The opening spread is:
Colo -3.5
BYU @ Colorado: Dec 28 Betting Odds At FanDuel Sportsbook
-110
Going out on a limb here. taking the over hahaha
Bowl games on New Year’s Day and late December are unpredictable because of the nearly one month layoff between games. I would have preferred a BYU/Miami matchup. Both Miami and Colorado have sexy images. One because of their coach and the other because of its history. Both have big time QBs. They are very comparable teams but I would have preferred a team out of the conference.
One good thing about the venue is the huge church presence in DFW and Texas on the whole. BYU should have an edge when it comes to the crowd.
Hopefully some of the injured o-line will be back helping the offense get its pre-Utah game edge back.
I’m super happy for the colo matchup. All that national hype means big ratings. Go BYU D. get after Sanders.
Either Miami or Colo are super matchups and beats BYU going to a Boise Potato bowl, know what I mean, Vern
Well, if they don’t, with our offense, it is going to be a very very long day for BYU.
Pessimists never look at the big picture.
I did an analysis of the schedules and the records of both teams on another thread. If you look at common opponents we routed KSU and KSU beat Colorado in Boulder. We beat Baylor in Waco and Colorado pulled out a miracle in Boulder. Based on those two games point BYU. Colorado destroyed Utah and OSU and we barely beat both, point Colorado. Two other common opponents were UCF and Arizona and both BYU and Colorado easily beat both. Colorado beat them by bigger margins so I guess you could give a very slight edge there. Kansas was another common opponent. Kansas got a fluke win over BYU in Provo and easily beat Colorado at home. I would say that is a wash. Out of conference both teams had one P4 opponent. We beat a playoff team SMU and Colorado was beaten decisively by a mediocre Nebraska, point BYU.
Colorado finished stronger but the game isn’t for 3 more weeks so it is almost like a first game again. Who knows what will happen.
It would be more fun to play an ACC OR SEC team, but here we are. We get the best pass defense the B12 vs the best passing offense in the B12. Two coaches who are great guys. Should be a fun matchup.
I was looking at the stats for Colorado and they have no running game. They average about 70 yards per game. I don’t know if that is because they can’t run or just choose not to.
I think they just don’t care about running because they are not good at it and the coach is smart enough go all in on his best talent: They have an elite QB and TWO super elite WRs and a third that’s pretty great too. They only average 2.6ypc so even when they do run they are terrible at it.
The keys to the game will be if the BYU defense gives the offense enough opportunities to score. I don’t think Colorado has a great defense but that doesn’t seem to matter against the BYU offense because you never know what you’re going to get from the offense.
I do believe that if BYU gets too far behind, like 2 or 3 touchdowns there isn’t a very good chance they will come back. If they can play smart and not make dumb mistakes and take advantage of scoring opportunities and convert those into touchdowns I think the defense can hold Colorado in check.
BYU is a close second on pass defense. Love all the nuances of both teams…Colo has been dominate their 5 last games minus the Kansas shellacking. BYU needs to come up with a strong running game
Pretty good breakdown. Except they do have a very good defense. Somehow, we have to stop their offense. Put a lot of pressure on the QB Saunders. And, get behind? Remember the 1980 Holiday Bowl!