BYU opens as a double digit dog to Fresno State

[hawkwing]

I've seen BYU as 11 and 12 point underdogs to the bulldogs. Thoughts?

[Ungoy]

My thoughts are that this could be ugly. Hopefully it's ugly in favor of BYU turning things around and beating Fresno easily. I just haven't seen enough to think that BYU can and should be favored to win, or that the spread should be closer.

[Mars]

BYU has the individual talent to win this game, but I'd bet on "two steps forward, one step back".

[BroncoBot]

BYU has the individual talent to win this game, but I'd bet on "two steps forward, one step back".

on paper, BYU's a decent team...

[BroncoBot]

I'm going to pull out my bluest of goggles and say that BYU covers the spread on this one. It will be less than a double digit win for either team.

[frdbtr]

BYU loses this game by 20+ the odds makers are being kind.

[BroncoBot]

BYU loses this game by 20+ the odds makers are being kind.

Nothing except a BYU dominant win would surprise me right now.

[YNot]

Fresno St. just lost to UNLV (3-5) at home, 16-26. Only 300 yards offense. UNLV lost to FCS Howard and had a bad loss to USU at home - not a road loss riddled with turnovers and pick-6's; but a sound mistmatch.

I also note that Fresno St. beat SJSU earlier this year, 27-10. Only about 300 yards offense and needed 4 turnovers to score the 27 points. The turnover battle and the effectiveness of our running game will determine the outcome for this one.

Signs of life for BYU are the fact that BYU's 598 yards of offense and 41 points look more like the performances against SJSU by South Florida, Texas, and Utah; whereas Fresno and Hawaii the two weeks before our matchup had relative struggles against SJSU:

Fresno = 27 points and 348 yards (17-point Fresno win).
Hawaii = 37 points and 451 yards (11-point Hawaii win, but SJSU actually outgained Hawaii - 504 yards - but lost the turnover battle)

[Mars]

I'm thinking BYU 9, Fresno State 27.

[frdbtr]

Fresno St. just lost to UNLV (3-5) at home, 16-26. Only 300 yards offense. UNLV lost to FCS Howard and had a bad loss to USU at home - not a road loss riddled with turnovers and pick-6's; but a sound mistmatch.

I also note that Fresno St. beat SJSU earlier this year, 27-10. Only about 300 yards offense and needed 4 turnovers to score the 27 points. The turnover battle and the effectiveness of our running game will determine the outcome for this one.

Signs of life for BYU are the fact that BYU's 598 yards of offense and 41 points look more like the performances against SJSU by South Florida, Texas, and Utah; whereas Fresno and Hawaii the two weeks before our matchup had relative struggles against SJSU:

Fresno = 27 points and 348 yards (17-point Fresno win).
Hawaii = 37 points and 451 yards (11-point Hawaii win, but SJSU actually outgained Hawaii - 504 yards - but lost the turnover battle)

Can someone remind me how ECU looked against our defense? Or how our offense did against their 128th ranked defense? Until proven otherwise, I have absolutely no faith that this BYU team will be prepared to beat anyone. Fresno also beat a pretty good SDSU team, the UNLV loss seems more of an outlier than the norm. In fact BYU beating Fresno would be the outlier in this game if you go by the full season of how the 2 teams have performed so far.