Oregon St Beavers at Boise St Broncos, Bronco Stadium, Boise, ID
Saturday, September 25, 2010, 8:00 pm EST, TV: ABC
Opening Line: Boise St -17
Current Line: Boise St -18
Opening Total: 56
Current Total: 56
Money Line: Boise -900/ OSU +650
All odds for this game taken from bookmaker sportsbook.
Coach Mike Riley takes his Oregon St Beavers to the land of the blue turf to take on Chris Peterson and the Boise St Broncos. Both are ranked in the top 25. Oregon st is #24 despite losing at TCU in the first week of the season, and narrowly defeating Louisville at home last week. Boise is ranked #3 in the country and has beaten Virginia Tech and Wyoming on the road. Boise has not lost a regular season game at home since Washington St beat them in 2001. That is 56 games without a loss. (The Broncos did lose a bowl game or two on the blue turf since that game.) Oregon St tries to play spoiler for the second time 4 weeks as they go to Boise. They have come to Boise twice during the streak. both times they jumped out to quick 14-0 leads, and both times they ended up losing by at least 19 points.
Oregon St has been out gained 906-574 in two games so far this year. Ryan Katz only has 300 yards passing but does have 4 touchdown passes so far. The two best weapons on offense for the beavers are the Rodgers brothers, Jacquizz and James. Older brother Jacquizz is one of the best running backs in the country. He has 42 carries for 207 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also has 5 catches and a touchdown. James Rodgers is the teams leading receiver with 7 catches for 102 yards and a touchdown. Boise will do well contain one or both of those two brothers. Defense could be a problem for the Beavers as they have given up an average of 29 points in two games against TCU and Louisville, and over 450 yards a game. They have forced 4 turnovers and 2 sacks.
The Boise crowd will be loud and crazy. ESPN even chose to take it’s Game Day show to Boise this week, rather than to some other higher profile matchups like Arkansas-Alabama or West Virginia-LSU. Boise is 2-0 and is clicking on both sides of the ball. Last week, the Broncos went into Wyoming and dismantled the Cowboys 51-6. That could have easily been a trap game as the Broncos were coming off an emotional game against Virginia Tech and had this game coming up. However, the Broncos out gained Wyoming 648-135. They were up 37-0 before Wyoming scored a meaningless touchdown. The Broncos forced 3 turnovers as well. Quarterback Kellen Moore has thrown for 585 yards, with 5 touchdowns and only one interception this season. The Broncos also have a great running game as well, led by Doug Martin (29 carries, 188 yards, and one touchdown) and D.J. Harper (15 carries, 139 yards, 2 touchdowns) Moore’s top two targets are receiver Titus Young (10 catches, 174 yards, 1 touchdown) and tight end Austin Pettis (9 catches, 161 yards, and 3 touchdowns.) On defense the Broncos have been dominant as well. They have only given up 449 total yards, and forced 7 sacks and 4 turnovers.
Boise’s blue turf is difficult to adjust playing on visually. Oregon St even painted one their practice fields blue in preparation for this game. Boise needs this game badly to even be considered for playing in the national championship game. Some say Boise not only needs to win but win convincingly. This will probably be Boise’s last true test of the season, but they do have to travel Reno to play a talented Nevada team who just beat California 56-21 last week. That game isn’t until November, but this week Boise has to handle a tough Oregon St team.
For our free football picks on this game we like Boise State minus the number. We have the game lined at -20 and Boise State falls into a number of strong situations. With a rare national tv appearance, expect Boise to come out and make a statement against a BCS conference foe. While this play is profitable we have spotted 7 strong picks for the Saturday card including our 20 unit Revenge game of the year. We expect this to be an easy winner and I would want to make sure you were on this game if you are betting college football on Saturday. Click here for college football picks from Maddux Sports.
I sure am sick of hearing OS is our last “real” test. One if rational mind should recognise the rest of the non- AQ organisation performances over “elite” competition realize anything is possible in any game. Times are changing so those insecure talking heads so comfy in the current status quo of college games perhaps begin reading themselves for a reality check of the way evolution works!
If you will notice I did mention that Boise still has to travel to Reno, for a tough game with Nevada. They get Fresno and Hawaii at home, They do have to travel to Idaho, which is a tough rivalry game especially in light of what the Bronco’s AD said about the drunken Idaho fans. While those 4 games will be tough tests, Boise will still be a double digit favorite in all of them. You are right, anything could happen, but I think it is highly unlikely that Boise loses to any of those teams and the rest of the teams in the WAC are garbage. San Jose, New Mexico St, Utah St, and Louisiana Tech couldn’t beat Boise if they took their best players and formed one team. As a fan of the Mountain West, conference I would love to see Boise and/or TCU be given the chance to play for a national championship, but I don’t think it will happen even if both run the table.