Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl Spooky Express Bowling for Dollars

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ROYAL PURPLE LAS VEGAS BOWL

 

UTAH vs COLORADO STATE

Saturday, Dec. 20, 3:30 p.m. ET

ABC

 

 

The college football bowl action starts off the opening day from Las Vegas, with the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl. In terms of interesting matchups for the opening day, this one may take the cake. Utah comes in as the 22nd ranked team in the countr, but the Rams have been incredibly strong this year, already earning 10 wins on the year. This game gets underway at 3:30pm EST, and will be aired on ABC. Let's get to the breakdown of the matchup, and also give the prediction and pick here.

 

Utah Bowl Ready

 

For the Utes, they were likely expecting a different finish to their year, after starting off 6-1, but they ended the year on a bit of a sour note, losing three of their last five games. While they played some tough competition in Arizona State, Oregon and Arizona (all losses) over that span, it left them with an 8-4 record, and a 5-4 Pac-12 conference record. While Utah may have finished 8-4, they got some impressive wins as well, taking down UCLA and USC. These wins obviously can't be overlooked, and add on the fact that Utah missed a bowl game in each of the last two seasons, and they have plenty to play for.

 

Colorado State Can Do It All

 

Colorado State had a whopping two losses all season. The first one came to a strong Boise State team 37-24 in the second week of the season, while the other one was a tough 27-24 loss against Air Force. Both of those teams ended the year with strong records, as Boise is 11-2 and Air Force is 9-3. In between those two losses, Colorado State racked up nine straight wins, and are led by a combination of a great passing game and great rushing game. Basically, this team can do it all. They are 8th in the entire country in passing yards at 326.3 per game, and average 171.6 yards per game on the ground. The Rams were so good this year, that they just lost head coach Jim McElwain to Florida!

 

Well, it says Utes on paper as the favorite, but I think the wrong team may be getting the love here. The Rams are led by three ridiculously talented offensive players in Garrett Grayson, who has thrown 32 touchdowns to just six interceptions, running back Dee Hart (16 touchdowns with a 6.7 YPC average) and wide out Rashard Higgins, who has hauled in 89 passes for 1,640 yards and 17 touchdowns. Want more? The Rams allow just 23.4 points per game, which is 34th best in the country. I'll take the Rams to win it outright in one of our bigger plays of the bowl season at this point. Can you say money line dog!

 

COLORADO STATE

Check back closer to game day for any changes to the spread and/or prediction here and at the Spooky Express