One of the most anticipated games during the first full week of college football will be when the BYU Cougars take on LSU in Houston. However, the Cougars have one game before then, a home opener against the Portland State Vikings. BYU typically doesn’t start the season off with an FCS foe, instead waiting to the middle or the end of the season to play one, but decided to take advantage of the NCAA allowing a few teams to play games on the last weekend of August. This will be the one FBS vs. FCS showdown of this weekend.
This contest in Week 1 will go down Saturday, August 26, 2017, at 3 p.m. ET at Lavell Edwards Stadium. This game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Week 1 College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Portland State +33
BYU -33
Odds Analysis
The Cougars finished last season 9-4 SU and 9-4 ATS. They covered all five games in which they were an underdog, but had trouble covering games as a favorite. BYU failed to cover against its FCS opponent Southern Utah last year, despite being up 31-7 at halftime. Under was a great bet in Cougars games, with seven of BYU’s last eight falling short of the number.
Portland State went 3-8 overall last year and played two FBS opponents. The Vikings were able to cover a hefty 41-point spread against Washington, but were unable to stay close against a mediocre San Jose State team. They went 1-1 ATS in those games and were able to put 35 points on the board against the Spartans.
Player to Watch
The Vikings are going to throw a true freshman right into the fire. Head coach Bruce Barnum announced a few days ago that Jalani Eason will be Portland State’s starting quarterback for the season opener against BYU after outperforming the team’s other two quarterbacks in preseason camp.
Eason didn’t have the size to earn a scholarship from an FBS program, but was a successful high school quarterback in California. He is a dual-threat quarterback and will use his legs often to try to make plays against the Cougars.
It’s tough for any FCS team to knock off an FBS opponent, but when the FCS team is starting a true freshman, that task becomes even tougher.
Key Stat
New head coach Kalani Sitake announced a renewed commitment to the running game when he became the head coach last season. The Cougars responded by improving from 128 rushing yards per game in 2015 to 201 rushing yards per game in 2016, but now must replace superstar running back Jamaal Williams and quarterback Taysom Hill, players that keyed the run game.
Unfortunately, new quarterback Tanner Mangum isn’t the runner that Hill was. Mangum is a more traditional quarterback and doesn’t have the mobility to avoid tacklers and barrel downfield like Hill did so often last season. However, he does have experience. He was the starter for BYU for almost all of the 2015 season after Hill was injured and knows how to produce in this offense.
Despite losing Williams, the rushing numbers shouldn’t fall off significantly. BYU has one of its better offensive lines in recent memory with four starters returning from last year’s unit and a very talented set of tackles. They should be able to open up plenty of holes against a run defense that was one of the worst in the FCS last year.
Free ATS Pick
BYU isn’t a school that piles on the points, but it has quite a few things it still needs to work on prior to playing LSU. The Cougars will experiment with some things against the Vikings and that should lead to BYU covering this large spread. They will keep the starters on the field longer and open up the playbook a little bit more and that will be enough, especially with an overmatched freshman trying to move the ball on the other side.
College Football Odds: Cougars 51, Vikings 10
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