Las Vegas Bowl Preview: Boise State Broncos vs Utah Utes College Football Picks

Boise State Broncos vs Utah Utes
Wednesday, 12/22/10, 8:00 PM EDT, TV: ESPN
Opening Point Spread: Boise State -17
Current Betting Line: Boise State -17
Opening Total: 61
Current Total: 60.5

Boise State Football Lines — The Boise State Broncos are 17-point favorites in playing the Utah Utes in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl on Wednesday night

Boise State is set to make its ninth-straight bowl appearance and square off against Utah in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl. The Broncos obviously had their sights set much higher this season after completing a perfect season a year ago, but their 34-31 loss at Nevada ended all hopes of reaching the BCS Championship game. “We said all along, at the end of the season, we will see where we are and go from there,” said coach Chris Petersen. The program holds a 4-2 all-time advantage in the series, winning three-straight and with two of those games coming on the road. Boise is 25-10 ATS over the past three seasons and currently a solid double-digit favorite on the college football lines page.

The Broncos are 6-4 in bowl games, but have registered a 2-4 record in the last six due to one, three, four and six point losses. Boise State will also be playing its third straight postseason game against a team from the Mountain West Conference, splitting the last two years with the TCU Horned Frogs. Defensively, the team has allowed just 27 red zone opportunities in 2010, with the opponents scoring just 15 times. The 56 percent success rate for opponents is the nation’s second-best mark. In fact, Boise was the only team in the country to finish the regular season ranked in the top five in both total offense and total defense. The Broncos also ranked second-nationally in scoring offense (46.67) and fourth in scoring defense (13.58).

Utah has compiled an impressive 12-3 record in bowl games and currently boasts the nation’s longest active bowl win streak at night games. The streak is actually the second-longest in the history of college football, just two games back of Florida State’s 11 consecutive bowl victories. The Utes captured two-straight games against San Diego State and BYU heading into this marquee battle on Wednesday night. “We’ve got good momentum going into the bowl game,” coach Kyle Whittingham stated. “We’ve won two tough games back-to-back. We got back on track by handling adversity.” Utah compiled a 7-4 ATS mark this season.

The Utes will be missing starting quarterback Jordan Wynn for this contest, as he’s needing surgery on his throwing shoulder and will be out for the next six months. “It was bothering him and we had an MRI just to take a look at it,” said Whittingham. “It’s not good news, but life goes on and we move forward.” Senior backup Terrance Cain is more than capable in leading the team to victory, posting a 9-1 record as the Utes starter when given the opportunity. This is a proud program that has won at least 10 games for a third year in a row and will likely give a huge effort in keeping the school’s bowl streak alive.