NCAA FOOTBALL BETTING PREDICTION - ARIZONA STATE @ UTAH

NCAA Football

2011-10-08 - Arizona State at Utah

A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted

ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS @ UTAH UTES
American Football : North America : NCAAF
Saturday, October 8th, 2011, 3:30PM US
(8:30PM GMT)

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PREVIEW

Wow, not a good time to have your starting QB out, as the Utah Utes welcome Arizona State's Sun Devils to Mormon country. With starting QB Jordan Wynn out for the next 3 weeks with an arm injury, it's up to Job Hay to try and keep this competitive. Since joining the Pac12 the Utes have gone 0-2 in conference action and I fear they will drop to 0-3 here. Overall, they are 2-2, while Arizona State are a near perfect 4-1.

Arizona State are looking good so far, with the defence particularly good. In just 5 matches, they have got opponents to turn the ball over 13 times, thats 7th best in the country in that department. This team beat a then 19th ranked Missouri in OT after topping UC Davis in their opener but then lost to Illinois 17-14 on the road. Since then they have stomped their next 2 opponents, both in conference action. USC were battered 43-22, and Oregon State were brushed aside 35-20. The only concern is that QB Brock Osweiler, who has 1,352 yards and 10 TDs so far, got picked off 3 times in his last match, taking his total to 6 interceptions in 5 matches. I believe it happened because running on Oregon State was difficult and they had to throw it a lot more.

While they might have got picked 3 times, Arizona State did excellently on defence, getting Oregon State to turn it over 5 times, 4 times on interceptions, of which Alden Darby caught 2! Jamaar Jarett forced a fumble and registered 2 sacks, and I expect them both to do very well against Utah's new QB, who will not know what hit him. Another man likely to cause Utah's offence trouble is Vontaze Burfict, as he was unusually quiet against Oregon State and he's not about to have 2 games like that.

Now this is why I really believe they will torment Utah. Last week, they allowed Oregon State to gain just 47 yards rushing! If they do the same to Utah, it puts unbelievable pressure on poor Hay to try and win it. Guess what, he can't.

BETTING VERDICT

There is an argument that may crop up about whether Arizona State might get caught looking ahead to their next match, against Oregon. I don't see it happening. If your next match is a toughie, with a chance of losing, would you really take any risks with the current match? Surely it's in your interests to bury the team in front of you so you have that win in the bag. That's how I would approach this game, and that is how I believe the Sun Devils will too.

The spread is short here, and while I would have preferred 3, I like Arizona State to cover the 3.5.

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

Take Arizona State to win on the ML@ 1.60 (Pinnacle) - STRONG selection