The Tulsa Golden Hurricane and the BYU Cougars are set to square off on December 30th at the Armed Forces Bowl in our nation’s capitol, and we are set with our Armed Forces Bowl keys to the game!

Armed Forces Bowl: Tulsa Golden Hurricane vs. BYU Cougars
Armed Forces Bowl Location: FedEx Field, Landover, MD
Armed Forces Bowl Date/Time: Friday, December 30th, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
Armed Forces Bowl Television Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

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Key #1: The BYU passing attack has to take advantage of a questionable pass defense
If there has been an Achilles heel for Tulsa over the course of the last few years, it has been the team’s pass defense. This squad allowed over 300 yards per game a year ago through the air, and though that number has dropped to 289.3 yards per game, it is still only ranked No. 118 in the country. We saw the Houston Cougars rip this team apart a few weeks ago in the de facto West Division title game in Conference USA, and we know that there are other teams that have had a tremendous amount of success against this unit. The Cougars have really done a nice job moving the ball with QB Riley Nelson at times this year, and he is coming off of one of the best passing games of his career against the Hawaii Warriors. Nelson threw for 363 yards and three TDs that day, and he now has 1,467 yards and 16 scores against five picks since replacing QB Jake Heaps under center.

Armed Forces Bowl Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Tulsa Golden Hurricane +2.5
BYU Cougars -2.5
Over/Under 55.5
Click Here to Bet The Armed Forces Bowl Picks!

Key #2: GJ Kinne has to be a one man wrecking crew
We have seen Kinne take over games before, but generally speaking, he has done so with WR Damaris Johnson. That being said, Johnson hasn’t taken a snap this season with off the field issue, and Kinne just hasn’t put up the same types of numbers. He threw for 2,876 yards and 25 TDs against 12 picks and ran for 405 yards and three more TDs. That being said, this is a senior that has been running this offense for three years, and this was probably the worst of his three campaigns. Last year, he accounted for over 4,200 total yards and 38 TDs, so we know that he has the potential to put up 400 yards in a game between rushing and passing, and he is going to have to be the man for Tulsa to pull off the upset in this game.

Key #3: Bronco Mendenhall’s defense needs to be on point
This has been an up and down season for the Cougars. The team allowed 17 points or fewer seven times this year, but it has also allowed 28 points to the lowly Oregon State Beavers, 38 to the TCU Horned Frogs, and 54 at home to the Utah Utes. This defense could be had for sure, but in total, the team only allowed 316.3 yards per game this year, No. 17 in the nation. If this unit has one of its good games, the Golden Hurricane are going to be in trouble. However, during the bowl season, we tend to see these good defenses collapse, so Mendenhall’s ‘D’ needs to stay on point no matter how quickly Tulsa is going to run its offense.

Click Here to get the best college football picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our Armed Forces Bowl picks and the NCAA football picks for the rest of the bowl game odds.

Week 4 of college football betting action is here! But before you get started with the NCAA football odds, be sure to check out our college football prop picks for Friday night and our UCF vs. BYU picks!

Jeff Godfrey Over/Under 26.5 Pass Attempts
If the Knights have any hope of winning this game, this had better be an ‘under’. Godfrey put the ball in the air 27 times last week against the Florida International Golden Panthers, and that was only a matter of self-preservation for a ground game that just couldn’t get anything going. No matter what Head Coach George O’Leary keeps telling us, Godfrey is a run first, throw second quarterback. Sure, BYU is going to stack seven and eight players in the box just like FIU did, but that isn’t going to stop a stubborn O’Leary from getting the ball in the hands of his fantastic running backs a whole heck of a lot, even if the Knights are trailing. Godfrey Under 26.5 Pass Attempts (-115 at BetOnline Sportsbook)

JJ Di Luigi Over/Under 55.5 Rushing Yards
It’s been a rough start to the year for Di Luigi, as he hasn’t even gotten beyond 56 rushing yards in a game this season. However, we have to remember that this is a very small sample set, and it has been a horrifyingly difficult schedule to start off this season. This is the first time that the Cougs have really been in a game that they really should win on paper (though they were favored at Ole Miss, it was still a long cross-country trip). Di Luigi averaged over 70 yards per game last year on the ground, and he did it against some solid defenses like that of the Florida State Seminoles and TCU Horned Frogs as well. Don’t think for one second that, even though UCF’s defense has only allowed 20 total points this year, that Di Luigi isn’t going to at least threaten the 100+ rushing yard mark. We expect to see him at this point in the third quarter. Di Luigi Over 55.5 Rushing Yards (-115 at BetOnline Sportsbook).

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The New Mexico Bowl will kick off the 2010 bowl season on Saturday afternoon, and here at Bankroll Sports, we have the ins and outs covered for a great game for you to make your NCAA football picks for. The BYU Cougars and UTEP Miners really played opposite seasons of each other, as the Miners started off strong and limped to the finish line, while BYU won five straight games to become bowl eligible before losing the Holy War to the Utah Utes by a narrow margin. Which team will end up beating the 11.5 point spread in favor of the Cougs? Check out these three New Mexico Bowl keys to the game.

Key #1: Protecting Trevor Vittatoe
The BYU defense has done a great job this year against opposing passing games, especially in the second half of the campaign. The team only allowed 187.8 yards per game this year through the air, one of the top marks in the MWC and good enough to rank No. 21 in the country. No one threw for over 300 yards on this ‘D’ all season long. For UTEP, QB Trevor Vittatoe is dealing with an ankle injury, and though he is going to be playing in the game, he is probably going to be hobbled just a bit as well. Over the course of the last three seasons, the signal call was sacked 21, 25, and 22 times respectively, but the OL did a lot nicer job this year, allowing him to get dropped behind the line just 14 times. Of late, those numbers are getting worse, and more and more pressure is getting into his face. Vittatoe has only completed 37 passes over his last three games, and he hasn’t made it to the 200 yard mark in any of those efforts, averaging under 150 yards per game. He hasn’t thrown a TD pass in almost nine quarters of game time and has been picked off twice in that stretch as well. It’s fairly clear that, when given a chance, Vittatoe is lethal. He threw for 340 yards and three TDs against the Houston Cougars and 246 yards and five scores against the New Mexico State Aggies. However, this is probably the best pass defense he has seen all season long, and if the Cougs get to him in the backfield consistently, the Miners are in some big time trouble.

New Mexico Bowl Odds at BetUS Sportsbook
Northern Illinois Huskies -1
Fresno State Bulldogs +1
Over/Under 58.5
Click Here to Bet on Your New Mexico Bowl Picks! 

Key #2: Jake Heaps needs to play like the signal caller he was in the final four games of the year and not the one from the first two months
True freshmen sometimes get a bad rap for the way that they play. Sometimes it’s justified and they just never grow into themselves. Other times, they just need some more time to shine. That’s exactly what happened with QB Jake Heaps this year for the Cougs. He started off the season splitting reps with QB Riley Nelson, a far more experienced and significantly more mobile option. However, HC Bronco Mendenhall turned the keys to the car, per se, over to Heaps going into the game against the Nevada Wolf Pack. He struggled mightily in his first four games as the lone starter, throwing six picks and no scores. However, since the start of November, Heaps has been fantastic. He has completed 61.7 percent of his passes for an average of just under 250 yards per game with nine TDs and just one INT. All but two of his TD passes this year came in the month of November. Remember last year when Utah Utes QB Jordan Wynn really shined brightly down the stretch and in his bowl game? That’s exactly what Heaps has to do here in the New Mexico Bowl to beat the Miners.

Key #3: Someone aside from JJ Luigi needs to help Heaps out
RB JJ Di Luigi did just about everything for the Cougars this year. He had the most carries on the team (158), the most receptions (42), the most rushing yards (819), the most receiving yards (422) and the most total TDs (8). We know that, whether as a rusher or a receiver, Di Luigi is going to get his numbers, and there is nothing that the UTEP defense can do about it. What the Miners have to do though, is shut down everyone else around him. RBs Bryan Kariya and Joshua Quezada have combined for over 1,000 total yards from scrimmage this year, but there isn’t a receiver out there that has more than 34 catches or even 400 yards for BYU aside from Di Luigi. We know that both WR Cody Hoffman and WR Luke Ashworth are threats, but that doesn’t mean that they are going to be able to really bust out. UTEP has to contain these men on the outside and keep from letting the big play happen. There was only one pass play all season long that went for more than 50 yards for the Cougars, and the Miners need to make sure that it stays that way.

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The opening week of college football is always exciting given the unknown factor entering the season. Not that college football lacks any surprises throughout the season, but all the previews for teams and everything just do not tell the story until the teams actually take the gridiron. Who could have predicted the mighty Oklahoma Sooners would fall in their first game of the season? There was a lot of interesting stories over the past 7 days and they are sure to continue as we prepare for round 2 this weekend. We will take a look at some of the teams that impressed last weekend as well as the ones who really disappointed. Keep these teams in mind before making your selections this Saturday and be sure to check out our expert picks here at bankrollsports.com.

Surprise Teams:

No. 10 California Golden Bears

We warned a few weeks back that California could be the team to dethrone USC from the Pac-10 this season and they proved those expectations are legitimate with a 52-13 thrashing over Maryland last weekend. The Golden Bears possibly performed better than any of the top teams in the nation. Jahvid Best added more supporting evidence that he is the best running back in the land by carrying the ball just 10 times but posting 137 yards and 2 touchdowns in the process. Perhaps even more impressive was QB Kevin Riley. Riley threw 17 for 26 (65%) totaling 298 yards and 4 touchdowns. If the Golden Bears can have that type of success through the air with Best in the backfield, California can start thinking about a BCS Bowl Game by season’s end.

No. 9 BYU Cougars

I know a lot of people will be jumping on the BYU bandwagon after their huge upset over Oklahoma last weekend, but its hard to see if the Cougars were that impressive or simply the Sooners were not? The Cougars skyrocketed in the standings this week to #9 in the nation. The BYU defense is what really stood out in the game. The Cougars held the Oklahoma offense to just 265 yards of total offense nearly half what the Sooners offense produced in 2009. The Cougars defense returned 8 starters on that side of the ball and look very disciplined controlling the Sooners passing game. BYU has a favorable schedule for the rest of the season and that is why they are getting so much attention after the huge victory. The Cougars must be able to establish so more offense before they take on teams like Florida State and Utah, but they are definitely a team to keep on your radar this season. BYU is 17.5 point favorites on the road at Tulane this weekend to keep the momentum alive.

No. 23 Cincinnati Bearcats

The Bearcats took the Big East by surprise last year and evidently there has been a culture change down in Bearcats country that will be sticking around for a while. The Bearcats were 5 point underdogs on the road at Rutgers before the Cincinnati offense exploded to route the Scarlet Knights 47-15. QB Tony Pike led the no huddle offense to rack up a career high 362 yards of passing with 3 touchdowns. Cincinnati offense totaled 564 yards of total offense. The offense was so impressive they appear they could single handedly take down the Big East again this year. We know that is big words after just one game, but when are people going to start giving credit to the Bearcats program that looks as stable as any on top of the Big East.

Disappointment Teams:

No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners

Well, the idea of Sam Bradford returning to win a National Championship may already be out the window. There is no doubt that the Sooners loss this past weekend was the biggest shocker of opening week. Bradford went down with a shoulder injury and the Sooners offense never looked like the potent 50 point scoring machine they were in 2008. There is now even more concern with Bradford expected to miss as many as 4 weeks of football. Luckily, the schedule is less than difficult until they meet Miami 3 weeks from now. Still, the Sooners have tons of question marks to figure out. The offensive line did not look productive and it is apparent that the playmakers on the outside are vacant. It’s amazing how a team can be supernaturally powerful last season and come out looking like an average college football team a year later. There is work to be done and the Sooners best get things right before the Big 12 schedule starts. Oklahoma was previously number 3 in the country before dropping 10 spots with the defeat.

Illinois Fighting Illini

Illinois has all the makings to be a very strong team in the Big Ten this season, but they actually became the only Big Ten team to lose this weekend. The Illini passing game was expected to be the difference maker this season and get the team back on the Bowl Game path. However, Illinois was blown out by Missouri 37-9 in a dismal defensive performance. Illinois managed over 325 yards of offense which may not be extremely impressive, but could have perhaps produced more than 9 points. Dual threat QB Juice Williams had a solid performance throwing the ball, but the Illini defense simply could not stop the Big 12 offense of Missouri. The Tigers racked up nearly 450 yards of total offense. The Illinois defense was the biggest concern heading into the year and perhaps an even bigger concern now. Williams gives the offense the potential to contend in the Big Ten, but the defense could make 2009 another long disappointment.

No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes

Illinois was not the only Big Ten team to disappoint this weekend. The Buckeyes nearly became the Oklahoma story early Saturday by barely escaping with a victory over Navy. The Buckeyes defense lost a ton of talent last season in players like Marcus Freeman, Malcolm Jenkins, and James Laurinaitis. The Buckeyes were expected to reload and remain a solid defensive threat. However whether it was the defense lack of experience or just simply thrown for a loop by the Navy option, the Buckeyes defense failed to impress giving up 342 yards on the game. The Ohio State offense managed just 365 total yards of offense and was far from overpowering. Of course, Terrelle Pryor remains a gifted talent that will give any defense a hard time. Still, that may not be enough if the Buckeyes do not find some explosion on offense and more productivity on the other side of the ball. The poor performance come from what many consider a weak opponent. However, the Buckeyes will have the opportunity to right the ship when they take on number 3 ranked USC Trojans this week. The Buckeyes will be 6.5 underdogs in the colossal battle that will take center stage Saturday night.