No 15 BYU vs Arizona Score Prediction and Big 12 Stakes

Conference football is back for the BYU football program. On Saturday, no. 15 BYU will host the Arizona Wildcats in a pivotal conference matchup. In this article, we will break down the stakes and cement our score prediction for BYU-Arizona.

What is at Stake?

The stakes for this game are about as high as it gets for a week two matchup. The winner of this game will be positioned to compete for a spot in the Big 12 championship game. The loser will not be eliminated from Big 12 title contention, but will face an uphill battle to make it to Arlington.

Going into this game, FPI projects BYU to go 6.6-2.4 in conference play. For the purposes of this article, let's assume that BYU would need eight or more conference wins to get Back to Arlington. A win in this game would increase BYU's chances to win eight or more conference games to 31%.

A loss would decrease BYU's projected conference record to 5.8-3.2 and BYU's chances to finish 8-1 in conference play would drop to 7%.

This game could have tiebreaker implications later on as well. Arizona plays a tough schedule. The Wildcats will face both Texas Tech and Utah later this season. In a scenario where Texas Tech and/or Utah are tied with BYU in the standings, the Arizona game could be the deciding criteria since Arizona is a common opponent.

Score Prediction

Arizona is a good team with a good veteran quarterback. They are certainly capable of coming into Provo and pulling off the upset. The Wildcats have had this game circled since the end of the 2025 season, so expect the Wildcats to come out with some wrinkles on both sides of the ball.

Ultimately, we believe BYU's experience, physicality, and home-field advantage to be the difference in this game. Last year, BYU beat the Wildcats with a freshman quarterback. Bear Bachmeier is a much different quarterback now than he was when BYU played in Tucson last year, and we expect fewer mistakes from the BYU signal-caller.

Noah Fifita will do everything in his power to keep this game close, and he will make some high-level throws to make this game competitive. We expect the Cougars to pull away in the second half and end the game in victory formation.

BYU 31 | Arizona 20

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