Houston vs Arizona prediction & betting tips - Nov. 15

The Houston Cougars are on the road to face the Arizona Wildcats on Friday at 10:15 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on FS1.

Houston (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) is coming off a 24-19 upset win over Kansas State, while Arizona (3-6, 1-5) had an open week last week but suffered a 56-12 road loss to UCF on Nov. 2.

Houston vs Arizona: Preview

The Cougars are 1.5-point road underdogs and the over/under is set at 44.5 points.

Houston is on a two-game winning streak and had a statement win over the Cougars.

“We didn’t play a perfect game, but we played well enough to win, and that’s what matters,” Houston coach Willie Fritz said postgame, via Yahoo. "They’re going to start believing. We got to keep going.”

Houston is led by Re'Shaun Sanford II who has rushed for 300 yards and a touchdown. Joseph Manjack IV has 266 receiving yards and three TDs.

Defensively, A.J. Haulcy has four interceptions and Michael Batton has three sacks and 66 tackles.

Meanwhile, Arizona has struggled this season and has lost five straight games. Despite coming off an open week, it was a blowout loss against UCF.

"A really hard day out there on the football field," Wildcats coach Brent Brennan said after the game, via AZDesertSwarm. "Credit to Central Florida and coach Malzahn and that staff, they got after us in all three phases. No part of that is, I mean, it’s just totally unacceptable. And we need to coach better. We need to go through everything and get back to finding how we can execute in all three phases.

"Play some clean football, because we did not do that tonight in any way. I think we have great coaches. I think we have great kids on this team, and I think they’ll be diligent in the process of getting right in two weeks to get ready for another good opponent in the Big 12. And so hopefully the bye will be a good thing for our football team to evaluate every aspect of what we’re doing."

Arizona is led by Noah Fifita who has thrown for 2,324 yards, 13 TDs and 10 interceptions. Quali Conley has rushed for 570 rushing yards and seven TDs, while Tetairoa McMillan has 1,066 receiving yards and six TDs.

The Wildcats' open week should help them play better, but their defense is still an issue. Arizona will keep it close but Houston will be able to get the road win.

Prediction: Houston 21, Arizona 20

Houston vs Arizona: Betting Tips

Tip 1: Houston +2.5 (-110)

Tip 2: Houston ML (+110)

Tip 3: Under 44.5 points (-112)

About the author

Cole is an NHL, NFL and College Sports reporter at Sportskeeda with over 7 years of experience writing for publications like CBC, USA Today, SMG, BJPENN, Sherdog and SB Nation.

An NHL fan his whole life, Cole played rep hockey in Canada from age 5 until 17 and grew up rooting for Martin St. Louis and the Tampa Bay Lightning. His all-time favorite players are Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos, while Jon Cooper is his favorite coach of all time.

Cole attended Sheridan College and received his journalism degree in 2019. After decades of watching and reporting, he considers his knowledge of sports as his primary strength. He ensures that the same story has been reported by at least two reputed reporters before creating it.

Cole enjoys playing golf and spending time with friends and family when not reporting breaking stories. His favorite sports moment is from the 2010 Olympics, when Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal in overtime to beat Team USA for the gold medal.

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