Thursday, February 9th, 2012
The Utah Utes will head into the Lone Star State to face Mountain West rival the TCU Horned Frogs in a college football game on Saturday night in prime time. Kick off time at TCU is scheduled for 7:30PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by CBS College Sports Television. The LVSC college football odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and the home team TCU Horned Frogs opened as a 16 point favorite. The early money from the college football betting public has come in on the home team, as the TCU Horned Frogs are currently a 19-½ point favorite. The over under is set at 46 ½ for the college football betting public to wager into. College football money line players will find the home favorite TCU Horned Frogs lined at –1300 with the road underdog Utah Utes bringing back +850 to win this game with no need for points on their side.
The pressure is on the TCU Horned Frogs as the team is sitting on a 9-0 record and is just three wins from a perfect season that would most likely qualify the Horned Frogs for an at large BCS Bowl berth. But they must first beat the defending Mountain West conference champions Utah Utes who stand in their way. Utah has beaten TCU in two straight. TCU is coming off a 55-12 pounding over an improving San Diego St team last week. The Horned Frogs accumulated 551 yards of offense in victory. TCU has notable wins on the season at BYU and at Clemson with a narrow escape at Air Force. The Horned Frogs have pounded their past 4 opponents by a combined score of 175-25. TCU is the top defense in the Mountain West allowing their opponents just 240 yards per game and just 4.0 yards per play against average. Offensively junior quarterback Andy Dalton has hit on 63% of his passes for 16 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on the season. Dalton has not thrown a pick in 4 games. But Andy Dalton has been atrocious against Utah in his career and has never beaten them. In their 2007 meeting Dalton was 20 of 45 for 164 yards, no touchdowns and 4 interceptions. In 2008 the Horned Frog quarterback was just 16 of 37 for 251 yards no touchdowns and 4 interceptions. The Horned Frogs run the ball very well with Joseph Turner averaging 5.1 yards a carry, Ed Wesley 6.1 a carry and Matthew Tucker at 5.4 a carry. The Horned Frogs will be facing a Utah team 8-1 on the year and the #3 rush defense in the Mountain West allowing 3.49 yards per rush. The team’s lone loss was a 31-24 defeat at Oregon St where they turned the ball over 4 times. Utah will go with a freshman quarterback in Jordan Wynn who does a better job of stretching opposing defenses with the deep pass. Wynn will be making his first ever start on the road and has completed 64% of his passes with 3 touchdowns and an interception. Junior quarterback Terrance Cain was benched at halftime of the Wyoming game and benched for good for at least the near future. Cain is too shaky under center and Wynn is the better option in this game. Eddie Wide has run effectively for the Utes with 6.2 yards per carry average and 8 rushing touchdowns on the season with 131 carries.
Tony T’s Opinion: If this game makes my card I would be on the side of the underdog with Utah plus the points. I may dabble into some of that money line as well. I have never been a fan of Andy Dalton at quarterback. That’s why I never play on TCU laying points because I have seen him spit out the bit too many times in big games. He has not performed well in his career at TCU against the Utes and I see a possible upset brewing in this game.
For the Latest CFB Odds Please Visit our CFB Odds Page
CFB Trend: Utah Utes are 4-1 ATS in their past 5 meetings
The Wagerline consensus has 51.0% of the CFB bettors on TCU –19 1/2
The Wagerline consensus has 62.0% of the CFB bettors playing over 46 1/2
Tags: college football betting odds, utah utes versus tcu horned frogs college football betting odds pick preview
