The Boise State Broncos continue their run through the season as they host Air Force this weekend. College football odds boards list the Broncos as 31 point favorites with a projected total of 65. Where should you place your money?
Watching the Boise State Broncos is a bit like seeing
multiple chase scenes converge on the same freeway.
There's the pursuit of simple respect for what Chris Petersen
has done since taking over the program. The Broncos are 67-5 under Petersen and his staff.
There's Kellen Moore and his quest for a Heisman Trophy. The senior quarterback has posted outstanding
numbers during his career, and is completing nearly 76% of his passes this
season with a 21:4 TD-to-INT ratio.
Boise
State is also hunting new
avenues for conference affiliation just one year after switching from the WAC
to the Mountain West. A possible change
to yet another conference is all about one thing: Gaining automatic qualifier
status into the BCS so the Broncos can really be part of the biggest chase of
all, for a national title.
Petersen, Moore
and the Broncos will continue their multiple chases this Saturday at home
against the Air Force Falcons. Kickoff
from Bronco Stadium is 3:30 PM (ET) with Versus providing the telecast.
College football odds opened with the Broncos favored by
29.5 to 30.5 points, numbers that college football betting action quickly pushed up by 1-2 points with early
support for Boise
State. Likewise, Saturday's total was fast to shift
up a point to 65.
The first-ever contest between the two schools really should
be no contest, as the spread would indicate. It will be the first MWC home game for the Broncos who annihilated Colorado State on the road a week ago 63-13 in
their conference debut.
Some will point to Air Force ranking 42nd in the country in
pass defense, but that's solely due to the Falcons letting teams run all over
them, ranking 119th (next to last) in the country allowing nearly 230 yards per
game rushing. Quarterbacks are exiting
games against the Fly Boys with a rating over 149; Moore brings a 179.7 mark into this matchup,
fourth in the nation.
Moore
is directing a pretty well-balanced offense overall, 12th in the country with
almost 500 yards per match. Tailback
Doug Martin is coming off a 200-yard game on the ground last week and should
find a lot of running room on the blue turf this week against the Falcons.
Petersen has Boise
State sitting fifth in
the first BCS rankings of the 2011 season, a pretty distant fifth at that, about
0.15 behind top-ranked LSU. But the
Broncos will get a little help during the rest of the regular season with No. 1
LSU eventually playing No. 2 Alabama, and No. 3 Oklahoma meeting No. 4 Oklahoma
State down the road.
The odds are definitely stacked against the Broncos as far
as reaching the BCS Championship. Any
team in an AQ conference that wins out will always have the edge on Boise State. Wisconsin
and Stanford can easily slide ahead of the Broncos, and don't automatically
rule out the loser of the 'Bama, LSU contest as being out of the national title
game picture.
All Petersen and his squad can do is keep winning and hope
for a lucky break, or help from some goofy computer.
Taking a Chance: A very nice day is in store for Boise according to the weatherman, so Moore and the Broncos should have no trouble
running up and down the blue carpet. Boise State
has a defense that could really stifle the Falcons ground attack. The question is how long will Petersen leave
the pedal to the metal on offense with Moore.
With a bye week on deck for the Broncs, I think I will place my college football picks by laying the 31 and bet
OVER 65.