Conference Pacific-10 Conference Head coach Mike Stoops Defensive coordinator Mark Stoops | 2009 record 8–5 (6–3 Pac-10) Offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes | |
Home stadium Arizona Stadium
(Capacity: 57,400) | ||
The 2009 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. The Wildcats, led by sixth-year head coach Mike Stoops, played their home games at Arizona Stadium.
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Arizona hosted Central Michigan of the Mid-American Conference to begin the season on September 5, 2009 (with a 19–6 win), and ended the regular season with a 21–17 win over perennial conference power, then-ranked #20 Southern California on December 5, 2009; this was the first victory over USC by the Wildcats in the Mike Stoops era.
In addition to the slate of nine conference games, four at home and five on the road, the Wildcats traveled to Iowa City, Iowa and lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten (who eventually finished with a #10 AP Poll ranking and an invitation to the Orange Bowl), and hosted in-state sister school Northern Arizona of the Big Sky Conference the preceding week.
After posting an 8–4 regular season record (6–3 in the Pac-10, good for a second-place tie in the conference with Oregon State and Stanford), the Wildcats were invited to appear in the 2009 Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, the second consecutive postseason bowl game for the Arizona football program under Stoops. The Wildcats were shut out 33–0 by Nebraska.
The Wildcats finished the regular season with an Associated Press poll ranking of #22, their first national ranking since the 2000 season.
Schedule
Schedule Source: 2009 Arizona Wildcats football schedule and Arizona Official Athletic Site.Awards and honors
All-Pacific-10 Conference Team: