Pinnacle +6½ +103 BET365 +6½ +100 SportsInteraction +7 -115 BetOnline +7 -115 Bookmaker +7 -115

Posted at 10:45 AM EST. 

Ball State +6½ +103 over WYOMING

Jonah Field at War Memorial Stadium – Laramie, WY

Streaming: Stadium TV (In the Sports & Outdoor Group)

4:00 PM EST. The Wyoming Cowboys sit at 2-0 on the year but it is an auspicious 2-0 at that. The Ragtimes were lucky to escape Montana State (a FCS team) at home to open up their season when they edged out the Bobcats 19-16, despite laying 20 points to their guests at kickoff. It is worth noting that Montana State led late in the fourth quarter until the Cowboys won in dramatic fashion with a score in the final minute of play.

Last week, the Cowboys took to the road to square off with the Northern Illinois Huskies and a similar phenomenon occurred. Priced initially as a five-point favorite and bet up to as many as seven, the Ragtimes led by as much as 26 points mid-way through the third quarter until once again drama ensued. The Huskies would score 27 unanswered and take a one-point lead with minutes to go, until the Cowboys would score the go-ahead score with under two minutes remaining. Down 50-43, NIU would get the ball one last time and would even drive into Wyoming territory before a dropped first-down completion enabled the ‘Boys to escape. The efficient market that champions “CLV”, beat the closing line and cashed a ticket while doing so but we’ll go to our grave insisting and proving that this is not a profitable long-term strategy.

The Cowboys opened up as a six-point choice here and very quickly the efficient market has sunk their teeth in, driving the Ragtimes up to their present asking price. This is a Cowboys’ team that could easily be 0-2 as quick as they are 2-0. However, if one were to judge value by the box score exclusively, Wyoming on paper is the team that went to DeKalb, spotted road points, and covered like it was supposed to do against the team that staged a huge upset over 18-point favorite Georgia Tech in Atlanta the week prior.

Ball State, on the flipside, got whacked last week by Penn State but so what. Had they not been whacked, we’d be looking at less points. Ball State is a well-coached team that excels at situational football and doesn't beat itself, but what we most love about taking points with Mike Neu's charges is the way they keep coming for four quarters regardless of the score. The bottom line here is that this is a game between evenly matched teams yet Wyoming is tasked with giving a converted touchdown to a proven underdog performer that plays efficiently in all three phases and typically avoids the game-changing mistake. Wyoming is extremely beatable.

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