Arizona vs. UTSA Betting Odds – Thursday Night College Football
Carrie Stroup here with your Arizona vs. UTSA betting odds for Thursday Night College Football. Place your 1st bet, get your 2nd bet for FREE here.
Sportsbook.ag Line & Total: Arizona -7.5 & 55
After impressive wins by both the Arizona Wildcats and UTSA Roadrunners in their first contests, the teams meet up for a battle in San Antonio on Thursday night.
No one knew what to expect out of Arizona’s camp as they were starting this season with new players in two key offensive position -- quarterback and halfback. But, the Wildcats came out of the gate with all cylinders firing as they broke a school record with 787 total yards of offense in a 58-13 shellacking of the UNLV Rebels.
Arizona -7.5 UTSA/Total 55 
They spread out their game evenly with 434 passing yards and 353 on the ground while big plays were aplenty as four touchdowns went for 39+ yards. The offense certainly should give Arizona fans hope after a disappointing 2013 season in which they were just 4-5 in the Pac-12. UTSA has been extremely impressive given that its first year in the FBS was in 2012 as a member of the WAC. The school moved to the C-USA last year and posted a second consecutive winning season with a 7-5 record (6-2 in C-USA) and barely missed out on a trip to the conference championship game.
The Roadrunners started out the 2014 campaign in impressive fashion, nearly blanking a Houston team that was 8-5 last year, by a score of 27-7. A majority of the credit in the game can be attributed to the their secondary as they picked off four balls while the defense held the Cougars to a mere 208 total yards, including minus-26 yards rushing. Last season, these two programs met up for an early season matchup with the Wildcats pulling out a 38-13 victory as 25-point favorites. Most of the numbers were similar with the exception of the ground games in which Arizona dominated, outrushing the Roadrunners 264-102 behind the legs of current Chicago Bears RB Ka’Deem Carey (128 yards, 2 TD).
In the previous two seasons, Arizona has gone 6-4 ATS when coming off of a home win, but the Roadrunners will benefit knowing that the Wildcats are a mere 16-31 ATS (34%) since 1992 as a favorite of 3.5 to 10 points. Neither team is suffering any significant injuries entering this rematch from last year.
The Wildcats did well overall offensively last season; ranking 36th in points scored (33.5 PPG) and were tremendous in the running game (264.9 YPG, 11th in FBS). Since the departure of Nick Foles, the team has struggled in the passing game and ranked 99th last year as they threw for a meager 193.5 YPG. This season they hope to put up better numbers and much of their production should come from redshirt freshman QB Anu Solomon who was 25-for-44 with 425 yards (9.7 YPA) and four touchdowns in the team’s season opener. He is not a one-trick pony either, adding 50 yards on eight rushes with one scamper going for 31 yards.
Besides Solomon, the running game was in good hands as HBs Terris Jones-Grigsby and Nick Wilson combined for 228 yards on just 20 carries (11.4 YPC) and two touchdowns. Solomon spread the ball out nicely with 10 different players getting a reception and seven of those players grabbing multiple balls. WR Austin Hill had 1,384 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in 2013, and opened this year with 110 yards and a touchdown on three catches while WR Samajie Grant also posted a big game (101 receiving yards, 1 TD) in the season opener.
Arizona’s defense ranked in the top-50 (39th) last year as it allowed 24.2 PPG, and most of the games came against the high-octane offenses in the Pac-12. DE Reggie Gilbert (36 tackles, 4 sacks in 2013) hopes he can bring his experience into play in improving this defense as he joins forces with sophomore LB Scooby Wright III (93 tackles, 1 INT in 2013), who had seven tackles and a sack in the win over UNLV.
UTSA has nine offensive starters returning to a team that ranked 86th in scoring (25.6 PPG) last year while splitting their offense between rushing (175.4 YPG) and passing (242.4 YPG) as they ranked 56th in the nation in both categories. One new starter for them is QB Tucker Carter who had minimal snaps (190 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) as a backup in 2013. He did enough in the first game of the year, going 15-of-24 for 121 yards (5.0 YPA), but will need to improve his overall game if he hopes to lead his team into a competitive matchup against a tough Wildcats team. HB David Glasco II (496 yards, 5 TD in 2013) looks to carry a heavy workload this year, as evidenced by his 25 carries for 81 yards (3.2 YPC) and two touchdowns in the opening week win over Houston. WR Kam Jones was the leading receiver for this team last season, but this was not too impressive of a feat as he had a meager 345 receiving yards on 34 catches (10.1 avg) and a single touchdown. He led the team with four catches in the season opener, but gained a mere 17 yards while WR Marcellus Mack had a team-high 37 yards on three catches. The defense was the MVP against Houston, getting four picks from four different players as they are attempting to improve on a 2013 season in which they allowed 26.3 PPG (62nd in nation). DB Triston Wade (94 tackles, 2 INT in 2013) was one of the players to create a turnover against the Cougars, and hopes that he can lead an experienced defense to a better 2014 performance.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
