take a look at their schedule and see how it breaks down.

2013 Arizona schedule


	Date	Opponent	Conf.	Projected ranking
	8/30/2013	Northern Arizona	FCS
	9/7/2013	at UNLV	MWC	107
	9/14/2013	UT-San Antonio	CUSA	115
	9/21/2013	Open Date
f	9/28/2013	at Washington	PAC	48
	10/5/2013	Open Date
	10/10/2013	at USC	PAC	17
	10/19/2013	Utah	PAC	45
	10/26/2013	at Colorado	PAC	109
	11/2/2013	at California	PAC	73
	11/9/2013	UCLA	PAC	44
	11/16/2013	Washington State	PAC	110
	11/23/2013	Oregon	PAC	2
	11/30/2013	at Arizona State	PAC	36
1	12/7/2013	Pac-12 Championship (TBD)
	Date	Opponent	Conf.	Projected ranking

Projections from Football Outsiders’ 2013 college football almanac.

More: For more on the Wildcats, check out AZ Desert Swarm The Wildcats get a new look for 2013

The Wildcats should be 3-0 before entering Pac-12 conference play, which is good because things will get difficult quickly. They have road trips to Washington and to USC sandwiched around a bye week, then come home to face what could be an underrated Utah team. They shouldn’t lose all three of those games, but they won’t come out unscathed.

The good news for Arizona is that they avoid playing Stanford this year, which would almost certainly be a loss. That doesn’t mean their stretch run will be easy, though, as they have three difficult games against UCLA, Oregon, and Arizona State in the final month of the season. They get the Bruins and Ducks in Tucson, but have to go north to Tempe to face the Sun Devils for the Territorial Cup. The Wildcats have found ways to lose that game in the past several seasons, so a win against their rival would be huge from a mental standpoint.

Arizona is far from the best team in the Pac-12, but under Rodriguez, it looks like the program is trending in the right direction. They could make a run at eight wins in 2013, but simply making it to a bowl game would probably be considered a success.