Oregon State at BYU (O/U 37.5)
As of last Sunday the storyline for this contest was the surprise of the Pac 12 (and maybe the country?), the 10th ranked and undefeated Oregon State Beavers traveling to Provo, Utah to take on a stingy, upset minded BYU team. Thoughts on this game have quickly shifted as we learned that both OSU quarterback Sean Mannion and BYU starting quarterback Taysom Hill have been lost for the season with knee injuries. Starting in place of Mannion for the Beavers will be seldom-used junior Cody Vaz. Vaz has played sparingly in five games throughout his three years at OSU completing only 6 of 17 pass attempts. Conversely, BYU will return to the season’s original starting quarterback – senior Riley Nelson who had missed two games due to injury.
What will happen: Provo, Utah is not the place to send an inexperienced quarterback to make his first start of the season. At least, not this year. The BYU defense has looked like the second coming of the “Steel Curtain” this season, particularly in the last three games giving up 3, 0 and 7 points respectively. The Cougar offense on the other hand has resembled a Smart Car trying to maneuver through the back country. BYU is averaging just over 11 points per game against the three decent teams they have played this season.
Oregon State will obviously struggle to move the ball with a new (i.e. “bad”) quarterback at the helm against a very good defense. But don’t give up on the Beavers just yet. Oregon State’s defense is yielding 17 points per game against much better competition than anyone BYU has seen. This will be by far the easiest team to defend that the Beaver defense has seen this season.
Look for yet another dull, low-scoring game involving BYU. Both team’s punters better be ready for this one.
Prediction: Oregon State 13 BYU 10
The Play: UNDER 37.5
Year-to-date Record: 3-3
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