Las Vegas Bowl Preview

This is easily the best of the early bowl conflicts, ranking 8th on our radar, with two Top 25 teams. This is BYU’s fifth straight Las Vegas Bowl, which seemingly isn’t that big a problem, since the Mormons have a large population in the southern part of Nevada. Maybe in a different economy, the Cougars (10-2, 5-7 ATS) might be inclined to look at another site, but given the choice, Vegas made the most sense.

BYU’s senior class has won 10 or more games for the fourth year in a row. Quarterback Max Hall directs the 13th best pass attack in the land at 299.6 yards per game. Coach Bronco Mendenhall is an Oregon State alumnus and former defensive coordinator with the Beavers and hopes for running back Harvey Unga continued health. Slowed with severely injured hamstring in fall camp, only recently has Unga gone full tilt like he did against Utah in gaining 116 yards. Opposing coaches agree, the Cougars are much harder to prepare for with a healthy Unga. BYU is 4-13 ATS after the first month of the season the last two years.

Oregon State (8-4, 7-4-1 ATS) was oh so close to making first Rose Bowl appearance in 46 years, but came up short to rival Oregon in pivotal contest. A justifiable question is the Beavers mental state after falling to the Ducks. In a similar scenario a year ago, Oregon State bounced back and won the Sun Bowl, however this year they have nine fewer days to prepare, making it harder to gauge response time.

Sean Canfield closed career with a brilliant senior campaign (16th passing offense), completing a school-record 70 percent of his passes. The Rodgers brothers, Quizz and James, will test BYU’s speed on the defensive perimeter. Oregon State is 13-4 ATS when playing with two weeks or more of rest under coach Mike Riley.

BYU opened as early 1.5-point favorites and were swiftly turned around to underdogs. The Cougars are 4-2 and 3-3 ATS vs other bowl teams, with Oregon State 3-4 and 4-3 ATS. The BYU bowl history is pretty pathetic at 9-17-1 SU and 9-16-1 ATS, including 6-9 ATS as underdogs. The Beavers are 8-5 SU and 5-3 ATS (5-0 and 4-1 ATS under Riley), with 5-3 spread record as favorites. Since the bowl committee established an affiliation with the Mountain West, the conference is 6-6 and 5-6-1 ATS.

Bookmaker.com has Oregon State now posted as 2.5-point favorites, with total having sunk two points to 58.5. Both teams were excellent away from home, with the eager Beavers 4-2 and 5-1 ATS and the feisty Cougars 6-0 and 4-2 ATS, winning by over 26 points a game.

Oregon State is 9-2 ATS when playing against a team with a winning record over the last two seasons and the total might be an indicator of outcome since coach Riley’s team is 7-1 ATS when they score 28 or more points.

This is 8:00 Eastern start on ESPN and the favorite in a BYU bowl game is on 7-0 and 5-2 ATS run.

3DW Line – Oregon State by 4