We have another example here of the oddsmaker being sharper than college football Top 25 voters. BYU is unbeaten and ranked 11th in the country. Iowa State is unranked and off two straight losses.
Yet the Cyclones are the favorite. I’ll go with the linesmaker and take Iowa State.
Nothing against the Cougars, who have accomplished everything so far, but the situation is stacked against them.
BYU just had back-to-back emotional wins against in-state rival Utah last week and an overtime victory against Arizona two weeks ago. Iowa State, meanwhile, had a much needed bye last week following consecutive road losses to Cincinnati and Colorado. The Cyclones have won nine of their last 10 home games.
Iowa State has the better quarterback, Rocco Becht, and expects to get back its top running back Carson Hansen, who suffered a concussion three weeks ago.
Before losing to Cincinnati and Colorado, the Cyclones had buried Arizona, 39-14, at home. BYU nearly lost to Arizona. The Cougars had to score 10 points in the final 4:08 to force overtime against the Wildcats and then prevailed in overtime, 33-27.
The Cougars have never defeated Iowa State. The team’s last met in 2023 at BYU and Iowa State slaughtered the Cougars, 45-13.
