Utah at Boise State

This has to be the biggest net loss in terms of Bowl quality for a team in the history of NCAAF. The Boise State Broncos went to Nevada a few weeks ago knowing a win would leave them hoping for a shot at the BCS Championship Game. They were shocked by Nevada and instead of potentially playing for a National Championship, they have to settle for an absolute meaningless December 22nd Bowl game. They don't even get a high-level BCS Conference team to play against. How can the Broncos possibly be up for this game? While Boise State may be recalled beating Oklahoma in a major bowl game, turn the clock back to three years ago. Versus the Sooners, they had a reason to play and something to prove. But, three years ago the Broncos were in a similar spot, unbeaten and heading to Hawaii knowing a win would likely see them in a BCS Bowl. They lost that game and subsequently wound up facing an average East Carolina team as a huge 11.5 point favorite. Boise lost the game outright. Utah has covered seven of their last eight Bowl games and will be the motivated team here as they need team-wide redemption for their brutal loss to TCU. Utah is 29-14 ATS in their last 43 road games vs. winning teams. They are also 19-8 ATS in their last 27 vs. teams that complete 62%+ of their passes. With 2+ weeks to prepare for a game, the Utes have gone 26-10 ATS in their last 36. I like Utah plus the points here.