Mountain West Championship: San Diego State vs Utah State prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, December 4
Mountain West Championship: San Diego State vs Utah State How To Watch
Date: Saturday, December 4
Game Time: 3:00 ET
Venue: Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, CA
How To Watch: FOX
Record: San Diego State (11-1), Utah State (9-3)
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Mountain West Championship: San Diego State vs Utah State Game Preview
Why Utah State Will Win
Get this offense rolling and look out.
The Aggies have been great in the first year under Blake Anderson, cranking up the offense to be second in the Mountain West behind Fresno State, doing a great job of moving the chains on third downs with a strong midrange passing attack that can open things up and work deep.
San Diego State’s defense might be amazing, but this isn’t the type of team that wants to get behind.
Everything about the Aztecs is about controlling clock and tempo. Fresno State was able to get up fast in the 30-20 win in late October, and the SDSU offense couldn’t get back into the game.
The Utah State defense is good enough at getting into the backfield to screw up the Aztec offense, and veteran QB Logan Bonner – a playmaker at Arkansas State before following Anderson over to Utah State – isn’t going to panic or buckle against everything the SDSU D brings.
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Why San Diego State Will Win
Underestimate San Diego State at your own peril.
The Aztecs had to beat Boise State to get to Mountain West Championship, and they looked like they were dead.
The Broncos rolled out to a 16-3 lead midway through the second quarter and appeared to have the right formula to roll to a win like they did against Fresno State.
San Diego State flipped a switch.
Jordan Brookshire stepped in at quarterback and was brilliant, WR Jesse Matthews kept rolling through his fantastic season, and the amazing defense locked down hard.
The Aztecs are second in the nation against the run behind Wisconsin, they’re great at forcing takeaways – coming up with three against Boise State – and they’ve been able to hold up against most of the big bombers on the slate.
Jake Haener and Fresno State were able to get the job done in the win, but Nevada’s Carson Strong bombed away and UNLV threw for 372 yards, and it didn’t matter because the run defense took over.
And …
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What’s Going To Happen
San Diego State should be able to control the game with its ground attack.
It’s all slowed down a bit over the second half of the season. The Aztecs dominated on the ground in the first five games – including against Utah and Arizona – with over 200 rushing yards in each, but the offense became more balanced as defenses started to load up more to stop the deep backfield.
Utah State’s run defense is about to have a hard time.
Wyoming was able to run for 362 yards on the Aggies a few weeks ago, and while that was a bit of an anomaly, San Diego State will start to do a bit of that.
Utah State hasn’t faced a whole slew of tough ground games – it came up with the win over Air Force in a shootout – and now it will have to deal with the Aztec lines.
This won’t be scintillating. It’ll be clinical.
– College Football Schedule: Championship Week Predictions, Lines
Mountain West Championship: San Diego State vs Utah State Prediction, Lines
San Diego State 26, Utah State 17
Line: San Diego State -6, o/u: 50
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5
Must See Rating: 4
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