Kyle Whittingham is one of the longest tenured head coaches in college football at this point. He helped steer the Utah Utes from the Mountain West to the PAC 12 and has kept this program viable in a tougher conference. Whittingham also boasts the best bowl record of any coach with at least 10 bowl appearances. He is 10-1 in bowls since becoming head coach of Utah with the one loss coming when Utah was a 17-point underdog to Boise State. Whittingham will look to make the West Virginia Mountaineers win number 11.
Watch the Heart of Dallas Bowl live on Tuesday, December 26, 2017, at 1:30 p.m. ET at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. This game will be broadcast on ESPN.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Utah -7
West Virginia +7
Over/Under 56.5
Odds Analysis
The Utes went 6-6 during the regular season and needed to beat Colorado to make a bowl after losing six of seven following a 4-0 start. Surprisingly, Utah played quite a few high scoring games this season and was more prone to air it out than years past. Four of the Utes last five games went over the total.
West Virginia did exactly what you’d expect a decent team to do this season. The Mountaineers won all the games they were supposed to win and lost all the games they were supposed to lose. Three of their last four games did go under the total thanks to a defense that stiffened up in the month of November.
Key Injury
Will Grier had a great season quarterbacking the Mountaineers. Grier threw for over 300 yards in nine of the 10 games in which he was the team’s quarterback for most of the game and led the team to a 7-3 record as the starter.
Unfortunately, Grier broke his finger while diving for a touchdown late in the first quarter in the penultimate game of the regular season. He missed the final three quarters of action against Texas in a West Virginia loss and didn’t play in the finale either. The expected recovery time is 4-6 weeks so that puts him right up against the wire for this game. He is currently considered questionable for the bowl game.
If he can’t go, it’s a big blow to WVU. Sophomore Chris Chugunov replaced Grier and showed he still needs more seasoning in the team’s losses to Texas and Oklahoma. He averaged just 6.6 yards per attempt this season and put up rather pedestrian numbers against both defense.
Player to Watch
Darren Carrington II was the key to Utah’s offense this season. The Oregon transfer gave the Utes its first real receiving threat in a number of years and he lit it up early on. Carrington amassed 584 yards and five touchdowns through the air in Utah’s first five games.
Then, opposing defensive coordinators started to key in on him and roll coverage his way. Carrington managed just 334 yards and one touchdown the rest of the year as he battled double coverage. However, the focus on him gave other players more room to run and helped this offense hit its stride later in the year.
West Virginia has one of the most porous defenses in the country. The Mountaineers are giving up over 450 yards per game and are outside the top 100 in passing defense and run defense. Carrington might be primed for a huge game in this one since WVU can’t pull people outside of the box for fear of getting run over.
Free ATS Pick
I like Utah quite a bit in this one provided Grier doesn’t play. Grier can keep this competitive and might lead the Mountaineers to an outright win. If Chugunov is in the lineup, the offense becomes a lot more limited.
College Football Odds: Utah 37, West Virginia 17
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