College Football Betting Lines: Utah vs BYU
Written November 27, 2009 by Rock Henderson
One of the best rivalries that goes relatively unnoticed is the Holy War between the 19th ranked BYU Cougars and 21st ranked Utah Utes. This will be the 85th meeting between these two teams that has been dominated by Utah recently, winning 5 of the last 7 meetings. While Utah has had BYU’s number, 10 of the past 12 games have been decided by a touchdown or less. The Cougars feature one of the top quarterbacks in the nation with senior Max Hall at the helm. Utah will counter with freshman QB Jordan Wynn, who took over for an ineffective Terrance Cain midway through the season. BYU is favored by 7.5 points.
Utah is coming off the most successful season in their football history after a 2008 campaign saw them go 13-0 with a Sugar Bowl win over largely favored Alabama. Many experts thought this would be a rebuilding year, but the Utes have managed to win nine games heading into their season finale. QB Jordan Wynn took over the starting spot against New Mexico and has gone 2-1 as a starter with his only loss coming to a very talented TCU team. Wynn has passed for 793 yards and five touchdowns with just two interceptions in a little over 12 quarters. He was thought to be the quarterback of the future for the program, but the future came a little earlier than expected. RB Eddie Wide has emerged as the Utes’ top threat in the ground game. The shifty junior back has amassed 918 yards and 11 touchdowns as he was forced into the starting role after star RB Matt Asiata went down with an injury in the fourth game of the season. WR David Reed is probably Utah’s most explosive player on offense as he has caught 70 passes for over 1000 yards and five touchdowns. Junior college transfer Jerome Brooks has also been a bright spot in the passing game with 44 catches for 594 yards and six scores.
If BYU wants to notch its 10 win of the season QB Max Hall will need to play much better than he did in this game a year ago. Hall was forced into five interceptions against a swarming Utah defense last season that led to a 48-24 embarrassing loss. The senior signal caller has bounced back nicely this year, throwing for over 3200 yards and 28 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. He has surpassed the 300 yard passing mark in his last three games and seems to be firing on all cylinders heading into the match-up with Utah. RB Harvey Unga is a bruising back that has bowled his way to 900 yards and nine scores. Unga is a key cog in the Cougar offense and keeps defenses honest with his physical running style. TE Dennis Pita is widely considered the top player at his position in the country. The versatile receiver has caught 55 balls for 753 yards and in the near future will be playing on Sundays in the NFL. Hall does a not job spreading the ball around in this offense though as ten players have 10 catches or more.
This rivalry has been fairly one-sided during the decade. BYU hasn’t forgotten the 24 point debacle they had against Utah last year and will seeking revenge. Anything over a touchdown is too many points in my opinion for a game that is usually tightly contested. The Cougars tend to struggle in big spots and Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham will come up with another effective scheme to slow down their high powered offense. Play: Utah +7.5
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