Can Texas Avenge Last Year’s Loss to BYU? Vegas Big 12 Predictions for Week 2 Here.
Vegas Big 12 Predictions
Game of the Week
BYU at Texas
Line: BYU by 2
The 40-21 thrashing of Texas by BYU has to still sting Longhorn nation as the Cougars ran for 550 yards in the game, and getting revenge would be a great way to get the Charlie Strong era at Texas going. But with the injury to David Ash and two more players suspended by Strong this week, both of whom are starters on the offensive line, things are starting to get difficult. The good news is that Texas only allowed 79 rushing yards to a very experienced North Texas team last Saturday as the Longhorns won 38-7, and they also ran the ball pretty well. Tyrone Swoopes will get the nod at quarterback, and as a dual-threat sophomore, that makes for another running threat. Look for Texas to stick to the ground game and try to stop the new balanced offensive attack BYU has. It will be hard.
The Cougars gashed Texas on the ground last year. This year they’re more than capable of doing it again, and they have a more balanced offense with quarterback Taysom Hill now giving them a passing game. They’ll be looking to stick to the same formula that created the blowout for them last year, but with the game in Austin this time, they’ll want to do it early to take the fans out of the game. If BYU can keep it’s offense from going ice cold, which it has a tendency to do every now and then, it could definitely turn this game into another blowout in its favor.
Prediction
All the makings of this game spell a BYU win when you factor in the blowout win they had last year over Texas, all of the suspensions including two more this week by Strong, and the need for the Longhorns to break in a new quarterback. However, something about this Charlie Strong-led Texas team spells resiliency, and it’s going to show on Saturday. The Longhorns pull out a close victory against the Cougars as the defense pulls a 180 over how it played last year.
Texas: 27 BYU: 21