Utah State Football: Aggies aim for New Mexico Bowl win over North Texas

Utah State faces North Texas in Albuquerque to open the bowl season. Seth Littrell opted to stay with the Mean Green, while Matt Wells left for Texas Tech.

More: Picks and predictions for every college football bowl game with confidence points

The first FBS bowl game of the 2018 postseason takes place in Albuquerque, where one team that was expected to lose their head coach to a bigger school will take on another school that actually did lose their leader on the sidelines.

Utah State heads to the New Mexico Bowl with an interim coach on the sidelines, after Matt Wells opted to take the Texas Tech job. Wells becomes the second straight Aggies head coach after Gary Andersen to jump from Logan to a Power Five program. In a full-circle move, Andersen will take back over for Wells at Utah State next season. But in the bowl game the Aggies will be led by Frank Maile, the defensive line coach and co-coordinator on defense.

On the other sideline, Seth Littrell opted to stay at North Texas despite his name being floated as a candidate for several Power Five positions. His Mean Green side faded from Conference USA contention in late October after losing to UAB, but Littrell still has a shot at 10 wins with this group if they win the New Mexico Bowl this year.

Two high-scoring offenses will meet in Albuquerque to kick off the bowl season in 2018. Here’s how you can watch the New Mexico Bowl between Utah State and North Texas:

Date: Saturday, Dec. 15
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
Location: Albuquerque, N.M.
Venue: Branch Field at Dreamstyle Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN | FuboTV

Keys to Victory

Savon Scarver needs to have a big return or two for Utah State to ensure that they win the field position battle. Scarver leads the country in kick return average and has two return touchdowns already this year. Avoiding fumbles will also be critical for an offense that coughed up the ball a dozen times in the regular season, and reducing the number of penalties they incur is also a necessity to win the New Mexico Bowl.

For North Texas, victory on their trip to Albuquerque will be contingent on either matching the Aggies offense or getting a key stop or two. The former requires Mason Fine to be as efficient and deadly through the air. The latter requires a defense that struggles against the pass to shut down Jordan Love when he goes back to throw. Getting pressure at the line of scrimmage will help with that goal and set up the Mean Green for an upset.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of oddsshark.com

Point Spread: Utah State -8.5
Over/Under: 66.5

Prediction

North Texas is going to get a few stops and hold Utah State at least a touchdown below their season average. But a solid Aggies defense will in turn make life difficult for Mason Fine and company, as they shut down several Mean Green drives and convert at least one turnover into points. By the end of the day, the New Mexico Bowl is going to end in the first double-digit victory since Utah State last played in the contest in 2014.

Final Score: Utah State 38, North Texas 28