Arizona Wildcats football opens as small favorite vs. Kansas State

It only took Arizona football two weeks to match the number of games it covered against the spread all of the 2024 season.

Arizona will look to make it three consecutive covers when it hosts Kansas State in a non-conference game Friday evening in Tucson.

Arizona has opened as 1.5-point favorites against the Wildcats of Manhattan, Kansas, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Arizona is facing a Kansas State opponent that has dropped two of its first three games and has failed to cover the spread so far this season.

Arizona is coming off a 48-3 win over Weber State on Saturday night in a game it was favored to win by 31.5 points. The week prior, Arizona defeated Hawaii as 15.5-point favorites.

Arizona covering back-to-back games to start the season is notable considering the UA went 2-10 ATS in Brent Brennan’s first season as head coach.

Arizona has now won and covered its last three home games where it was favored to win, dating back to last year’s 27-3 win over Houston. Before that, Arizona had failed to cover in five consecutive games as home favorites.

Friday’s Arizona-Kansas State matchup is the second game of a non-conference home-and-home series between the two Big 12 opponents. Last season Arizona lost to Kansas State 31-7 in Manhattan as touchdown underdogs.

Kansas State, which opened this season ranked No. 17, has been one of college football’s biggest disappointments.

Kansas State lost to Iowa State in Week 0 in Ireland 24-21 as two-point favorites, then barely got by North Dakota last week by winning 38-35 as four-touchdown favorites. Kansas State was a 17-point favorite vs. Army on Saturday and lost 24-21.

Kansas State failed to cover the spread is seven of its last eight games and is 3-5 overall in that stretch.

The over/under for Arizona-Kansas State is set at 54.5 points. The under has hit in Arizona’s first two games of the season.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Friday and the game will be televised on Fox.