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It is time to continue our college football odds series with a New Mexico-Arizona prediction and pick. Find out how to watch New Mexico-Arizona.
Bronco Mendenhall made a name for himself in the college football coaching world in the Mountain West Conference when he coached at BYU over a decade ago. Mendenhall brought BYU up against Utah and TCU in a highly competitive Mountain West which featured some great games and great teams over the years. When conferences looked different and waves of realignment had not yet swamped the sport in a series of drastic changes, Mendenhall matched wits against Kyle Whittingham of Utah and Gary Patterson of TCU in some memorable coaching battles.
All these years later, Mendenhall is back in the Mountain West with the New Mexico Lobos.
Mendenhall's first game at New Mexico is one he would like to forget, but no one will forget it. The ending was hard to ignore or banish from one's mind.
New Mexico, a 13.5-point underdog to Montana State of the FCS, easily covered the spread. However, New Mexico was a massive in-game moneyline favorite when it led 31-14 in the second half. Someway, somehow, UNM squandered that 17-point advantage. It was one of those scenarios in which New Mexico had to do 15 or 20 different things wrong in the final several minutes, and managed to do every last thing wrong. Had it made just one basic play, it would have won.
New Mexico twice had a third and medium in the last six minutes of regulation. Twice, the Lobos had a receiver break wide open on that third-down pass play. Twice, the receiver simply dropped the pass. If the receiver makes the catch for the first down on just one of those two plays — not both, just one of two — the Lobos would have won. Yet, they dropped both passes. Their defense, which had been playing really well through the first 50 minutes of the game, relented and gave up long gainers. Montana State scored the game-winning touchdown in the final minute. New Mexico somehow lost.
The Lobos dominated the game for 50 minutes and completely unraveled in the final 10 to lose.
Now Mendenhall has to get his team back together on a mental level and make sure last week's crusher doesn't lead to a deflated, depressed effort this week. The opponent is Arizona, which has a new head coach, former San Jose State boss Brent Brennan. Arizona, under Brennan, was able to retain quarterback Noah Fifita and receiver Tetairoa McMillan instead of allowing the two to go to Washington, where former Arizona coach Jedd Fisch took the open coaching job created by Kalen DeBoer leaving Seattle to become Nick Saban's replacement at Alabama. Arizona retained a number of players from the 2023 roster, which is why the Wildcats are optimistic about their first season in the Big 12 in 2024.
Here are the New Mexico-Arizona College Football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Football Odds: New Mexico-Arizona Odds
New Mexico: +31.5 (-114)
Moneyline: +2000
Arizona: -31.5 (-106)
Moneyline: -7000
Over: 58.5 (-110)
Article Continues Below
Under: 58.5 (-110)
How to Watch New Mexico vs Arizona
Time: 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN
Stream: fuboTV (Free Trial)
Why New Mexico Could Cover The Spread/Win
The spread is huge, and even though Arizona did retain key players in the offseason, some parts of the 2023 roster did go to Washington to accompany Jedd Fisch. Arizona isn't quite as good as it was last year. New Mexico can lose by 31 and still cover? That seems likely.
Why Arizona Could Cover The Spread/Win
The Fifita-McMillan combination is going to do major damage. Arizona should be able to score at least 45 points, which — coupled with New Mexico's mediocre offense — should be enough for the Wildcats to truly run away with this thing, winning by 35 or more. 49-10 sounds about right.
Final New Mexico-Arizona Prediction & Pick
Does Arizona have enough depth to truly run up the score? Maybe, but a first-year coach is bound to have an adjustment period in his first game. We think you should stay away from this game.
Final New Mexico-Arizona Prediction & Pick: New Mexico +31.5
