I am a big fan of Wisconsin, but I think they are going to have enough troubles with BYU team that brings unique challenges to the table. I think this is simply a bad match up for Wisconsin that they will have to grind out to get a win. First of all BYU is off an extra week of preparation for their biggest game of the year. Meanwhile Wisconsin dominated Iowa, but suffered a ton of bumps and bruises and a lot of key players are injured and questionable including their two best players on offense and defense. It's not a good time for that to happen because....
BYU is all about tempo ranked #1 with 92.8 plays per game. Wisconsin's defense has been dominated, but struggled with the two tempo teams they faced in Arizona State (loss), and Ohio State (loss). Wisconsin's defense gets loosened a little when you run tempo at them and QB Tayson Hill and Jamal Williams are real threats running the ball. I've really come around on Hill who had struggled because of injuries earlier in the season and could not complete 50% of his passes. All he's done over his last three games is complete 68% of his passes and he's put up big passing numbers against some good passing defense.
BYU can also stop the run ranked 31st in run defense and without a 100% Abbrederis to threaten a secondary Wisconsin's rushing offense become easier to stop.
Utah's stock could not be lower after back to back losses which was not indicative of how good this team is so naturally come into this game with a ton of value given the amount of hype going on with the Arizona State team that I do not think anyone should trust on the road. People forget that Utah knocked of Stanford which looks even better now that you see what happened to Oregon on Thursday night. These speed teams just do not match up well against the physical and mentally strong teams and that's what Utah has especially at home.
First of all it's worth bringing up that Utah off the bye and a healthy QB in Tyler Wilson will make a world of difference and I expect them to win this game. Arizona State's defense will have their hands full with a balanced offense as Utah has showed in many games this year they can beat you with their passing game behind Tyler Wilson and Dres Anderson catching the ball or behind the running of James Poole who had 22 carries and a 111 yards against Stanford. It is no shock that the running game faltered in the last two games (both on the road) against solid defenses with Utah not having a healthy Wilson.
Arizona State loves to run tempo, but their most glaring weakness is Utah's strength. Arizona State's offensive line has struggled and Utah is 20th in sack %, but has gotten better as the season has gone along and are 3rd in sacks. Arizona State allowed 7.59 sack % in road games. Arizona State is just 37% on third downs on the road while Utah can set them up in third and longs as they can dominate a team up front trying to run the ball. Utah just held USC and Silas Redd to 30 yards on 30 carries.
