Mississippi State at BYU Free Pick & Lines

Posted by Jordan Walterss on Tuesday,October 11, 2016 10:42, EDT in

Mississippi State has made a bowl game six straight years under Coach Dan Mullen, a school record. But that streak is going to be in major jeopardy should the Bulldogs lose on Friday out of conference at BYU to fall to 2-4. MSU still has several very tough SEC games to play and likely wouldn’t get to the six wins needed for a bowl game with a loss. BYU is a TD favorite, however, on college football lines.

How To Bet on the Mississippi State at BYU Free Pick, Lines & TV Info

When: Friday, Oct. 14, 10:15 PM ET
Where: LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, Utah
TV: ESPN
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Mississippi State / BYU
Opening NCAA Football Lines: BYU -7.5 (52.5)

Why Bet on Mississippi State?

The Bulldogs were stomped by Auburn 38-14 on Saturday. Mississippi State had momentum in the game’s opening minutes when Kivon Coman intercepted a deflected pass to give the Bulldogs’ great field position at the Auburn 19. But five plays later, Westin Graves missed a 28-yard field goal. It only got worse for Mississippi State. Auburn scored touchdowns on five of its next seven drives to take control of the game.

MSU QB Nick Fitzgerald threw for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Fitzgerald also led Mississippi State with 61 yards rushing. The redshirt sophomore fumbled twice because of poor protection from his offensive line. At one point Martinas Rankin didn’t even break from his stance by the time the defender ran by him and caused a fumble that was recovered by the Tigers. Mississippi State didn’t eclipse 100 yards of total offense until the third quarter. It didn’t score until 5:48 remained in the quarter.

Fred Ross grabbed his 15th-career touchdown reception with an eight-yard strike from Fitzgerald. He moved into sole possession of fifth place in school history in the category. Ross became the sixth MSU player to notch 1,900-career receiving yards (1,928). Ross has a catch in 27-straight games, currently the longest streak in the SEC. Richie Brown’s 14 tackles is the highest total by a Bulldog defender this season and the most since Cameron Lawrence had 15 against LSU on Nov. 10, 2012.

“You look at the game, and it starts up front. They physically won the line of scrimmage, and you’re not going to win many football games if you’re not winning the line of scrimmage,” Mullen said. “One of the things we take a lot of pride in is being physical and winning the line of scrimmage. Put on top of that, you start doing a lot of things in the course of the game that aren’t going to help you win, whether it’s dropped passes, silly penalties, red zone – they were 5-for- 5, and we were 1-for- 3 in the red zone.”

MSU is 2-3 for the first time since 2013. The Bulldogs started that season 4-6 before winning their final two games of the season to clinch a bowl berth.

Why Bet on BYU?

The Cougars (3-3) won 31-14 at Michigan State on Saturday. Jamaal Williams ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns in helping send the Spartans to their third straight loss. It was his fourth game of 160-plus rushing yards this season. Cougars QB Taysom Hill ran for a touchdown and threw for another in the second half. Hill went 18 of 27 for 138 yards while adding 47 yards on the ground and another score. It was his first rushing touchdown since Utah this season, giving him three on the year.

BYU trailed 7-3 at halftime but scored touchdowns on all four of its second-half possessions — not including its final drive, which consisted only of kneel-downs. Hill’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Colby Pearson put the Cougars ahead, and he then added a 12-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars rushed for 260 yards, the most allowed by Michigan State since Sept. 19, 2015, against Air Force (279). After surrendering 692 yards the previous week to Toledo, the Cougar defense held Michigan State to its fewest total yards (206) since the Spartans mustered just 187 against No. 13 Nebraska in 2011.

BYU and Mississippi State are meeting for the third time in the history of the two programs. The teams have split a previous home-and- home series, with the road team winning each contest. BYU defeated the Bulldogs 41-38 in the last matchup in 2001. BYU is facing an opponent from the SEC, marking the fifth different conference BYU has faced in 2016. The team has already played games against the Pac-12, Big 12, MAC and Big Ten. BYU has played 10 games against current SEC opponents and is 5-5 in those games. Last year, BYU fell to Missouri 20-16 in Kansas City.

My Free Pick

Bulldogs are 5-11- 2 ATS in their last 18 games following a double-digit loss at home.
Cougars are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 home games.
Cougars are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 non-conference games.

Take BYU, go under the total in college football betting.