Cincinnati vs Brigham Young Odds: Cougars Slight Friday Favorites

The Cincinnati Bearcats visit the BYU Cougars in a Friday night Big 12 Conference showdown. The winner of the game will notch its first Big 12 Conference victory. Both NCAAF teams lost their conference openers last week. The Cincinnati vs Brigham Young odds see the Cougars -3 (Even) with a total of 50. BYU is -140 on the moneyline.

Bearcats Looking to Bounce Back After Defeats

After winning its first two games of the season, Cincinnati (2-2, 0-1) has dropped its last two. Last week’s 20-6 loss to Texas pushed against the point spread. The Bearcats are 2-1-1 against the spread and 3-1 in totals, with the Texas game easily landing under the total of 57.5 on the college football betting lines.

Cincinnati’s stats look pretty impressive for the season. But much of that has to do with the season-opening 66-13 thumping of Eastern Kentucky. It’s been much tougher than that the remaining games. But the Bearcats do have a victory at Pittsburgh to their credit. Cincinnati lost to Miami (Ohio) in overtime in its other game.

Quarterback Emory Jones is making some plays, although that’s not always a good thing. He’s thrown for 970 yards and seven touchdowns. But he’s been intercepted five times and sacked nine times. Considering Jones has solid mobility, the Bearcats need to block up front a little better.

The Bearcats average 214.8 rushing yards per game, with Corey Kiner’s 328 yards pacing the way. Jones is the second-leading rusher on the team and has three of their six rushing touchdowns.

Defensively, the Bearcats have been solid against the run, allowing 3.5 yards per carry. Cincinnati hasn’t been quite as strong against the pass, but aren’t playing too terribly bad. The Bearcats held Oklahoma to 103 rushing yards, but did allow 322 through the air.

Cougars Capitalizing on Opportunities

BYU is averaging 30 points per game, which is pretty solid considering it only averages 323.5 yards of offense. The running game has been horrible. The Cougars are averaging 2.2 yards per rush. The passing game has been decent behind quarterback Kedon Slovis. He’s thrown for 1,017 yards and eight touchdowns against three interceptions.

The Cougars did beat a decent Arkansas team on the road 38-31 as 8-point underdogs. But the Cougars dropped a 38-27 decision to Kansas last time out as 9.5-point underdogs. The point spread loss moved BYU to 1-3 on the season. The Cougars are 3-1 in totals this year.

The BYU defense is still a bit of a question mark. The Cougars shut down the likes of Sam Houston State and Southern Utah. But Arkansas and Kansas have scored a combined 69 points the last two games. If the offense doesn’t start running the ball better the Cougars are going to have more games allowing more than 30 points. You can’t leave your defense on the field for 33 minutes a game and expect them to play well. The NCAA football schedule isn’t going to get any easier for BYU with TCU, Texas Tech and Texas waiting in the wings.

What to Expect

The Bearcats are likely going to come out and run the football. That’s what they do best and it’s a solid running game that allows Cincinnati to average nearly 34 minutes of possession. With their ball-hawking ways, the Bearcats could have the ball close to 35 minutes in this game.

BYU can defend the pass pretty well. But the Bearcats have Jones to take off running if the receivers are covered, which will help out here.

The Cougars would like to run the ball. But they haven’t been able to so far this season. BYU had just 46 yards against Southern Utah. That’s better than the nine yards rushing the Cougars had against Oklahoma. Slovis is a good quarterback. But you don’t want him to have to do everything on his own.

Who to Bet On?

This one could be one of the more entertaining games on the college football schedule this week. The Cincinnati vs Brigham Young odds of Cougars -3 (Even) lets you know the sportsbook is counting on a fairly close game. Being a Friday night game, there will be more money wagered on this game than if it was another Saturday game.

The Cincinnati vs Brigham Young odds of 50 on the total has the potential to go over the number. If the Cougars can’t run they’ll be throwing a lot and BYU’s defense has been a little rough against the better teams on the schedule.

The Bearcats have played a tougher schedule than BYU and have slightly better numbers. Until the Cougars show their defense can stop the bigger-name schools, it’s hard to back BYU. Cincinnati +3 is the play in this one.

For NCAAF betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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