The Utah State Aggies and the Boise State Broncos collide at Albertson’s Stadium in Boise, Idaho in a crucial game that will decide one of the two slots for the Mountain West Conference title game.
The winner of this game will host Fresno State, which clinched the first spot in the title game by winning the West Division last week. Both teams are red hot right now with Utah State on a ten game winning streak while Boise State has racked up six straight victories entering this contest.
#21 Utah State has turned its season around after losing their opening game of the year to Michigan. The Aggies have won a school record 10 games in a row and is tied with Michigan for the fifth longest winning streak in college football. Utah State is averaging 49.3 points per game, the second highest scoring average in FBS, just slightly behind Oklahoma’s 49.5 points per game. The Aggies are also ranked 11th in total offense at 498.6 yards per game.
Sophomore quarterback Jordan Love is completing 66.4 percent of his passes and has thrown for 2,845 passing yards with a total of 25 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions. Love threw for 169 yards with one touchdown during the Aggies close call win over Colorado State. Utah State was more lucky than good in that game after Colorado State’s touchdown was disallowed after a review showed that the receiver caught the pass while out of bounds.
#23 Boise State has won six games in a row since losing to San Diego State in their conference opener. That streak has put them in this position where a victory over the Aggies would give them the same record but would enable them to proceed to the Mountain West championship game by virtue of the tiebreaker.
Senior quarterback Brett Rypien has thrown for a total of 3,270 passing yards this season with a career high 28 touchdowns and is ranked 16th in the nation in passing efficiency. Rypien set Mountain West career records for passing yards and completions during their 24-17 triumph over Fresno State. Rypien threw for 222 passing yards with three scores in their most recent game against New Mexico last Friday.
Utah State is 5-0 SU in their last 5 games played and 4-1 SU in their last 5 games played on the road. Boise State is 5-0 SU in their last 5 games and 9-1 SU in their last 10 games at home. Head to head, Boise State is 14-1 SU in their last 15 games against Utah State and 5-0 SU in their last five games home against the Aggies.
I like the way both quarterbacks have performed this season but in a game of this magnitude, I think the one with more experience is going to shine brighter and in this case it is Rypien who should be able to lead the Broncos to victory.
Boise State is playing well right now and they are clicking on all cylinders. Utah State is also a very good football team and in fact, these may be the best team ever produced by the program. I think these teams are well matched and we should have a good, close game here. I’d like to call this a pick ‘em game and in such games, I would go with the home team.
With Boise State losing just once in their last 10 games and beating the Aggies in their last five home games, I’m rolling with the Broncos. We’re picking the Boise State Broncos to beat the Utah State Aggies on 11/24/18.
The Aggies are 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games played and 7-14 ATS in their last 21 games on the road. The Broncos are 6-4-1 ATS in 11 games played this season and are 7-15 ATS in their last 22 home games. Head to head, Boise State is 13-3 ATS in their last 16 games against Utah State and Boise State is 6-2 ATS in their last 8 home games against the Aggies.
Boise State has won nine of the last 10 meetings between these teams and are 7-3 ATS over that period. In those 10 games, the Broncos have outscored the Aggies by an average of 24.7 points per game. The last three games have been close though as Boise State only outscored Utah State by an average of 4 points per game with Boise State winning two of those three games. This one should be as close or it could go down to who has the final possession. Prediction: Boise State -2.5
The total has gone over in 8 out of the last 11 games of Utah State and the under is 5-2 in the last 7 games of Boise State. The total has also gone under in 17 out of the last 25 home games played by the Broncos. Head to head, the over is 4-1 in the last five games between the Aggies and Broncos and the over is also 4-2 in the last six home games of Boise State against Utah State.
On the season, both teams combined to score 86.63 points per game. The Aggies rank second in the nation in scoring at 49.3 points per game and Boise State has averaged 38.8 points in their last five games while topping the 40 point barrier thrice in those games. I think both quarterbacks step up in a game of this magnitude, resulting in a high scoring affair. Prediction: Over 67.5 -105
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