The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks and Arizona Wildcats meet Saturday in week 1 college football action at Arizona Stadium. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks Betting Preview

Northern Arizona is coming off a 3-win season and enters the fifth year under head coach Chris Ball. The coordinators from last year are also still intact. Northern Arizona will have to find a new quarterback with RJ Martinez no longer on the roster. Draycen Hall is back after leading the Lumberjacks with 546 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, while Coleman Owen and Hendrix Johnson are a returning receiving duo that combined for 1,300 yards and 9 touchdowns. Defensively, Kamdan Hightower returns after leading Northern Arizona with 64 tackles, Eloi Kwete had 7 sacks and Colby Humphrey had 9 pass deflections. Outside of quarterback, NAU returns a boatload of key production on both sides of the ball, and that should lead to success. Northern Arizona gave North Dakota, Montana State and Weber State fits last year, so I wouldn’t be shocked if the Lumberjacks are in the thick of the Big Sky this season. 

Arizona Wildcats Betting Preview

Arizona won 5 games last season and have a combined 6 wins in its last 3 seasons. Jedd Fisch returns for his third year as head coach, and Brennan Carroll and Johnny Nansen are still the coordinators. Jayden de Laura returns at quarterback after throwing for 3,600 yards and 25 touchdowns on 62.5 percent completions. Michael Wiley is back after leading Arizona with 771 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns, while Jacob Cowing and Tetairoa McMillan are a returning receiving duo that combined for 1,700 yards and 15 touchdowns. Defensively, Arizona lost its top-4 tacklers, but Jacob Manu returns after 54 tackles, Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei had 1 sack and Treydan Stukes had 5 pass deflections. Arizona should be great offensively out of the gate but returning just 3 starters on defense isn’t ideal. Getting linebacker Oregon transfer Justin Flowe is a big pickup as he was a highly recruited player out of California. Arizona should have its eyes set on reaching its first bowl appearance since the 2017 season. 

Randy’s Pick

Arizona should be fun offensively, but there’s sure to be growing pains defensively with only 3 starters coming back. Northern Arizona returns a lot of production from a year ago and went toe to toe with some of the best FCS teams. Northern Arizona will be up for this game and has the payers who can put a bit of a scare into the Wildcats. I’ll take a stab with the potential boatload of points we’re going to get.