College Football week 7 Friday night

Here is the breakdown for the 4 games that are playing on Friday night.  Keep scrolling down for my Thursday night games. 

Cincinnati at BYU (-7):

I’m torn between this game, and will probably just end up sitting it out.  The line is nearly perfect, with no clear value represented on either side, but my computer is saying that it should be closer to an 8 point game than 7, maybe even 9.  This Cincinnati offense is explosive, and they’ve gone score for score with everybody this year that they didn’t just destroy.  Even without their starting QB Kiel, they’ve stayed in the game or won.  Two weeks ago they upset Miami FL, winning by 11 as an underdog.  BYU on the other hand has played quite the season so far.  They had 2 wins in the most dramatic way possible to start the season, then nearly upset UCLA on the road.  Finally they were shut out at Michigan and then beat UConn and East Carolina the next 2 weeks.  They have a QB problem as well, with season starter injured and the backup getting hurt last week, but he did return to the game.  Just not sure how he is feeling.  It’s going to be a shoot out in Utah on Friday I can guarantee that, but I’m passing on a side.

Houston (-19) at Tulane:

Tulane is bad, like bottom 20 in the country bad.  Houston is playing pretty well, but that is a lot of points to be laying on the road for a team not named Baylor.  This Houston offense is pretty special, averaging 575 yards per game.  They sure do miss the coach of Houston at Ohio State, as he was the offensive coordinator on last years championship team.  Tulane has beaten FCS Maine and UCF off a bye.  UCF is normally a strong team, but they are playing very poorly this year.  The 3 games that Tulane has played against power 5 schools they lost by an average of 31 points per game.  I have no reason to believe that won’t be the case again this week.  With all of that said, I’m passing on this game, as you never know what is going to happen when laying close to 3 td’s on the road.

Boise State (-9.5) at Utah State:

This Boise State team is good, and they’ve been getting better each week.  They are averaging over 480 yards of offense per game, but the Utah State defense has been pretty stingy so far this year only allowing 297 yards per game.  At the current line, it’s a coin flip to who will cover as the simulations have been in that 9 – 10 point range.  This is the 2^nd straight week of travel for Boise State.  Utah State did a great job against their toughest opponent of Utah in week 2, keeping that game within the numbers.  This seems to be a team that gets up when it needs to.  While I’m sure that Boise State will win the game, I’m not sure they can cover the spread, but they have a great chance to.  To many unknown variables.  I’m passing on this one.

UNLV (-7) at Fresno State:

This is a battle of the bottom.  Well not the bottom bottom, but both teams are pretty close to the bottom of the rankings.  Against FBS opponents the closest game for Fresno State was a 14 point loss 2 weeks ago at San Diego State.  Both teams have played San Jose State, and both lost, even though UNLV played them at home.  There is essentially no stats that make you feel all warm and fuzzy about backing either of these teams in this game.  The closest one to swaying a decision is UNLV is averaging 218 yards rushing per game, while Fresno State is allowing 211.  That’s normally enough to get me, but I just don’t trust this UNLV team to lay a td on the road.

So no picks for Friday.  Scroll down to read the Thursday night games, and 2 picks.  Check back for the Saturday games.  Good Luck.