As if the college football bowl season isn’t diluted enough there’s a newcomer to the schedule. The inaugural LA Bowl joins the rotation and at least has what should be a competitive matchup with the Utah State Aggies taking on the Oregon State Beavers. It was a remarkable season for the Aggies, who demolished San Diego State to claim the Mountain West Conference title with a record of 10-3. At 7-5 the Beavers have the most wins since recording the same amount in 2013, which was also the last time they went bowling. Oregon State is positioned as a 7-point favorite on the college football betting line.
The 2021 LA Bowl takes place on Saturday, December 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA and will be televised on ABC. College football odds are available at BookMaker.eu for this and every bowl game.
College Football Betting at BookMaker.eu
Utah State Aggies +7
Oregon State Beavers -7
Total 66.5
Odds Analysis
There may have been a Power Five bias in the opening line with OSU laying 8-points. Much of the betting public wasn’t fooled by that number and flocked to the Aggies forcing the line down to OSU -7. Utah State finished the season on a rampage beating New Mexico 35-10 before taking out nationally ranked SDSU 46-13 earning payouts in both games. I guess they were pissed about a 44-17 loss to Wyoming in Week 12. That was the Aggies only setback in the last eight games where they also helped their backers going 6-2 ATS. Overall they were 9-4 ATS with five payouts when catching points. The Beavs were in contention for the Pac-12 North title but went just 2-3 SU and ATS in the last five games closing with a 38-29 loss to rival Oregon. They also had ugly losses at Cal and Colorado as part of their 1-5 SU and ATS road record.
Utah State Aggies
The Mountain West is a decent G5 conference and the Aggies were the best of the bunch. The loss to Wyoming was bad, but dropping games to Boise State and BYU wasn’t the worst. They came back from that Wyoming setback to knock off their last two opponents by a combined score of 81-23 capturing their first MWC title. It was quite the turnaround orchestrated by first-year coach Blake Anderson. He had help from a few players who made the move with him from Arkansas. The biggest addition was Logan Bonner, who had a great regular season with 3,554 passing yards and 36 touchdowns helping the Aggies average over 33 points.
And when Utah State scores points they win games. The three games they were held to 20 points or less they ended up losing. Eight times they scored 35 points or more cashing the OVER six times. The UNDER is 1-5 in six games where the total closed at 60 or higher. Playing away from Logan hasn’t been a problem so it would behoove the Aggies to treat this as a road game. They went 7-0 SU and 6-1 ATS in road games during the regular season.
Oregon State Beavers
The Beavers faded in the second half after a strong start. They won four in a row after an opening loss to Purdue and a win over Pac-12 champ Utah in Week 8 put them at 5-2. Issues on the road prevented them from winning the North and playing in the conference championship. They lost at Cal and Colorado, teams that failed to qualify for a bowl, right after upsetting the Utes. They have a balanced offensive attack that gave teams problems during the season. Sparked by B.J. Taylor, the Beavers ranked 12th nationally averaging 217.3 rushing yards per game. They placed among the top-40 in total offense with 432.6 yards per game.
Neither team stood out defensively, which is why the total is as high as it is. Five times OSU played with a closing total above 60 with the OVER going 3-2. We should see a lot of Taylor, who rushed for 1,259 yards and 13 touchdowns during the season. The Beavs don’t throw the ball a lot but they’ve had success with Chance Nolan tossing 19 touchdowns.
Utah State vs. Oregon State Prediction
The key for OSU, and the Aggies for that matter, is how well the defense plays. Utah State can’t win if it scores fewer than 20 points, but the Beavers aren’t a juggernaut on that side of the ball. I think the line is too high with USU definitely having the horses to score. And they return to SoCal a few weeks after downing the Aztecs just a few miles up the road. Their play on the road is significant and has me leaning toward the Aggies for the upset special.
BookMaker Pick: Utah State Aggies +7 / UNDER 66.5
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