By Darren Cooper in College Football
Published:
Utah (9-2; 8-3 ATS) needs a win over Kansas (5-6; 4-7 ATS) and some help to reach the Big 12 title game on Black Friday at noon on ESPN.
It will be the teams’ first meeting since 1996. Utah has won 11 straight November games against unranked teams.
I’ve got my Utah vs Kansas prediction and pick for Friday, plus tips on the best line so you can get your Christmas shopping started right.
The motivation for both teams is clear. Kansas needs a win to get to six wins and become bowl eligible. Utah needs a win and a lot of help to make the Big 12 title game—they need Arizona, West Virginia, and UCF to also win. That would be a heck of a parlay (don’t do it).
Kansas will be having Senior Day at Memorial Stadium. They will certainly miss senior QB Jalon Daniels when he is gone. Daniels has had the best year of his career and is one of 10 Big 12 quarterbacks all time with over 9,000 passing yards, 60 passing touchdowns, and 20 rushing touchdowns. Mahomes and Baker are two others.
Both teams are flawed on defense. Utah gave up 473 yards rushing last week to Kansas State and lost star defensive end John Henry Daley to a leg injury for the season (they aren’t saying, but it looked like an Achilles). He had 11.5 sacks.
Kansas is giving up 26.4 points a game on defense and 174 yards on the ground.
My Utah vs Kansas pick is Kansas with the points at home. I’m not so sure they can win straight up, but I see a shootout with lots of points. Neither team has a very good defense, and at this stage of the season, there’s no fixing that now.
Utah QB Devon Dampier is one of the best players in the Big 12 and has 26 total touchdowns. Utes running back Wayshawn Parker has run for 836 yards. And the Utes use Byrd Ficklin down at the goal line as a wildcat QB. The freshman has 10 TDs, including three last week (prop bet alert!).
I expect Kansas to play very hard in this Black Friday CFB matchup. They had a three-point loss to Cincinnati and a four-point loss to Arizona. Either way, it looks like a shootout. The weather in Lawrence should be cloudy and in the 40s, so no issues there. Kansas is 4-2 at home.
Odds from Bet365 on Nov. 27 at 3 p.m. ET. Ring in the holiday season with our Bet365 bonus code.
The spread is 11.5 at most sportsbooks, but it’s 11 at Caesars. The total is 59.5, but you can also find 60 if you’re not worried about a push. The best moneyline value on Utah is at DraftKings, where it’s -425. You can get Kansas +355 at Fanatics.
The Utes have been one of college football’s best bets this season. They’re 8-3 against the spread, they’ve won three of their last four games ATS, and their last five games have all hit the over. Utah has covered the spread in eight of its last nine road games against unranked teams.
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Darren has been covering the world of sports since 1998. His grandfather had a special 'system' to bet on the ponies, but the secrets of that system have been lost to time. He loves betting the under, thinks homefield advantage is worth more than 3 points nowadays and always stays within his means.
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