The college football season approaches the home stretch this week with a number of notable matchups across the Power 4 and Group of 6 ranks. The Big 12 plays host to one of the most consequential games on the slate, as we’ll see the Utah Utes take on the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson.
Utah enters this game fresh off the high of knocking off BYU in the Holy War, while Arizona narrowly survived a stern test from TCU. Below is my preview, prediction, and pick for Saturday’s college football game between Utah and Arizona.
Utah is a 1.5-point favorite for this matchup with the total listed at 55.5 at DraftKings Sportsbook. Let’s dig into the odds and my best bet on Saturday’s matchup, and don’t miss our complete coverage of all of the Week 11 college football action at DraftKings Network.
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Utah vs. Arizona Prediction
There’s no doubt that Utah has been very impressive through its first nine games. The Utes are one of only two unbeaten teams remaining and they’ve already exceeded preseason expectations with a new head coach and offensive coordinator. However, Morgan Scalley’s team has been pretty fortunate to this point. After all, they could’ve easily lost to Colorado earlier this season and were on the right side of some red zone and turnover luck in wins over Houston, Kansas and BYU.
This week, the Utes are headed to Tucson in a pretty terrible spot after they just knocked off BYU for their first win in the Holy War since 2019. Situationally, this sets up nicely for an Arizona team that has an extra day to prepare for a matchup that it should hold a few advantages in.
Noah Fifita is as trustworthy as any quarterback in this conference and he should be able to take advantage of a blitz-heavy Utah defense that has the propensity to give up explosive plays through the air. The Utes intercepted Bear Bachmeier four times a week ago, including in the end zone with under five minutes left, and I have a hard time seeing a veteran like Fifita making those same mistakes at home.
On the other side of the ball, it’s hard not to love this Utah offense, a unit that is no stranger to generating explosive plays and putting up points. However, the Utes could be dealt a massive blow if running back Wayshawn Parker is not available to suit up alongside Devon Dampier in the backfield. Arizona’s defense is a top 30 unit in passing success rate and yards per pass allowed, so as long as the Wildcats are able to generate any sort of pressure on Dampier, they should do enough to hold up on the backend.
Utah vs Arizona Best Bet
This is one of the best situational spots of the week, and Utah certainly appears to be due for a bit of regression after a few of its recent results. We can expect a high-scoring affair and the total certainly supports that projection, but my favorite bet for this game is on the Wildcats to spring the outright upset as very short home underdogs.