The Virginia Cavaliers are set to face the BYU Cougars this weekend. Check out our college football odds series, which includes our Virginia-BYU prediction, odds, and pick.

This is the Bronco Bowl, a game in which former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall comes back to Provo to face his old team. It will be warm fuzzies and smiles before the game, but then the Hoos and Cougs will want to beat each other's brains out. This has been a fascinating season for Mendenhall. Had his Virginia team lost to Miami earlier in the season, the Hoos would have been buried in the ACC Coastal Division. Instead, Miami missed a chip shot and Virginia survived. UVA has subsequently won a second game due to a late missed kick by an opponent. Virginia is very much in the hunt for the ACC Coastal title, given that it still plays division-leading Pittsburgh in November.

BYU is an independent team without a conference affiliation, though the Cougars will soon join the Big 12 and gain the Power Five placement they had long coveted in college sports. The fact that BYU will join the Big 12 is striking, because the Cougars would fit really well in the Pac-12.

How well, you ask? BYU is 4-0 against Pac-12 teams this season, having beaten Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and most recently, Washington State. Coach Kalani Sitake will now try to add an Atlantic Coast Conference team to his list of victims in 2021. He has already proved he can beat teams on the Pacific Coast.

Here’s how the bookmakers have set the Virginia-BYU odds:

College Football odds: Virginia-BYU Odds

Virginia: +2.5 (-106)

BYU: -2.5 (-114)

Over: 64.5 (-112)

Under: 64.5 (-108)

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Why Virginia Could Cover the Spread

The Virginia Cavaliers have one of the three top candidates for ACC Player of the Year. Quarterback Brennan Armstrong has been slinging the rock with distinction in 2021. He already has more than 3,200 passing yards, well on his way toward the 4,000-yard mark. He has thrown for 23 touchdowns against just six interceptions. He is battling Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett and Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman for ACC POY. He gives Virginia a grade-A weapon BYU will be hard-pressed to contain. Factor this point into your Virginia-BYU prediction.

BYU did beat Washington State, a good win given that Wazzu had beaten Oregon State and Stanford before facing the Cougars. However, Sitake's team has slipped in recent weeks, losing at home to a not-very-good Boise State team and getting handled easily by Baylor. Virginia is on an upswing and BYU is on a downswing. College football odds have BYU as a very slight favorite, and not a much bigger one, because they know the Cavaliers have played better football in recent weeks.

Why BYU Could Cover the Spread

The Virginia offense is great, but the Virginia defense has been poor this year, which is weird given Bronco Mendenhall's expertise as a defense-first coach. Virginia has played a lot of contests with video-game scores this season. Most of the time, Armstrong has lifted the offense above UVA's defensive weaknesses.

However, BYU is a tough and stubborn team, playing at home at night. Virginia will also have to deal with playing at altitude in the Wasatch Mountains. There are challenges to this game which don't exist in the ACC. One can easily see UVA being caught off guard. That's a point to ponder when evaluating the Virginia-BYU odds.

Final Virginia-BYU Prediction & Pick

BYU has enough defense to slow down Virginia. The Hoos don't have enough defense to gain control of this game. BYU will be the better team in the fourth quarter and will win by a touchdown, 38-31.

Final Virginia-BYU Pick: BYU -2.5