New here and thought we would share our two cents. Rabid's is a new college football handicapping blog. Thursday and Friday games don't make our Top 5 Picks of the week, but we like to offer our opinion on them anyway.
Last week our Top 5 went 4-1, and we are 17-8 on the season. If you want to check out our blog go to rabidpicks.wordpress.com. Any comments, good or bad is always welcome. Best of luck to everyone this week.
TEXAS @ IOWA STATE
Texas started to gain some traction beating K-State after a miserable start to the season. Texas looked very balanced by putting up 227 rushing yards and 225 passing yards, and more importantly they played with some fire in their belly. After a bye week they should be well prepared for this one.
Meanwhile ISU has looked horrible. They did get a much needed win against Tulsa after losing the previous two games. We aren't going to read too much into that win though. Tulsa is awful, and looking at the road ahead for ISU, it was a game they had to win.
Texas is 0-1 ATS on the road this year, while Iowa State is 0-2 ATS at home.
The bottom line is, Mack Brown Texas can’t afford a loss Thursday, especially with OU and the Red River Rivalry on deck. We expect Texas to show up under the lights and win comfortably.
The Pick: Texas -7.5
#12 UCLA @ UTAH
Both Utah and UCLA are coming off a bye week and should be well prepared for this game. Utah comes into this game averaging over 500 yards of offense, and 42 points a game, but this will be the toughest test yet for the Utes.
On the other side UCLA is averaging over 600 yards, and 52 points a game. Long story short, UCLA is rolling and winning big, including an impressive win against #23 Nebraska. UCLA has in state rival Cal on deck, but we are not too worried about the Bruins looking ahead to a very average Golden Bears team. In the end UCLA will be too much for Utah to handle.
UCLA is 5-2 ATS on their last 7 road games, but just 2-7 ATS following a bye week. Utah on the other hand is 9-3 ATS after a bye, but wait, they are winless ATS the last 4 PAC-12 games.
The Pick: UCLA -4
BYU @ UTAH STATE
BYU at Utah State will definitely be worth watching as we expect this slugfest to be the better game on Friday night. Both teams come into this game playing some good football. Utah State has a very well rounded team averaging 288 yards passing, and 203 yards rushing a game. Utah State has suffered some key losses already this year at Utah and at USC, but bounced back last week with victory against San Jose St.
BYU will be bringing a rushing attack that averages over 300 yards game into Romney Stadium. To put that into perspective, that’s good for 4th in the nation. BYU has also picked up a couple of early losses this season at Virginia and vs Utah. Like the Aggies, the Cougars also got a bounce back victory last week against Middle Tennessee State. And let’s not forget BYU had that marquee win in Week 2 against #15 Texas.
Utah State is 1-0 ATS at home for the season, and 3-2 ATS overall. BYU is 0-1 ATS on the road and 2-2 ATS overall.
Ultimately we predict the the BYU ground game to keep things close if they don’t outright win this one. We like BYU and the points.
The Pick: BYU +6.5