No 3 Utah hosts No 9 BYU in top-10 Big 12 showdown with college football playoff stakes
Last week I had a minor complaint about college football because there weren’t many games between ranked teams. Two weeks ago, the schedule was loaded with great games. Luckily for us, this week we have a ton of great match-ups, including a handful of ranked teams taking each other on. The first one of the day is between BYU and Utah, a top-10 match-up that kicks off at 12:00 ET.
BYU comes into this game as the 9th-ranked team in the country. They’ve had quite the interesting season with a 7-1 record and a 4-1 mark in Big 12 play. They started the season with six straight wins, beating Utah Tech, Arizona, Colorado State, TCU, Iowa State, and, of course, Notre Dame. Only the games against TCU and Notre Dame were one-score affairs, but the Cougars came out on top in both of the contests.
It seems like more of a certainty than a trend at this point. A team gets a big win for their school, and the next week, the team falls apart and loses the game. That was the story with Georgia, Ole Miss, and BYU this season, just off the top of my head. They beat Notre Dame and then went to UCF the next week and lost in double overtime. They did rebound last week against Arizona State, but that was only a seven-point victory.
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Utah is currently ranked third in the nation and is expected to get a Bye in the College Football Playoffs if the standings stay roughly the same. The Utes are 8-0 for the season, but they haven’t had an overly difficult season. Winning eight straight games is always difficult, and Utah has a ton of talent on the roster, but this team has faced exactly one ranked team this season. Sure, Cincinnati is a decent team, but that’s not a win you can point to as a major victory.
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The major win on their schedule was against Houston, and that wasn’t overly impressive considering that they were at home and won 21-13. Their next two weeks are against BYU and Arizona. I suppose if they win both of those games, they will be able to coast into the Big 12 Championship, and almost certainly into the College Football Playoffs.
This game will likely come down to which team is better at quarterback. BYU has Bear Bachmeier, a true dual-threat quarterback. Utah sends out Devon Dampier, who is also a solid runner in addition to a strong pocket presence. Bachmeier isn’t as likely to win the game with his arm as Dampier, but Dampier is not as likely to win it on the ground. This will be a close game with both teams being very patient. Look for Utah to load the box, and look for BYU to encourage Utah to run. Give me the under 49.5 in this one.
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