Do We Get a “Strong” Feeling For Nevada Wolf Pack vs. Colorado State Rams?
By Charles Jay
In Mountain West football betting for BetAnySports patrons on Saturday, the Nevada Wolf Pack closes out the regular season against the Colorado State Rams (9 PM ET at Fort Collins).And indeed, it will have a little emotion attached to it, with 35 seniors making their final regular season appearance.
But while CSU will call it a season after this, the Wolf Pack is not totally finished just yet.
Nevada (7-4 SU, 8-3 ATS) has covered five of its last six games. The Wolf Pack is by now a bowl-eligible squad, joining the likes of Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State, and Wyoming in the Mountain West. The conference only has six guaranteed spots, but we don’t think Nevada is going to get shut out of that, since they have the attraction of the guy who might just be the first quarterback taken in the next NFL Draft – Carson Strong.
And because of THAT, coach Jay Norvell’s offensive vision, which is pretty vast, has its best chance of being realized.
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Mountain West Football Betting — Prospect or suspect?
Strong’s numbers are, well, just that. He is a 70% passer who’s going to pass 4000 yards here. And he has 32 TD’s.
Many people know the story already; he is considered by many to be the top prospect among signal-callers who are going to make themselves available for the 2022 NFL Draft. With a rocket arm and great decision-making, he is so coveted that there were some mock drafts posted over the summer that had him as the #1 overall pick (CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated were just a couple).
But questions linger about a serious knee injury that he sustained in high school. That’s not a good sign to a lot of scouts.
For our purposes, however, we’ll point to something that may be associated with that injury and which is the one thing that could really hold him back, which is his lack of mobility in the pocket.
He doesn’t have to be a scrambler or a guy who can do designed runs like Lamar Jackson or, in the college ranks, Malik Willis. But he’s a little cement-shoed back there. This makes him vulnerable to an educated pass rush.
That just so happens to be the thing Colorado State does best.
Mountain West Football Betting — Here are the numbers at BetAnySports:
Nevada Wolf Pack -3
Colorado State Rams +3
Over 57.5 Points -110
Under 57.5 Points -110
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Mountain West Football Betting — CSU has a “versatile” defense
The Rams (3-8 SU, 4-7 ATS) have let this season get away from them; that much is an understatement. They’ve now lost five straight games, and even though they were all competitive for a while, they are all still non-covers. And with no head of steam down the stretch, some are skeptical as to whether head coach Steve Addazio, whose previous stop was Boston College, will be able to stick around after this season.
The Rams gave up 385 and 388 yards on the ground to Wyoming and Air Force, respectively, in back-to-back games. Then, just to show they had a balanced defense, they surrendered 406 passing yards to Hawaii and QB Chevon Cordeiro in a 50-45 defeat.
Mountain West Football Betting — The key: Rush the passer
But Colorado State does bring the heat. They are third in the nation in Sack Percentage, which is calculated relative to dropbacks. They had eight sack against Hawaii. For an immobile QB like Strong, this presents a problem.
And we say that especially since there is no team in the nation that runs the ball less frequently, or gets a lower percentage of its yards from rushing as the Wolf Pack.
Mountain West Football Betting — Our conclusion
We know that Colorado State will get its sacks. But what happens when it doesn’t? Strong could really do a number on them.
There’s kind of an empty mood at CSU. They were behind 36-10 against Hawaii when they scored a few garbage touchdowns, which actually threw a brief scare into the Rainbows. But I wouldn’t count on 527 passing yards out of Tood Centeio again. We’re going to lay the points.
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