In College Football on Saturday, the Utah Utes will travel south to Waco, Texas, to take on the Baylor Bears. The Utah Utes are coming off a season-opening win over the Florida Gators.
Utah is one of the teams at the top of the Pac-12 that feel they have what it takes to get into the College Football Playoff in 2023. For the Baylor Bears, the opener was not as kind to them. Baylor dropped a game at home to Texas State.
Baylor was one of a couple of teams out of the Big 12 that were upset in their season opener. The Utah Utes come into this game as the favorite. Utah is listed at -7.5 over Baylor, with a total for the game set at 47.5.
Whittingham Gets the Best out of His Utes
One of the most underrated head coaches in College Football is Kyle Whittingham. The coach did not even have his starting quarterback in the win over Utah.
Cameron Rising missed the game, but Bryson Barnes came in and got the job done. His first pass of the season went 70 yards to Money Parks for a touchdown. From that point, the Utes did not look back.
Leading 17-3 at halftime, Barnes started the party in the second half with a five-yard touchdown run. He finished the game with 159 yards and a touchdown but did everything he needed to do to grab a big win.
Utah will boast one of the nation’s best defenses this season. While Graham Mertz threw for 333 yards, the Utes made it tough for him all night. Utah came away with an interception in the game. The run defense was super effective for Utah, as they held the Gators to 13 yards on 21 carries.
Baylor Coming in After Getting Smacked in the Face
There is no doubt that the head coaching debut of Dave Aranda did not go well for the Baylor Bears. The Bears got smacked in the face by Texas State on their home field. The Bears will look to bounce back and could settle in at 1-1 if they could upset the Utes. Baylor has Long Island next, but then the Texas Longhorns come to town in Week Four.
Baylor lost their quarterback, Blake Shapen, in the game. He had thrown for 303 yards and two touchdowns before his injury. Shapen’s top target was Drake Dabney, the tight end, who caught six passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns.
Taking his place in this game will be Sawyer Robertson. He finished the game 6 of 12 for 113 yards but threw a big interception. Dominic Richardson carried the football 16 times for 79 yards, but the Bears could not get him into the end zone.
The Bears could not slow down the Bobcats, who scored 28 first-half points and added a touchdown in each quarter. Texas State rushed for 143 yards while passing for nearly 300 more in the game. Joey Hobert was the man the Bears could not stop, as he caught six passes for 105 yards and a score.
Utes Smack Baylor in Waco
The Baylor Bears are in trouble. After poor defense in Week One and the loss of their quarterback, this team is in trouble. This is not a good team to play to get back on track. Utah does many things well and will not give a slumping team any opportunity to breathe.
The 7.5-point spread is not enough, especially for a defense as bad as the Bears looked in Week One. Bet the Utah Utes -7.5 over the Baylor Bears on Saturday.
