Week 1: Oregon State vs Boise State 9/3/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Oregon State Beavers and Boise State Broncos clash Saturday in week 1 college football action from Reser Stadium.

The Boise State Broncos will hope to have a better outcome in 2022, after finishing the year 7-5 overall including a 5-3 mark in Mountain West conference play. The Broncos received an invite to the Arizona Bowl, but a COVID outbreak within the Broncos’ roster caused Boise State to withdraw from the bowl game. Hank Bachmeier is back at QB for the Broncos, and so is top running back George Holani, but the problem for Boise Staet is that that’s about where it starts to go downhill. Bachmeier threw for over 3,000 yards, 20 touchdowns and 8 INTs and Holani rushed for 569 yards, but after those two, the majority/bulk of Boise State’s offense production is gone, leaving a lot of question marks and unproven commodities for the Broncos. On defense, Ezekiel Noa is back at MLB for Boise State while Scott Matlock leads the pass rush after making the all-MWC team. In the secondary, JL Skinner and Tyreque Jones make up the safety duo and Caleb Bigger and Tyric LeBeauf will get the top reps at CB as part of a Boise State defense that recorded 13 INTs last season.

The Oregon State Beavers will look to build on a solid 2021 season, finishing the year at 7-6, including a 5-4 mark in Pac-12 conference play. The Beavers got an invite to the inaugural LA Bowl, a game that the Beavers lost to Utah State by a final score of 24-13. Chance Nolan threw for 2,677 yards, 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and is expected to be the top guy for the Beavers coming into this season under center, but Tristan Gebbia is a very good backup option and is more than capable of taking over if called upon. Freshman Damien Martinez is expected to be the lead running back coming into the season, but Deshaun Fenwick and Trey Lowe are fully capable after combining for over 800 yards and 5 TDs last year. The Beavers will have to replace Trevon Bradford, who is no longer with the program, but Tre’Shaun Harrison is good enough to lead the charge, while Luke Musgrave will be a solid option at TE and Tyjon Lindsay will see an increased role in 2022. On defense, there will be some retooling, but there are pieces like Simon Sandberg, Isaac Hodgins and James Rawls on the d-line while Omar Speights had 89 tackles last year at one linebacker spot and Andrew Chatfield will likely be an integral piece of the Beaver defense after transferring in from Florida and sitting out last season. Jaydon Grant headlines Oregon State’s secondary after logging 71 tackles last season while Rezjohn Wright and Alex Austin are going to be familiar names in Oregon State’s secondary this coming season.

Boise State is 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games against the Pac-12 and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 road games while the under is 7-0 in their last 7 games overall. Oregon State is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 home games and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games against the Mountain West while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 non-conference games.

I get the case to be made for Boise State and the points, but I need to see a lot of questions answered from the Broncos before trusting a mainly unproven roster on the road against an up-and-coming Oregon State team. Both teams have their QBs back and a solid run game, but I’m a bit more confident that Oregon State can find the big plays down the stretch to close out and I think the Beavers win this one by a TD. Give me the Oregon State Beavers laying the points here.