Arizona Wildcats vs San Diego State Aztecs Odds, Picks, Predictions (9/3/22)

San Diego State begins a new season with a brand new stadium. The Aztecs used to have to play home games about an hour away from where the campus is located. But the school built Snapdragon Stadium right on campus.

Arizona comes to town after a disastrous, 1-11 season. But there is some incoming talent. The offense could be reinvigorated with some more experience and new blood. Head coach Jedd Fisch needs to make a jump in year two.

But without looking ahead too far – where does the value lie for this game?

Read on for our Arizona Wildcats vs San Diego State Aztecs odds, picks, and predictions.

Arizona Wildcats vs San Diego State Aztecs

The line opened at SDSU -5.5 but has since been slowly pushed to -6.5. There was some buyback on Arizona that pushed the line towards +6 at some books.

The under has taken all the money, and for good reason. San Diego State is an under team going against one of the least efficient offenses in college football. The under is definitely worth a look here.

Arizona Wildcats vs San Diego State Aztecs Prediction & Pick

Arizona was, arguably, the worst Power 5 offense in football last season. They couldn’t crack five yards per play.

So, Fisch went ahead and brought in quarterback Jayden De Laura from Washington State and the ever-electric wideout Jacob Cowing from UTEP. The two of them should bring some much-needed explosiveness to a once-lifeless offense.

Unfortunately, the two are being complimented by a horrendous offensive line. They couldn’t block last season and now only three starters return with a combined 57 career starts.

Now, they’ll face a San Diego State defense that’s always underrated and always performs. They also brought in two All-Moutain West transfers to the linebacker core, meaning the second level will be just as disruptive as the defensive line usually is.

And I love that the Aztecs brought in Braxton Burmeister. The guy was solid at Virginia Tech and can scramble/do damage with his legs. That will help a lot considering the offensive line doesn’t bring back a lot of production.

It’s also nice that Burmeister brings a potential quarterback rush approach to one of the heavier rush offenses in FBS.

All-in-all, I’ll lay the number with the Aztecs, who will stuff a poor offensive line trying to mesh together new pieces while Burmeister minimizes San Diego State’s weaknesses.

Arizona Wildcats vs San Diego State Aztecs Key Matchups

Key Matchup No. 1: The Two Offensive Lines

With two offensive lines re-tooling with much less experience, which one will step up in this battle?

Good football teams are built from the inside out. Whichever offensive line performs better in this game – relative to the defensive lines they are facing – will likely lead their team to a better performance this season.

However, given the context, I’m partial toward San Diego State.