To lead off Saturday’s Week 8 Big 12 slate, we have a matchup between two teams that finished near the bottom of the standings last year but are looking vastly improved and hoping to make a statement in league play.<\/p>\n
Houston<\/a> (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) has already surpassed its win total from a year ago and now plays host to an Arizona<\/a> (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) that has matched last year’s number of wins. The Cougars’ only loss came at the hands of conference favorite Texas Tech, while the Wildcats are coming off a heartbreaking double overtime loss in which they blew a late lead against BYU.<\/p>\n If you are looking for some betting advice for the matchup, we’ve got you covered. Here are the latest odds for the game, courtesy of BetMGM.<\/p>\n Stream Houston vs. Arizona<\/a>Houston vs. Arizona game odds<\/p>\n All college football odds via BetMGM<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a>Spread: Arizona -1.5 (-110), Houston +1.5 (-110)Money Line: Arizona -115, Houston -105Over-Under: Over 47.5 (-105), Under 47.5 (-115)Houston vs. Arizona prediction, pick:<\/p>\n It’s a bit surprising to see Houston as a home underdog here, but when you dive into the numbers, it’s easier to see why. Neither of these teams has been particularly strong offensively, particularly Houston, which ranks in the bottom 10 in the FBS in terms of offensive success rate.<\/p>\n The defense has been much better, but not quite as impressive as Arizona’s, which ranks No. 8 in overall success rate and No. 2 against the run. That should make things difficult for a Cougars team that likes to run the ball but is averaging less than four yards per carry when it does.<\/p>\n This should be a low-scoring game, especially given the issues Arizona has in the passing game, despite having a veteran quarterback in Noah Fifita, against a Houston defense that has played well against the pass. Still, it’s hard to imagine the Cougs scoring enough to win this one.<\/p>\n Prediction: Arizona 27, Houston 23<\/p>\n Best Bet: Arizona -1.5, Over 47.5<\/p>\n Houston vs. Arizona channel, start time, streaming:<\/p>\n Time: 12 p.m. ET<\/p>\n TV Channel: FS1<\/p>\n Live Stream: Fox Sports App<\/p>\n Get more betting analysis and predictions at\u00a0Sportsbook Wire.<\/a><\/p>\n Contact\/Follow @College_Wire<\/a> on X and @College_Wires<\/a> on Threads. Like our page on Facebook<\/a> to follow ongoing coverage of college sports news, notes, and opinions.<\/p>\n Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. 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It is your sole responsibility to act in accordance with your local laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To lead off Saturday’s Week 8 Big 12 slate, we have a matchup between two teams that finished…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[33,56,58,57,9024,6490,44,2519,2514,1994,1993,45,180,5007,2518,2515,42,5140,3054,1578,1592,46,9025,216,36],"class_list":["post-9832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-accessfree","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-sstssportscollegebig-12","tag-sstsnbig-12","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagarizona","tag-tagarizona-wildcats-football","tag-tagbig-12-conference-football","tag-tagcollege-football","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagcontains-commerce-or-affiliate-content","tag-tagexclude-sports-betting","tag-taghouston","tag-taghouston-cougars-football","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsmg-timely","tag-tagsport-scores-statistics","tag-tagsports-betting","tag-tagsports-betting-widget-and-disclaimer","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtwitter","tag-tx","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}