Independence Bowl: Saturday December 18 at 3:30 pm ET.
College football fans will likely see this matchup and think it is an odd pairing of teams. Well, they would be right, as UAB and BYU have never played each other in the history of either program. UAB is playing in its fourth bowl game since resurrecting the program in 2017, and have been a solid but unspectacular member of the Conference USA. UAB will be making the move to the AAC soon enough, but the 8-5 record this year isn’t as impressive as it looks at first glance. UAB’s most impressive wins are over Marshall and UTEP, who both finished the season 7-5. The rest of their wins were against bottom feeders in the Group of Five conferences. BYU put together its second straight double-digit win season and saw an offensive output that didn’t miss a beat without quarterback Zach Wilson. The Cougars finished 25th in the country in total yards per game, 29th in points per game, and 24th in third down efficiency. Their defense was the weak point, but overall BYU fared well with six victories over Power 5 conference teams, including impressive wins over Utah and Washington State. Yet the spread opened above a touchdown at eight points and has been bet down to 6.5, which shows there is some love for UAB on the market. BYU was only 5-7 ATS in its 12 games, while UAB was 8-3-1 ATS during theirs. Quality of opponent and strength of schedule are pivotal in this handicap, and the lower the spread goes the more I like BYU. Neither team has reported any opt outs so we should expect a full BYU offense in this game. If this spread can touch six, I love the Cougars at under a touchdown here, and will lay it with BYU at the smallest spread I can get.
>> For December Only: 100% Sign Up Bonus at Youwager Sportsbook. Sign up at Youwager to collect yours.
Add Comment