Arizona
The Cougars will open their 2021 season in Las Vegas at the new home of the Raiders, Allegiant Stadium. If I’m not mistaken, the game will be the first time that fans will attend a football game in the new stadium since the Raiders didn’t allow fans in 2020.
BYU shouldn’t have too much a problem beating the Wildcats if things play out the way they are supposed to. As it currently stands, BYU is a 10 point favorite coming into this game, a spread very high for an opening week game.
Last season the Wildcats ranked 116th in total defense giving up 6.74 yards per play and 40 points per game. If the BYU offense is even 80% of what they were last year, the Cougars should have no problem putting up at least 40 points in this game.
The Wildcats also really struggled on offense only scoring 17 points per game. There still is an open quarterback battle between Washington State transfer Gunner Cruz and Will Plummer and neither is expected to exactly be a future NFL Hall of Famer.
Arizona will improve under new Head Coach Jedd Fischer, but it won’t happen in week one.