BYU Cougars Spread vs. South Florida Bulls (September 3)

Written by :

Mary Montgomery

Published on :

30 August, 2022

BYU Cougars Spread vs. South Florida Bulls (September 3)

BYU will be a -12 road favorite in South Florida Saturday. BYU (40) had a power rating of 76.02 and South Florida (113) 60.84 for a line of -13. This indicates a slight underlay for BYU.

BYU vs. South Florida Betting Preview (September 3)

This is supposed to be an easy win for BYU. This is a Cougars team that is favored to win OVER 9 reulgar season games in 2022. South Florida had a regular wins total of 4.5.

This Cougars squad is full of great talent with nearly all its best players from last season returning. Tackle Blake Freeland, guard Blake Barrington, QB Jaren Hall, Gunner Romney and Puka Nacua will ensure the Cougars are firing on all cylinders.

BYU does need to improve on the defensive side as last year's D allowed 388 yards and 25 points per game, and this won't get them to 9 wins or more if that trend continues.

The Bulls were active with the transfer portal in an effort to improve a very bad run defense, but will that be enough to cover the 13-point spread?

“If we are fortunate enough to play well and earn a victory Saturday, that will be a big moment for our process and our journey this season,” Bulls head coach Jeff Scott said in a news conference Tuesday morning.

Most books have been holding at -12.

The Cougars will need to win big here as they have two very tough games to follow against Baylor and at Oregon. A few weeks later they will host Notre Dame.

We would anticipate BYU to come into this one with a dominating performance and an easy cover.

A Look Ahead for the Cougars vs. Baylor Bears

Baylor (9) was entering the 2022 season with an 85.91 rating and will be a road favorite, probably around an -8.5 favorite. Oddsmakers may have to bring this one down though.

The Bears have gone 9-4 Against The Spread over the last two full seasons of college football (not counting the 2020 season).

For the first time in the Big 12's history, Baylor was the preseason pick to win the football league in the media poll.

Blake Shapen will be starting as quarterback. He was selected to start over Gerry Bohanon, who started much of last year prior to suffering a leg injury. Shapen completed 71.1% of his passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns in three games, including winning the Big 12 Championship.

A Look Ahead for the Cougars at Oregon Ducks

We will know after Week 1 how good the Ducks (14) are going to be this season as they will face off against the Bulldogs in Georgia. They're not expected to win, but as long as they play well their power rating of 84.20 should hold up. Assuming that is the case, Oregon could actually be a -10 point favorite against BYU. Should the Cougars beat Baylor, we should see that number slashed a bit.

The talent is there, and the addition of a few choice transfers helped fill in the gaps and the depth. The defense, in particular, is expected to be solid.

Casey Rogers and Jordon Riley are both All-Big 10 academic guys.

D-Line coach Tony Tuioti said of Rogers and Riley: "Just physicality. They've got experience. Both of them have graduated. We're dealing with more mature young men. They're basically coming into this season like professional football players."

The Ducks were expected to win OVER 8.5 regular season games in 2022.