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One of the biggest games of the week in College Football is none other than Brigham Young University (BYU) verses Texas Christian University (TCU). Not surprisingly, the odds opened at -2 in favor of the road team, BYU, who are top 10 ranked this week. The line has since dropped down to a pick at online sports books like BetUS.com.
At first glance, BYU-TCU looks like a bad scrabble hand, according to Andrew Bagnato of the Associated Press.
But when the ninth-ranked Cougars take on the Horned Frogs on Thursday night, it will have implications far beyond Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.
In terms of the Bowl Championship Series, it's bigger than Florida State-Miami and Notre Dame-Michigan. Way bigger.
Is the college football world ready to accept this?
"I don't think so," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said on the Mountain West coaches teleconference. "I think that we're intriguing to a lot of folks, and I think the ranking simply says that."
If you're hoping to take a gander at the game, remember that the Cougars and Horned Frogs are playing on Versus, must-see TV for outdoorsmen but perhaps not the place one expects to find one of the college football season's pivotal games.
This is what the innovative Mountain West has to do as it tries to elbow its way into college football's elite. If it has to squeeze its games in between hunting and mixed-martial arts, so be it.
"As for our league right now, I think the best teams in our league are almost obligated to play on Thursday night for the benefit of the league to try to gain attention for our conference, and that's all members," Mendenhall said. "There is a tradeoff, though, and I think it is hard on the players."
The 6-0 Cougars are remarkably only 2-3 Against The Spread heading into this one. Texas Christian is 6-1 Straight Up and 4-2 ATS.
BYU has won 5 of the last 6 dating back to 1988, though it should be pointed out that they are 2-1 in this series over the past three years worth of games, winning the last two we might add. Only one of those three games were won by more than a touchdown and BYU was on the winning end in that game. The game they lost was a 50-51 affair.
The Cougars are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 road games vs. a team with a winning home record and 8-3 following an ATS loss. The Horned Frogs are 38-16 ATS in their last 54 home games and 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 conference games.
TCU lost big on the road this season to the only team they faced as an underdog - the Oklahoma Sooners. Technically in this matchup, the Horned Frogs are underdogs, and that is not likely to change by game time since more than 85 percent of the betting action was going towards BYU. Granted a majority of the online sports books had this game with even odds at press time Wednesday morning.
Brigham Young has been a big favorite in all the games they played this season thus far. This is probably the first true test the Cougars will face in quite a long span of time.
Still, we like their chances based on past history between these two schools in addition to the solid play of BYU. Gambling911.com will take BYU as the pick.
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Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com
