Baylor at BYU Prediction for Week 2
Odds, best bets and analysis for this college football matchup
Matthew Horner - Sep 7, 2022, 6:22pm EDT
Baylor Bears
Well, Week 1 went about exactly as it should for the Baylor Bears. The only thing that FCS Albany brought to the table was a decent pass defense, and that got lit up for 214 yards and two touchdowns from Baylor starter Blake Shapen. The Bears were able to do just about anything they wanted to do offensively, and the defense completely bottled up the Albany offense. There were no surprises here with a 69-10 victory for Baylor, but Week 2 will feature a far better opponent that should really test them.
BYU features a veteran offense that is absolutely loaded with returning talent. Even for a very good Baylor defense that does a phenomenal job stopping opposing rushing attacks, this is going to be a challenge. Most of the road games for Baylor this season will test them, to be fair, and it isn't going to be as easy in 2022 as it was in 2021 with gathering wins.
Still, it is very easy to overlook the Bears because they don't have the fame and prowess of Texas or Oklahoma in the Big 12. This is a team that won the conference last year, and they have the talent to do so again. Texas is no sure thing, and Oklahoma isn't either with their new head coach.
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BYU Cougars
BYU had almost as equally of an easy win in Week 1 as Baylor did, but it was slightly more of a challenge. That said, it was still a dominant 50-21 rout of South Florida that was never in doubt. The Cougars scored 11 seconds into this one, led 28-0 at the end of one quarter and 38-0 before the Bulls even got on the board.
Baylor is a different animal altogether that will give this extremely talented BYU team much more of a fight in Week 2. The good news for the Cougars is their offense is totally loaded with veteran talent. The skill players are there for QB Jaren Hall to get the ball to, and the offensive line should be one of the better groups in the country. They will certainly be tested by a great Bears pass rush and front seven that can shut down the best of them.
The biggest concern if have for BYU is their defense, which needs to prove against good competition that they can stop the run and actually generate a pass rush. They struggled in those departments last season, and while the Bulls aren't exactly a bad team, they aren't a real contender either. Baylor is, so it will be interesting to see how they perform against equal competition.
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Baylor vs. BYU Prediction
This should be a very tough game between two teams that are pretty equally matched. Going into BYU on the road will be a massive challenge for Baylor, but they have the defense to slow down the attack of the Cougars. I don't fully trust the BYU defense as of yet either, and their performance against the Bears will go a long way as to how I view them this season.
It is early in the season, and it is hard to judge these teams based off of easy Week 1 wins, but I have to take the points in this situation. If they are going too give me over a field goal with either of these teams, I'll take it. It should be a close contest that could come down to the wire.
I'll roll with Baylor +3.5.
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