The Wildcats are on their way up while the Cougars could be on their way down.  Even if it's not a big drop this season for BYU, the fact is this dropoff will be the most significant early in the season and we really like what Arizona brings to the field to kick off their season.

Mike Stoops seems to be heading toward a peak season with the Wildcats as they are returning 19 starters this season. Look for Arizona's improved spread offense to be a key to an even better year than last year's 6-6. Amazingly, the Wildcats narrowly missed a bowl berth even though they averaged only 16 points per game last season. Now, with expected improvement in the spread offense we see bigger things for the Wildcats starting right away in Game 1.

The Wildcats are somewhat fortunate to be catching BYU early. The Cougars are only returning 12 starters from last season so they will be in a bit of an adjustment phase early in the season. Without MWC Offensive Player of the Year, QB John Beck, we expect some growing pains for BYU early in the year. The Cougars also are already on everyone's radar screen since they went 11-2 last season and this included a blowout win over Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl. As a result, we have no doubt Coach Stoops has reminded his team of what happened to the Ducks in last season's bowl!

The fact is that the Wildcats did knock off BYU last season to open up the year so the Cougars are looking for revenge. However, the changes are too great for BYU to adjust to this early in the season. If the Cougars squeak this one out it will be on a late field goal and the road win for the Wildcats is what we expect to see. There is great value with taking the handful of points as a result. Keep in mind, revenge or not, roster turnover is critical in early season handicapping. Play Arizona plus the points.

Free Pick: Arizona +3½