College Football Betting: Nevada at BYU
Plenty of college football for Saturday night and in this writeup we’ll head out to the Beehive State for a matchup between the BYU Cougars and the Nevada Wolfpack. BYU was having an excellent season until just a couple of weeks ago–they opened the campaign 4-0 SU but have lost 2 straight since starting quarterback Taysom Hill suffered a season ending broken leg. Nevada is 3-3 on the season and is also riding a two game losing streak dropping their past two games to Boise State and Colorado State.
We’re not going to make a case that Nevada is a great team. This year most of their talent is on defense (at least when they’re not stepping up in class) and their offense isn’t especially potent. That puts them in better shape than the Cougars, however. BYU’s nasty defense of recent years has suffered greatly with the loss of linebacking monster Kyle Van Noy and for every team they face with the exception of the University of Texas they’ve been downright porous. Their M.O. so far this season has been to let the offense outscore their opponent but that strategy fell apart with the loss of quarterback Hill.
BYU entered this season with a talented–even underrated–team. Now the shoe is on the other foot and the Cougars are overpriced considering they’ve got enough injuries to fill a M.A.S.H unit. The Cougars had their hands full with Nevada last season, winning by 5 at Reno as -15′ point favorites. That was a substantially better–and healthier–BYU team than will take the field today. Latest injury is running back Jamaal Williams who is likely out for tonight’s game (though he’s being reported as ‘questionable’ or ‘doubtful’ on most injury reports). UNR won’t struggle like many teams do in the high Utah altitude–they play their home games at roughly 4,500 which is essentially at the same altitude as Provo. Most significantly, Nevada is virtually injury free. Not sure that Nevada is a *better* team than BYU but they are a healthier team that should be enough to keep them close tonight. The fact that BYU’s home field altitude isn’t an issue for them makes them a better value.
BET NEVADA +11 OVER BYU
