#9 vs #21

The Baylor Bears travel to Utah to play against the BYU Cougars on Saturday, September 10th at 10:15 pm. This will be the second game both of these teams play this season. This will also be the fourth time these two teams match up in football. Last season was the first time in almost 40 years that they played each other. The Bears have a 2-1 series lead and won last year by a final score of 38-24. Heading into this one, Baylor is ranked #9 and BYU is ranked #21, according to the AP Top 25 Poll.  The odds for this game are currently set at -178 BYU, +150 Baylor, and the over/under is 53.5 according to Caesars Casino & Sportsbook. New users will receive a Risk-Free Bet of up to $1250 on their first wager. When you make your first bet, if it loses, it’s on the house as Caesars will refund any losing wagers in full (up to $1250 in the form of a single-use bonus credit Plus Caesar’s is adding 1,000 Reward Credits and 1,000 Tier Credits). You must make a deposit to get the bonus! Click the link to sign up or use Promo OSBETFULL. Claim your bonus here!

The BYU Cougars are currently 1-0 after having won their first game last week against the South Florida Bulls by a final score of 50-21. They are coming off a season where they finished 10-3 and ranked as the second-best team in the FBS Independent conference. They, unfortunately, ended their season with a loss to the UAB Blazers, by a final score of 31-28, in the Independence Bowl. Last year against the Bears, the Cougars failed to assert their running game as they only rushed for 67 yards and their rushing leader only contributed about 33 of them. On top of that, this team rushed for around 189 yards per game last season. The Bears seem to have game-planned for the run in that game. The Cougars did receive a lot of offensive help from quarterback, Jarren Hall, and wide receiver, Puka Nacua. In the game, they were able to connect for a touchdown while Hall threw for 342 yards and Nacua received 168 of them. Hall was also able to score one time rushing the ball but his and the team’s efforts weren’t enough that night. 

Last week against the Bulls, Hall and Nacua picked up where they left off. Hall threw for 261 yards and 2 touchdowns but did throw an interception and had a quarterback rating of 82.5. Nacua, on the other hand, helped the Cougars rush the ball in this game as he had 76 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. Christopher Brooks also had a great rushing day as he had 135 yards and 1 touchdown. Nacua and Brooks helped BYU rush for a total of 312 yards in the game. The Cougars defense also came up big in their win last week after they had a pick-six from Max Tooley. This game against Baylor will be big for the Cougars and they should receive a lot of help from their fans. 

The Baylor Bears are currently 1-0 after winning last week against the Albany Great Danes by a final score of 69-10. The Bears are also coming off a great season where they finished 12-2 and won their final game of the season against the Ole Miss Rebels, by a final score of 21-7. Last year Baylor finished ranked as the #5 team in the nation according to the AP Top 25 and just missed the college football playoffs. Last year against the Cougars, the Bears dominated as they had 134 more total yards. They rushed for 303 yards and running back Abram Smith rushed for 188 yards and 3 touchdowns. Quarterback, Gerry Bohanon, also helped the Bears as he threw for 231 yards and one touchdown. This season the Bears have a new quarterback and running back. Last week against the Great Danes, quarterback Blake Shapen helped them to an easy win. He threw for 214 yards and had two passing touchdowns and rushed for one. Running back Richard Reese also had a great game as he rushed for two touchdowns. In this game around the Cougars, the Bears will be away from home and that will play a huge factor against them. 

I think this game will be up to which team has the ball for the last drive of the game. Both of these teams are great at moving the ball and scoring points. They also have great defenses. Last year the game was one-sided for the Bears and that could be due to a great game plan and playing at home. This one is to be played at BYU so it will be interesting to see if the same will happen. The last time they played the total points scored was 62. After great scoring performances last week, it will be hard to imagine a low-scoring game in this one. 

For our expert, Baylor Bears vs BYU Cougars prediction, take the over on 53.5 total points scored.