Arizona opens as small underdog against BYU

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Arizona made it past NAU without any trouble in the Wildcats’ season opener. Now comes the first real test, one that oddsmakers aren’t so confident Arizona will pass.

Arizona has opened as a 7.5-point underdog at BYU, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The over/under is 51.5 points. The game kicks off at 12:30 p.m. MST in Provo and will be televised on Fox.

Arizona enters the matching having failed to cover the spread in its 35-7 win over NAU, a game that the UA was favored to win by 32.5 points. Arizona turned to backup quarterback Sawyer Anderson late in the game. Anderson threw a pick-six in the fourth quarter that ultimately decided the spread in favor of the Lumberjacks.

BYU on the other hand walloped Utah Tech 63-7, covering a 48.5-point spread.

Arizona and BYU are playing in an early-season Big 12 game that will count in the conference standings. The last time the two teams played was October 11, 2025 in Tucson, a game the Cougars won in double overtime. Arizona was favored that game by 2.5 points.

BYU outlook

BYU looked dominant in all areas in its season opening win over Utah Tech of the Big Sky. The margin of victory shouldn’t be much to read into, however, as Utah Tech lost in Week 0 by a score of 54-0 to Montana State.

Cougars quarterback Bear Bachmeier threw 198 yards including three touchdowns. Freshman receiver Legend Glasker caught two of the touchdowns. Bachmeier also ran for a touchdown.

Four other Cougars had rushing touchdowns. Freshman Devaughn Eka led the team with 59 yards on the ground, followed by LJ Martin’s 54 yards.

BYU had a field day on defense, forcing four turnovers including three interceptions. One of the interceptions belonged to defensive back Evan Johnson, a Preseason All-Big 12 selection.

On special teams, Cannon DeVries scored a touchdown on a 100-yard kick return. DeVries also had two punt returns totaling 73 yards. The sophomore played minimally for the Cougars a year ago.

On a day when just about everything went the Cougars’ way, BYU did suffer a potentially big loss to its secondary when senior safety Raider Damuni went down with a left knee injury. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said after the game that the team was “just praying for a miracle” that Damuni’s injury wasn’t worse than it appeared.

Damuni started six games for the Cougars last season, recording 43 tackles.

BYU also held out senior linebacker Isaiah Glasker. Last season Glasker had five tackles and an interception against Arizona.

Sataki told reports after the game that the coach staff hold Glasker out as a precaution. Glasker has “always done great for us against Arizona, and so, we felt as a coaching staff we didn’t need him, and, and I think he really, really wanted to play as a team captain…he was going to go, and then we just, me and K-Pop made a decision not to play him,” Sataki said, per SI.

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