Zona in on Wildcats to score home ’dog win
Devils lose Hughes to crash then lose game in St. Louis
Why is nobody paying attention to Arizona?!
The Wildcats are 5-3, but all three losses have come by one possession, two came to top-10 teams, and two came in overtime. Arizona is coming off back-toback road victories against ranked opponents.
All the Wildcats do is get up and cover the number week in and week out. They’re 6-1 ATS, including 5-0 ATS as an underdog.
When catching points this season, Arizona is covering the number by 17 points per game.
Why isn’t anybody talking about Arizona!?
The Wildcats are wellbalanced on offense and surprisingly tough on defense, especially against the run.
Pro Football Focus grades the offensive line as the country’s best pass-blocking unit, the Jacob CowingTetairoa McMillan wide receiver duo has been explosive, and the ground attack ranks third nationally in Rush Success Rate.
Behind all that support, redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita has completed 75 percent of his passes for 1,200 yards, 11 touchdowns and only three interceptions in relief of injured starter Jayden de Laura.
Honestly, Fifita might be playing better than de Laura.
The bookmakers are still disrespecting Arizona, making the Wildcats home ’dogs to a UCLA team that’s struggled in both its conference road games.
At Utah, the Bruins mustered only seven points in a 14-7 loss. Somehow, the Bruins’ usually dangerous ground attack ran for 9 yards on 32 attempts (the number includes sacks, but it’s still impressive).
At Oregon State, the usually stifling defense allowed the Beavers to rack up 7.7 yards per play. UCLA lost 27-24.
Our Action PRO model projects this game as a pick ’em, so I’ll happily grab the most undervalued team in college football as an undeserving home ’dog.
The pick: Arizona +2.5. IOWA STATE (-2.5) over Kansas: Kansas is off a program-changing victory over Oklahoma. The wild 38-33 victory got the Jayhawks into the College Football Playoff rankings for the first time.
But that was a great situational spot, with the Jayhawks coming off a bye against an overvalued Sooners squad.
This week is a horrific situational spot. It’s the perfect spot for a Jayhawk letdown against an upstart Iowa State squad in Ames.
Somehow, someway, Matt Campbell has righted the ship and has the 4-1 Cyclones tied for first place in the Big XII.
The Iowa State defense has always been elite — it ranks first in the Big XII in yards per game allowed. But the offense has started to improve, with quarterback Rocco Becht finding more consistency and the backfield averaging over 160 rushing yards per game during the past month.
The ever-improving Cyclone offense should exploit a Kansas defense that ranks seventh-to-last nationally in Success Rate allowed.
And I’m unsure if Jason Bean and Co. can pick themselves up after a hangover-inducing, field-rushing upset win.
LAST WEEK: 1-2. Kansas (W), Florida (L), Kentucky (L).
2023 SEASON: 12-14.
ST. LOUIS — The Devils lost center Jack Hughes to an upperbody injury early in the first period on their way to a 4-1 loss to the Blues that snapped a threegame winning streak on Friday night.
Hughes, who entered the game with an NHL-leading 15 assists and 20 points, left the game after awkwardly crashing into the boards after being slightly hooked by St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug. No penalty was called on the play.
“It’s tough,” said Curtis Lazar, who scored the Devils’ lone goal. “I mean, you look at the start he’s had. I’m not going to lie, we were a little dejected when it happened. But, again, you’ve got to kind of turn the page when you realize he’s not coming back and say, ‘All right, next man up.’ ”
The Devils were already playing without center Nico Hischier, who was out for a third consecutive game with an upperbody injury
The score by Lazar, his first of the season, came with 3:21 remaining in the second period to cut St. Louis’ lead to 2-1.
“Great second-effort goal around the front of the net,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought that goal got us going, and we had a lot of good zone time after that.”
Kevin Hayes scored a pair of goals and added an assist to lift the Blues, who had lost their previous two contests. Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas also scored goals, and Jordan Binnington stopped 34 shots, including several from close range.
Akira Schmid made 31 saves for the Devils.
“I thought Akira made some key saves to allow us to get back in the hockey game,” Ruff said.
Thomas scored an empty-net goal with nine seconds remaining after Hayes shot wide in an attempt for his third goal of the game.
Hayes scored his second goal of the game with 1:37 remaining after the Devils pulled Schmid.
Hayes put St. Louis on top 2-0 when he pushed a rebound past Schmid for his first goal since being acquired by St. Louis this offseason.
“Definitely relieved,” Hayes said. “I feel like I haven’t really got too many looks this season. I’ve been working on it, but it’s nice to actually see one go in. It felt good.”
Neighbours scored his second goal of the season when he beat Schmid from the slot on a feed from Sammy Blais 7:12 into the second period to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead.