BYU at Florida State

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the Florida State Seminoles are set to host the BYU Cougars, as both teams look to rebound from a disappointing loss last week. The Seminoles were completely blown out of the water by Oklahoma 47-17 last week, while the Cougars had no answer for Air Force in a 35-14 loss. If you are interested in placing a wager on the game, the current college football odds have the Seminoles 9.5-point favorites over the Cougars at home.

The Seminoles had no answer for the Florida State offense on Saturday, as they allowed the Sooners 487 yards of total offense, including four touchdown passes from quarterback Landry Jones and two touchdowns from star running back DeMarco Murray.

After scoring 59 points in the season opener against Samford, the Florida State offense was unable to do much of anything against the Sooner defense. The Seminoles got an early touchdown run from Jermaine Thomas, who finished with 58 yards on 11 carries, but that was the only points the first-team offense could produce. Quarterback Christian Ponder threw for just 113 yards on 11 of 28 passing, with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Cougars actually held a 14-7 lead after one quarter of play against Air Force, but the Cougars were unable to score the rest of the game. Quarterback Riley Nelson didn’t have his best game on Saturday, as he threw for just 73 yards in the loss. Nelson however was a factor on the ground, as he ran the ball 20 times for 95 yards and a score.

Junior running back JJ Di Luigi led the Cougars with 103 rushing yards on seven carries, as the Cougars finished the game with 221 yards on the ground. The Cougars killed themselves with three costly turnovers against BYU, and the defense had no answer what so ever for the Falcon’s rushing attack, as Air Force finished the game with 409 yards on the ground.

Looking at the Odds: I am a little surprised that the oddsmakers are favoring Florida State by nearly 10 points in this game, especially after the performance the Seminoles defense put on last week against Oklahoma. No question that BYU is not nearly as talented on the offensive side of the ball as the Sooners, but I believe you have to take the Cougars at +9.5 in this one.

The Cougars are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games following a ATS loss, while the Seminoles are just 1-6 ATS in their last 7 home games. My final score prediction is Florida State 31, BYU 27.

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