Kansas Jayhawks vs. Arizona State Sun Devils Betting Odds, Picks & Predictions

Kansas Jayhawks (1-4 SU, 0-5 ATS) vs. Arizona State Sun Devils (3-1 SU, 3-1 ATS)

NCAA Football Week 6

Date/Time: Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 8PM EDT

Where: Mountain America Stadium, Tempe, Arizona

TV: ESPN2

The Kansas Jayhawks make the trip to Tempe for a Big 12 Conference matchup with the Arizona Sun Devils on Saturday. It’s been a rough start to the season for Kansas. A week one win over Lindenwood is their only triumph of the season, and anyone betting on them would attest to the toil it has been with four straight losses and five non-covers. On Saturday, it was a 38-27 loss to TCU at home, sending them to 0-2 in conference already. ASU looks to make it three this week at home after falling to Texas Tech on the 21st, losing their first Big 12 Conference game, 30-22. They look for better at home this week.

Nice Spot for Arizona State?

It looks to be an advantageous spot for the Sun Devils to thrive. After a 3-0 start to the season in Kenny Dillingham’s second year at the helm, the Sun Devils look to shake off two straight 3-9 seasons and having to face the challenges of playing in a new conference. It didn’t work out against Texas Tech, but they’re in a nice spot. They return home after a few weeks on the road, while Kansas is coming off a tough back-and-forth battle with the Horned Frogs, where they were in the game until the very end. Arizona State, meanwhile, has been at home planning and getting ready for this spot.

A lot can be made of spots where Arizona State is taking to the road to face tough Big 12 teams. They’re in matchups and locations of which they are totally unfamiliar and some of those spots are going to be tough. There is a flip side to that coin and this week would be it for ASU. Now, they’re at home facing a substandard foe. If they were back in the Pac-12, the opponent this week would be a lot tougher. The bottom end of the Big 12 can be pretty bad. And when Arizona State is in their stomping grounds, these matchups could work out to their advantage.

But Not So Fast…

It’s important to remember that Arizona State still has a lot to prove before fancying them as some sure thing, even in reduced conference contexts such as these. Six wins in the last two years will attest to that, as would who they’ve faced so far this season. Wyoming and Mississippi State are pretty bad teams, so wins in those spots are positive, but hardly a sign of an ASU revival. Texas State is a decent Sun Belt team, but scoring a 3-point comeback win on them isn’t crazy impressive. In their first real test against a capable team, we saw QB Sam Leavitt connecting with his main targets like multi-faceted RB Cam Scattebo, but not really making a big dent through the air. Scattebo ran in two TD, with Leavitt running in another in a game where they stayed close, without it really seeming like they were ever going to win.

Kansas: As Bad as it Looks?

On the other side of the equation is a Kansas team where the bottom-line results are brutal—a single warm-up throwaway win and four losses, along with no covers in five games. But a one-score loss to a decent Illinois team and a FG loss to unbeaten UNLV isn’t so bad, perhaps, though subsequent losses to West Virginia and TCU suggest Kansas may struggle to maintain a mid-pack position in the Big 12 this season. After head coach Lance Leipold led them to a 9-win season in 2023, their best in years, the exodus of some key components of that equation has come at a cost. Still, with a bulk of their offensive core being experienced veterans in this offense like QB Jalon Daniels, RB Devin Neal, RB Daniel Hishaw, and wide receivers Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm, one would have expected their offense to provide a little more production this season.

The Kansas defense has some juice on it. We’ve seen DE Jereme Robinson getting after the quarterback, with active corner Mello Dotson already with three picks, Still, they’re not very stout overall and long stretches are passing where we’re not seeing them make a big impact or any really meaningful plays. More troubling is an early trend where we’re seeing their resistance waning late in games where their offense is putting up a good fight for much of the game, only to see the other side of the ball melt in the final quarter. Not that their offense is always rising to the occasion late in some cases. But with a little late-game clutch, the Jayhawks could easily be 3-2 instead of 1-4. That’s something that could cost them this week, as this is a difficult road-spot, a game that is a conference matchup, but is against a team they never before faced in a stadium they’ve never seen.

Lay the Short Number on the Home Favorite

I think that Kansas has maybe been made to look worse than they are, while maybe the opposite can be said for an Arizona State team that has already equaled their win total from the last two seasons. I think with Arizona State having last week off, while Kansas absorbed another tough loss has the Sun Devils ready to make good on their first Big 12 Conference win. And while there might not be a ton of them this season, I see Arizona St. hitting the field with some good energy on Saturday, as they edge out the win and cover at home. I’ll take the Sun Devils.

Loot’s Prediction to Cover the Point Spread:

I’m betting on the Arizona Sun Devils minus 3 points.