College Football Picks

Football Betting Game Trends

NCAA Football – Week 5

Teams that have the ability to score points in bunches are going to be duking it out on Friday night in NCAA football betting action, as the BYU Cougars take on the Hawaii Warriors at Lavell Edwards Stadium.

The Warriors have had a frustrating season, and matters just don’t seem to be getting any better any time in the near future. They aren’t nearly the offense juggernauts that they once were, and they are still struggling defensively. Take out a blowout of Lamar two weeks ago, and this is legitimately one of the worst teams in college football. QB Sean Schroeder has put the ball in the air quite a bit, throwing it 102 times in three games, but he isn’t even averaging six yards per pass attempt, and he only has 592 yards with six scores. The nine offensive touchdowns that the team has in three games won’t cut it, especially knowing that five of those nine came against Lamar. The defense has allowed a whopping 118 points in two games against FBS schools, and though the 49 against the USC Trojans was nothing to be ashamed of, the 69 allowed to the Nevada Wolf Pack last week definitely is a lot more to worry about for Head Coach Norm Chow.

The Cougars really thought that they had a chance to be a BCS team this year, but after back to back losses, those hopes are now said and done with. They’re going to have the upper hand in their next three games though, and they’ll still end up in a bowl game, but it won’t be in the big time bowl that the school was hoping for. What we will say about BYU is that it is a team that is playing some massive defense at the moment. The Cougs became the first team since the Boise State Broncos joined the FBS to hold them without a single offensive point on the Smurf Turf, and that was definitely a notable achievement last week. Unfortunately, the offense scored just six points in the loss, proving that QB Riley Nelson and his offense are really missing some pieces. The team really is missing a major running back, as last year, RB JJ Di Luigi did everything for the team in both the ground game and the passing game. He’s gone now, and RB Michael Alisa just doesn’t do the same sort of work for the team now.

Prediction:

The Cougars are clearly the better team in this game, but this just doesn’t feel like a spot where they are going to have quite enough offense to cover this hefty spread. Chow is trying his best to build a winner at Hawaii, and though he might ultimately fail, he at least should have his team fighting hard on national television after last week’s blowout loss at home to Nevada. BYU 38 – Hawaii 17