Arizona Wildcats Bowl History

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Since we’ve done virtually everything else (except for give our pick for Tuesday’s AdvoCare V100 Bowl, which comes tomorrow), here’s a Sunday throwaway article.

Boston College will face the Arizona Wildcats in the Eagles’ 23rd bowl game all-time. For the opposition, it will be bowl game #18, and notably it will also be the first time these teams have ever met. Before we learn which team will be 1-0 in this series, take a look at their postseason history that has been made until this point.

(1) 1921 East-West Christmas Classic: Not a modern bowl by any stretch, but it counts (I guess). Here, the Wildcats played against Centre College, now a D-III school in Kentucky, and they got blasted by a 38-0 score in San Diego.

(2) [1948 season] 1949 Salad Bowl: Yes, there was a bowl called the “Salad Bowl.” (I’m still waiting for Olive Garden to sponsor the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl.) Anyway, this game was an improvement from the East-West game 28 years earlier, but still a 14-13 loss to Drake. Rest assured, Arizona hates the Drake.

(3) 1968 Sun Bowl: Fast forward another 20 seasons and Arizona got back to a bowl game, this time in El Paso at the Sun Bowl. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, their record in the postseason dropped to 0-3 as the Auburn Tigers blew them out, 34-10.

(4) 1979 Fiesta Bowl: Lose a bowl, then wait at least a decade was the pattern for Arizona, as they then had to wait until 1979 to get another invite. In this one, they played the Pittsburgh Panthers, and guess what? They lost, 16-10.

(5) 1985 Sun Bowl: Arizona made its second trip to West Texas in 1985, meeting the Georgia Bulldogs. The good news is that they didn’t lose, but the bad news is that they didn’t win, either. Arizona and Georgia tied, 13-13.

(6) 1986 Aloha Bowl: For the first time in program history, Arizona earned bowl invitations in consecutive years in 1986, and also for the first time, they won. It was the ACC’s North Carolina Tar Heels that they bested, 30-21.

(7) 1989 Copper Bowl: Arizona basically got a home game here as the inaugural Copper Bowl (now known as the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl) was played in their stadium in Tucson. The Wildcats couldn’t beat anyone else in their bowl history, but they could beat ACC teams from North Carolina. Arizona defeated NC State, 17-10, for back-to-back postseason wins.

(8) 1990 Aloha Bowl: The Wildcats’ short bowl win streak would come to an end as the 1990s began, with the Syracuse Orange shutting out Arizona, 28-0.

(9) 1992 Sun Bowl: 1992 saw Arizona making their third trip to El Paso, and for the third time, they did not win. The Baylor Bears took the prize, 20-15, making it consecutive bowl losses for this program.

(10) [1993 season] 1994 Fiesta Bowl: Arizona got a signature bowl win in the mid-1990s when, up the road at their rivals’ stadium in Tempe, they beat the Miami Hurricanes, 29-0, in the Fiesta Bowl. Local fan favorite Tedy Bruschi was one of the MVPs of the game for the Wildcats. This is to date the only shutout in Fiesta Bowl history.

(11) 1994 Freedom Bowl: Arizona book-ended 1994 with bowl games, winning the first but losing the second. In the last-ever Freedom Bowl, Arizona fell to their current conference rivals, the Utah Utes, in a 16-13 game.

(12) 1997 Insight.com Bowl: Boston College would go on to play in this bowl (which was previously called the Copper and would become the BWW Bowl) in 1999, but not before Arizona won this game in 1997. The Wildcats started a new win streak with a 20-14 win over the New Mexico Lobos on their home field.

(13) 1998 Holiday Bowl: Arizona won back-to-back bowls for the first time since the 1980s with a 23-20 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. This may have been the best season in program history, as they entered the game ranked in the top 5 in the AP poll and finished with 12 wins.

(14) 2008 Las Vegas Bowl: Arizona would then fall and have to wait another decade to get back to a bowl game. When they did, they drew the BYU Cougars and won, 31-21. This is the only time Arizona has won three bowls in a row.

(15) 2009 Holiday Bowl: The ’09 Holiday Bowl was nowhere near as accommodating for the Wildcats as the 1998 edition. Nebraska, the team they beat in said contest, was again the matchup, and this time, the Huskers dropped a 33-0 ass-kicking on the Wildcats. This was the third time Arizona had been shut out in a bowl.

(16) 2010 Alamo Bowl: The 2010 Wildcats would probably like to forget the Alamo, as they faced the Oklahoma State Cowboys in San Antonio and lost, 36-10. Arizona was never really in this one, trailing 23-7 at the half.

(17) 2012 New Mexico Bowl: One of Arizona’s most memorable bowl wins was their most recent from last season. Arizona trailed the Nevada Wolf Pack, 48-35, with 1:48 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats scored two touchdowns in a minute and a half to shock Nevada in an improbable 49-48 win. This game featured a mind-boggling 1,237 yards of combined offense.

(18) 2013 AdvoCare V100 Bowl: [Go Eagles]