By Charles Jay
Utah State must be a campus that is difficult on quarterbacks,
because the Aggies continue to lose them. This season they lost Chuckie
Keeton (injury-prone to begin with) for the season, and then quickly the
next two guys on the depth chart fell. Now they’re down to the
fourth-string quarterback, Kent Myers, who they will move with as they
play host to the San Jose State Spartans in Friday night’s college
football betting action (9:30 PM ET). Myers is not necessarily
spectacular in his production (he completed 13 of his 21 passes against
New Mexico last time out), but he has completed 75% of his throws and
has won all three of his starts. Utah State only needs for him to be
efficient, as their defense, which allows just 19.8 points per game, can
pick up a lot of the slack. That is the primary reason why the Aggies
are 13-point favorites in the football odds posted at America’s Bookie, with the total at 46 points. .
Amazingly, San Jose State had 462 yards of total offense last week
against Hawaii, never punted the football, but still did not score!
Three turnovers on their part didn’t help, and those kinds of slippery
hands will not benefit them here against a Utah State squad that beat
them 40-12 in last season’s game. More of a challenge is probably being
thrown at the Spartan defense in this one, as Utah State was almost
perfectly balanced in last year’s encounter, with 267 passing yards and
253 on the ground. San Jose State has dropped five of its last six games
on the road against the football odds, and they have also covered only
two of their last nine games overall.
In another 9:30 PM ET start, the San Diego States Aztecs play host to
the Air Force Falcons. One of the things that Rocky Long was known for
when he was coaching at New Mexico was putting together defenses that
could keep an option attack off-balance just a little, and so his teams
were always of thorn in the side of Air Force. What is a little bit more
interesting for football bettors about the Falcons this season is the
fact that they are throwing the ball a lot more; in other words they
really ARE becoming an air force, behind quarterback Kale Pearson, who
actually has 13 touchdown passes on the season. And just in case you
were further interested, Pearson has averaged 9.6 yards an attempt and
has been intercepted only twice. So make no mistake – you can’t overplay
Air Force for the run anymore. And this team has very quietly compiled
an 8-2 straight-up record. That includes a victory over Boise State,
which is on the verge of the national rankings, and ownership of the
Commander-in-Chief trophy, which they won by virtue of triumphs over
Navy and Army. SDSU had a potent enough weapon in RB Donnel Pumphrey
(13463 yards), but they don’t throw the ball as efficiently as Air
Force, so this is truly an uphill battle. San Diego State is a
five-point favorite in the football odds at America’s Bookie, with a
total of 50.5 points. They have won and covered four straight games in
the series, and take note that the Aztecs have played nine of their 10
games under the total.
The Rice Owls got blown away 41-14 by nationally -ranked Marshall
last week, but prior to that they had six straight victories, both
straight-up and against the football pointspread. They play host to the
UTEP Miners (8 PM ET kickoff), who recently secured bowl eligibility,
which is certainly a step forward. Star running back Aaron Jones came
back from a brief injury absence to gain 177 yards for UTEP against
North Texas, and he is averaging almost six yards per carry. However,
Rice has covered ten of the last 11 games in this ongoing series. That
included last year’s 45-7 romp, in which both teams ran the ball rather
well, but UTEP had only 116 passing yards and three turnovers. In the
football odds currently posted by the people at America’s Bookie,
Rice is a 7.5-point favorite, with an over/under of 53.5 points. At
least one of these teams, and maybe both, will be going to a “Miner”
bowl, and maybe it;’s the Sun Bowl right there in El Paso!
Check out all the college football lines at Americas Bookie.
Football Odds at America’s Bookie- Friday Night Lights: Utah State On a Roll, Even with Fourth-String Quarterback
