Three high school teammates have played a major role in the ascent

Only four schools are currently represented in both the College Football Playoff and Associated Press men’s basketball rankings. Three of them have huge stadiums and huge budgets. Arizona is the other.

These are exciting times for the Wildcats, who were recently embroiled in a basketball recruiting scandal and relegated to the Pac-12 football cellar.

They’re now in exclusive company with Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas.

The on-court success comes as a surprise — we did not expect the win at Duke — but is well within the program’s regular-season proficiency under third-year coach Tommy Lloyd.

But the on-field performance was a complete surprise, coming just three years after a 70-7 loss to Arizona State that ended Kevin Sumlin’s tenure and was possibly the lowest point in program history.

Jedd Fisch was hired weeks later to carry out a salvage operation in college football’s Mariana Trench. Even with the transfer portal hastily rebuilding jobs across the sport, his reclamation project is far ahead of schedule.

The Wildcats (8-3) were picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 preseason media poll, but they are now alone in third place after winning five straight games and challenging for the conference title. The Wildcats will advance to the Pac-12 championship game if they win at Arizona State and Oregon loses at Oregon State.

If Fisch does not win Pac-12 Coach of the Year, it is only because Washington’s Kalen DeBoer will have led the conference to its first undefeated regular season since its inception.

Arizona’s rise is supported by several factors:

— Johnny Nansen, the defensive coordinator, has done an excellent job.

Last season, the Wildcats allowed 6.6 yards per play, ranking 126th out of 131 teams; this season, opponents are gaining only 5.3 yards per play, ranking 48th.

Nonetheless, Nansen was not one of the 15 semifinalists for the Broyles Award, which is given to the nation’s best assistant coach or coordinator.

— The Wildcats are vastly superior on the line of scrimmage.

What appeared to be a glorified high school program in the trenches is now populated by bigger bodies competing at the all-conference level.

How much bigger is it? The eight offensive and defensive linemen expected to start against ASU on Saturday weigh 13 pounds more on average than the eight who started against the Sun Devils at the end of the 2020 season.

— The timing has been fortunate.

The majority of the Wildcats’ toughest conference games have been played at Arizona Stadium (Washington, UCLA, Oregon State, and Utah).

USC is on the road, as are the four teams at the bottom of the conference standings: ASU, Colorado, Stanford, and Washington State, who have a combined league record of 7-26.

The Wildcats are 3-0 so far, with Tempe on the horizon.

— The Servite Sons.

While Arizona fans are well aware of this aspect of Fisch’s rebuild, it has gone unnoticed by the rest of the conference. Quarterback Noah Fifita, receiver Tetairoa McMillan, and linebacker Jacob Manu all attended Servite High School in Anaheim and signed with the Wildcats for the 2021-22 season.

All three were critical to the turnaround.

Fifita is 5-2 since taking over for injured starter Jayden de Laura; McMillian has nine touchdowns and averages 14 yards per catch; and Manu leads the conference with 99 tackles.(Keyan Burnett, a tight end for Servite, has three catches this season.)

In fact, the Servite products have arguably had a greater impact on Arizona than any of their high school classmates have had on any team in recent conference history.

What is the level of competition?

Two decades ago, the arrival of the so-called “Poly Four” — four teammates from famed Long Beach Poly: offensive tackle Winston Justice, tailback Herschel Dennis, defensive tackle Manuel Wright, and safety Darnell Bing — benefited USC.

In 2016, the ‘Hallandale Trio,’ from Florida’s Hallandale High School, aided Utah’s rise in the Pac-12 South: tailback Zack Moss, quarterback Tyler Huntley, and receiver Demari Simpkins.

But when those groups of high school teammates arrived, USC and Utah were already on solid ground. When the Servite products arrived on campus, Arizona was stuck in the mud.

The Wildcats would not have a chance at the conference championship without Fifita’s poise, McMillan’s playmaking, and Manu’s production.

They would not be comfortably ranked in the playoffs.

They would not be the conference’s top upside surprise this season.

Combine Nansen’s defense with stout lines of scrimmage, a favorable schedule, Fisch’s astute management, and the Sons of Servite, and Arizona finally has a football team worthy of standing in the rarefied air of national rankings alongside its basketball program.

The rise from 70-7 to Oregon’s heels has been swift, stunning, and riveting.