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2007 BYU Cougars Football Preview & Predictions

Now take a look at our 2008 BYU Cougars Football Predictions!

After an 11-2 record in 2006, there is a lot of high expectations filling Jimmy Boyd's 2007 BYU Cougars football preview and predictions article. The school went undefeated in MWC play at 8-0, but that team had a lot of senior leadership that has graduated away, so whether this team is back to the national prominence remains to be seen. The team will have to break in a lot of new faces at the skill positions on offense, which might not bode well for early games against Arizona and at UCLA. If they can get past those tough non-conference games with their confidence in tact, then the November contest against TCU will more than likely determine the conference champion and possible a BCS-bowl contender.

The quarterback position is up for grabs after the graduation of John Beck, a guy who started nearly every game for the Cougars over the past three seasons. Now the player taking the snap will have no Division I football experience as Max Hall came over from Arizona State and ran the scout team a year ago. With a year in the system he should be able to do a decent job of calling plays at the line and firing the ball to the receivers quickly. The team is focusing more on the run this year anyway, so the pressure will be less intense. The offensive line returns four of five starters and are big boys who will be able to move the opposing lines. Couple that with Fui Vakapuna, a 234-pound bruiser at tailback and defenses will be sore come Sunday morning after facing BYU. At receiver the team is getting back Austin Collie, who is probably the best guy despite having served his two-year mission and not playing since 2004. Michael Reed, Bryce Mahuika, and Matt Allen are the other three pass catchers who are all better than average.

The Cougars were young and inexperienced on the front line last year, but even though the team is still young, they have experience. Ian Dulan and Jan Jorgenson both played solid from the end spot, with Jorgenson racking up 5 sacks as a freshman. At tackle Russell Tialavea proved to coaches that he can hold his own. The strongest spot on the defense though is at linebacker where Bryan Kehl and David Nixon lead from the outside spots. Both of these linebackers are smart, fast, and can both play in coverage or blitz the passer. The middle spots will see Kelly Poppinga and Shawn Doman. The secondary made big improvements to help the Cougars only average 14.7 points against last year. The turnovers this unit created was a big reason, and Ben Criddle at corner and Quinn Gooch at safety are both playmakers who will look to continue that trend.

BYU is a team that some people lose focus on for their college football betting, but the way the school played last year this won't be the case for long. Thursday night games are popular and the Cougars play a big one against the Horned Frogs in November which will draw a lot of action. If you want to win more of your bets against the college football odds then don't focus only on the big conferences because smaller school can show more value. Our college football picks don't discriminate, we take a look at each game and find the matchups that we think the odds makers missed the boat on. That is why we are the best in the business and our clients make so much money.

July 30th, 2007