BOISE STATE -23 over Wyoming
After the nation's second-longest winning streak came to an end last weekend, the Boise State Broncos set out to start anew, as they host the Wyoming Cowboys in a non-conference game at Bronco Stadium Saturday evening. The Broncos went into their game with Oregon State with a school-record 13-game win streak and emerged with a slim 26-24 setback in Corvallis. Prior to the setback the Broncos were barely tested with wins over Idaho and Idaho State that saw the team outscore the opponents by an 86-10 margin. As for the Cowboys, they started 2003 with a 21-10 triumph over Montana State, setting the stage for the team to better it's 2-10 record from a year ago. Unfortunately, after taking out the Division I-AA Bobcats, its been all down hill with consecutive losses to Oklahoma State, Kansas and Air Force last weekend.
QB Casey Bramlet leads the Cowboys and is ranked fifth in the nation in passing yards. Although he is accounting for 304 yards a game through the air, Bramlet is finding little support coming out of the backfield, as the Cowboys are averaging a mere 93.2 ypg on the ground. Wyoming usually finds itself in passing situations as they find themselves trailing by large margins on a regular basis. While opposing defenses have brought down Bramlet 15 times already, the Cowboys have been credited with just a single sack, and are ranked 115th in the country in run defense, allowing 264 ypg. That's a recipe for disaster here as Boise State has a powerful, balanced offensive attack.
Ryan Dinwiddie paced BSU in defeat on Saturday by completing 19-of-36 pass attempts for 334 yards and a score. David Mikell does the bulk of the work carrying the football, although he was limited to 45 yards on 16 attempts. He was facing one of the better rush defenses in the country on foreign turf, and he should have a big game against Wyoming. The most encouraging aspect for Boise State to emerge out of the loss was the newly found connections between QB and WRs. Dinwiddie has an all new cast of receivers this year, and this was their first breakout game. Boise State is still one of the high-scoring teams in Division I-A, tallying 37 ppg, and should easily top that here. The team's run defense is one of the finest in the nation, and will have little problem with Wyoming's anemic rush game. The pass defense has given up much more yardage, but it too has been stingy on the points, allowing just two touchdowns through three games.
Putting one in the loss column may have been the best thing for the Broncos at this point in the season. Now they won't have to be concerned with all the attention that is given to teams that are on a long winning streak and have the possibility of going undefeated. Consequently, the BSU setback was probably the worst thing for Wyoming, who now have play the Broncos on Boise's "blue carpet. The Cowboys will have great difficulty matching the Broncos speed and intensity as they'll have little left in the tank following their battle last week with Air Force. Wyoming is 0-6 ATS vs. non-conference teams their last half dozen tries, 2-8 ATS vs current WAC schools, and, speaking of the blue carpet, the Cowboys are 0-6 ATS on artificial turf since 1998, including one SU/ATS loss already this year. Meanwhile, Boise State has simply been the best bet in college football the past few seasons. They are an amazing 20-2 ATS in SU wins, 18-4 ATS at home, including 10-1 off a road game, 13-3 ATS off a SU loss, and 19-3 ATS when they score at least 28 points. While Wyoming hasn't fared well against this conference or on turf, Boise State is 5-0 SU/ATS vs. the Mountain West, and 32-14 ATS on turf. Look for the Broncos offense to hit full stride here as they bury a tired Cowboys club.
PROJECTED FINAL SCORE: BOISE STATE 49 WYOMING 17
After the nation's second-longest winning streak came to an end last weekend, the Boise State Broncos set out to start anew, as they host the Wyoming Cowboys in a non-conference game at Bronco Stadium Saturday evening. The Broncos went into their game with Oregon State with a school-record 13-game win streak and emerged with a slim 26-24 setback in Corvallis. Prior to the setback the Broncos were barely tested with wins over Idaho and Idaho State that saw the team outscore the opponents by an 86-10 margin. As for the Cowboys, they started 2003 with a 21-10 triumph over Montana State, setting the stage for the team to better it's 2-10 record from a year ago. Unfortunately, after taking out the Division I-AA Bobcats, its been all down hill with consecutive losses to Oklahoma State, Kansas and Air Force last weekend.
QB Casey Bramlet leads the Cowboys and is ranked fifth in the nation in passing yards. Although he is accounting for 304 yards a game through the air, Bramlet is finding little support coming out of the backfield, as the Cowboys are averaging a mere 93.2 ypg on the ground. Wyoming usually finds itself in passing situations as they find themselves trailing by large margins on a regular basis. While opposing defenses have brought down Bramlet 15 times already, the Cowboys have been credited with just a single sack, and are ranked 115th in the country in run defense, allowing 264 ypg. That's a recipe for disaster here as Boise State has a powerful, balanced offensive attack.
Ryan Dinwiddie paced BSU in defeat on Saturday by completing 19-of-36 pass attempts for 334 yards and a score. David Mikell does the bulk of the work carrying the football, although he was limited to 45 yards on 16 attempts. He was facing one of the better rush defenses in the country on foreign turf, and he should have a big game against Wyoming. The most encouraging aspect for Boise State to emerge out of the loss was the newly found connections between QB and WRs. Dinwiddie has an all new cast of receivers this year, and this was their first breakout game. Boise State is still one of the high-scoring teams in Division I-A, tallying 37 ppg, and should easily top that here. The team's run defense is one of the finest in the nation, and will have little problem with Wyoming's anemic rush game. The pass defense has given up much more yardage, but it too has been stingy on the points, allowing just two touchdowns through three games.
Putting one in the loss column may have been the best thing for the Broncos at this point in the season. Now they won't have to be concerned with all the attention that is given to teams that are on a long winning streak and have the possibility of going undefeated. Consequently, the BSU setback was probably the worst thing for Wyoming, who now have play the Broncos on Boise's "blue carpet. The Cowboys will have great difficulty matching the Broncos speed and intensity as they'll have little left in the tank following their battle last week with Air Force. Wyoming is 0-6 ATS vs. non-conference teams their last half dozen tries, 2-8 ATS vs current WAC schools, and, speaking of the blue carpet, the Cowboys are 0-6 ATS on artificial turf since 1998, including one SU/ATS loss already this year. Meanwhile, Boise State has simply been the best bet in college football the past few seasons. They are an amazing 20-2 ATS in SU wins, 18-4 ATS at home, including 10-1 off a road game, 13-3 ATS off a SU loss, and 19-3 ATS when they score at least 28 points. While Wyoming hasn't fared well against this conference or on turf, Boise State is 5-0 SU/ATS vs. the Mountain West, and 32-14 ATS on turf. Look for the Broncos offense to hit full stride here as they bury a tired Cowboys club.
PROJECTED FINAL SCORE: BOISE STATE 49 WYOMING 17
