Predictions for Utah's College Football games for 10/13

Weber State at Sacramento State

Don't look everyone.  Out of Weber State 5 remaining games, how many opponents have winning records?  Just this one.  OK, Montana is .500 right now and probably will be above .500 when they come to Ogden in November.  The point being, the last have of Weber schedule is a lot easier than the first half.  The Hornets own a win over Colorado and came from behind last week to beat Southern Utah.  On paper, Sacramento State should win this easily.  This may not be the first game of Weber State's first win this year.

28-17 Sacramento State

Southern Utah at Montana

The Grizzlies let go of Robin Pflugrad in the off season, and have not been playing like themselves this year.  That might be good news for the Thunderbirds.  But the defense has given up 31 points per game in Big Sky games this year.  That is not counting the Utah State, California and New Mexico Highlands games.  The Grizzlies also have a defense that has not been quite good enough, either.  Montana's offense does not need their offense to score more points, they need their defense to show up.  This one could be a shootout.  It is a must-win game for both teams.

49-45 Montana

Utah State at San Jose State

So early in the WAC season, and a game to could decide the conference champion.  The Aggie D is pretty good, but the offense struggled last week only getting 243 total yards with 42 on the ground against BYU.  But that was against one of the best defenses in the US.  Now they take on the pass-happy Spartans, who have not seen nearly the caliber of opposition that the Aggies have, except for their single loss to Stanford.  David Fales has 1400 yards passing at and a 159.8 rating so far this season.  Yea, he's good enough.  It will be fun to see what the battle-tested Aggies can do.  But I have a feeling, this will be another relatively low-scoring affair.

24-17 Utah State

Utah at UCLA

Is this the bounce-back game for Utah? It could be.  There is some of that optimism floating around the Utah camp right now.  It is not unfounded.  The Utes, so far, are the only FBS program to score an offensive touchdown against BYU.  They are capable of more than what they have shown so far this season, except when playing their rivals.  Perhaps they should pretend that Bruin Blue is BYU Royal Blue in Pasadena.  Then they might get to play there more often.  Utah beat UCLA quite handily in Salt Lake last season.  This is not last-season's UCLA.  This group is much better coached.

27-10 UCLA

Oregon State at BYU

I was crucified on a BYU chat board for saying that BYU's offense is good enough to win games.  I stand by that remark.  BYU had a defense that the other team can't score on.  They have held 4 opponents this season out of the end zone.  The difference between the wins and losses in Provo this season has been the mistakes on the offense.  The Cougars lost both games by one score and in both of those game the opponent's defense scored a touchdown.  That is what it is going to take for Oregon State to get away from Provo with a win.  I did NOT say that BYU had a great offense this year.  But with this defense, it is good enough as long as they do not make any big mistakes.  No turnovers and few penalties and BYU will win on Saturday.  That is a lot to ask, but possible.

10-6 BYU