One of ther interesting success stories of the 2023 college football season was the Arizona Wildcats, who started the season looking very much like also-rans and finished it in a blaze of glory.

Head coach Jedd Fisch had to deal with an injury to his starting quarterback , Jayden De Laura, which led to a stroke of luck in the form of freshman Noah Fafita, who has streered this program close to the nation's top ten. The Wildcats have scored six straight wins coming into Thursday night's Alamo Bowl, where they'll face a determined Oklahoma Sooners team at 9:15 PM ET at - of course - the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Oklahoma has made a comeback from real disappointment that it suffered last year after the departure of Lincoln Riley to USC. Brent Venables, in his second season, guided the Sooners to ten wins, including a victory over Texas (a college football playoff participant) in the Red River Rivalry.

By the way, Arizona will be headed to the Big 12 after this game, while Oklahoma departs the Big 12 for the SEC. And the times they are a-changin'.

In the NCAA football betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetOnline, the Wildcats are the favorites:

Arizona Wildcats -2.5 (-105)
Oklahoma Sooners +2.5 (-115)

Over 59.5 Points -110
Under 59.5 Points -110

Fafita came into the lineup when De Laura went down and fashioned an outstanding ratio of 23 touchdowns to just five interceptions and averaging eight and a half yards per attempt. Jonah Coleman provides his rushing element, but the 'Cats are going to be somewhat handicapped by the absence of left tackle Jordan Morgan, who isn't just another offensive lineman. Morgan, a left tackle, is a possible first-round pick in the draft and is sitting this game out so that he can concentrate on his prep work.

Offensive line coach Brennan Caroll says that the team is going to try various guys at the left tackle spot, which means that no one really stood out in the practices that led up to this game.

Oklahoma has to replace its quarterback. Dillon Gabriel, who was at Central Florida previously, went into the transfer portal and wound up getting signed with Oregon. So Venable, who is welcoming former North Texas head coach Sean Littrell as offensive coordinator, simply goes with the guy who was going to be the successor, and that is Jackson Arnold. He was the best prospect in the state of Texas when he was signed by the Sooners, and there are some keen Big 12 observers who believe that, talent-wise, he is an upgrade over Gabriel. And of course, we are mindful of what Miller Moss did for USC in last night's Holiday Bowl (six TD passes).

Down the stretch, Arizona took the measure of Washington State, UCLA, Oregon State and Utah, all of which were nationally ranked at the time. But also remember that Oklahoma not only beat Texas, they won handily against SMU and West Virginia, who looked pretty good in bowl season. We're okay with grabbing the points here, as we see what Arnold can do.

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