Friday night’s slate features two Big 12 football games that won’t go in the standings as a Big 12 football game. Those two are Arizona vs. Kansas State and Houston vs. Colorado. This piece focuses on the former, with the Arizona Wildcats playing host to Chris Klieman and the Kansas State Wildcats. Arizona is coming off a 48-3 win over Weber State last week, while Kansas State dropped a heartbreaker at home to Army, 24-21.
The game kicks off at 8:00 p.m. CT on Friday on ESPN from Tucson, Arizona. Arizona is favored by 0.5, and the over/under is set at 54.5 points. Here are two key players to watch in this game, followed by the top storylines for each team, and a prediction from Heartland College Sports.
Two Key Players to Watch
Noah Fifita, Arizona Quarterback
Noah Fifita had a rough 2024. Some analysts believed he would be among the top quarterbacks in the country, but he struggled in Brent Brennan’s first year. Through two games, that is no longer the case as the dynamic passer has been lighting it up. He’s fresh off a performance against Weber State, where he threw for nearly 400 yards and five scores.
Jaron Tibbs, Kansas State Wide Receiver
One of the quiet but key injuries on this Kansas State team was the loss of wideout Jerand Bradley, who appeared to suffer a hand injury and will be out for a few weeks. Opposite star wide receiver Jayce Brown is Purdue transfer Jaron Tibbs, who has been putting up solid numbers in previous weeks. In the loss to Army, Tibbs hauled in a beautiful ball from Avery Johnson for a score on fourth down.
Top Storylines
Is Spivey Correct About His Former Team?
In case you missed it, former Kansas State wide receiver turned Arizona Wildcat, Tre Spivey, took a shot at the mindset of his former team at a recent press conference. Spivey mentioned that the Wildcats were soft mentally and that when the energy was low, the team would struggle. Honestly, that doesn’t seem that far off base through three games, but only time will tell what happens in Tucson.
What’s Happening on Defense?
Kansas State’s defense hasn’t played world beaters this year (excluding Iowa State for obvious reasons), but still, they have been horrendous. The group is coming out of a game where they gave up fourth down conversions on six of seven tries and ran just a total of 43 plays compared to Army’s 82 on offense. Things need to change quickly, and playing Arizona, with Noah Fifita under center, is a grueling task.
Prediction: Arizona 45, Kansas State 42
It is an insanely hard time to pick Kansas State to do anything right at this point. Their defense is awful and was exposed against Army. In order for them to stay involved in the game, Avery Johnson will have to be nearly perfect. A high-scoring game goes in favor of Arizona, as Brent Brennan’s group gets its revenge over Kansas State from last year’s blowout in Manhattan.
