Arizona football opens as five-touchdown favorite vs. Northern Illinois

Arizona football opens as five-touchdown favorite vs. Northern Illinois

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Arizona football opens as five-touchdown favorite vs. Northern Illinois
PROVO, UTAH – SEPTEMBER 12: (L-R) Shane King #8 of the Arizona Wildcats celebrates scoring a touchdown with teammate Tyler Powell #87 during the first half of their game against the Brigham Young Cougars at LaVell Edwards Stadium on September 12, 2026 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/ Getty Images) | Getty Images

Arizona football hasn’t covered the spread in its first two games of the season, but that didn’t stop oddsmakers from setting a large spread for the Wildcats’ game against Northern Illinois.

Arizona has opened as a 35.5-point favorite over NIU, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The over/under is 50.5 points. The game kicks off Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MST and will be televised on TNT Sports on HBO Max.

Arizona faces a Huskies team that is coming off a 28-24 home loss to FCS foe Illinois State. In Week 1 NIU was shut out at Iowa 40-0.

As five-touchdown (plus a half point) favorites, Arizona’s offense will need to be clicking throughout the night in order to cover. In the season opener vs. NAU, Arizona scored 35 points, which would have been enough to cover the 32.5-point spread had backup quarterback Sawyer Anderson not thrown a pick six.

Arizona has failed to cover the spread in its last three games going back to last season’s Holiday Bowl.

Meanwhile, NIU is 0-2 against the spread this season. The Huskies were favored by 3.5 points against Illinois State in what turned out to be the first loss of the year by an FBS program to a team from the FCS.

Northern Illinois outlook

It’s still very early in the year, but one could make the case that Northern Illinois — now a member of the Mountain West — is one of if not the worst FBS program in the country.

NIU put together just 120 total yards of offense in its season opening loss to Iowa, including just seven yards on the ground. Iowa jumped out to a 20-0 first quarter lead and stomped on NIU for the remainder of the game.

NIU’s offense had more luck against Illinois State. However, quarterback Taron Dickens threw a costly interception late in the fourth quarter that cost NIU a chance to win the game.

Through two games, Dickens is averaging 145 yards passing with one touchdown and two interceptions. He’s been sacked six times.

Safe to say, this is a NIU team that is far removed from Notre Dame in South Bend two seasons ago.

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