The Sam Houston Bearkats take on the BYU Cougars. Check out our college football odds series for our Sam Houston BYU prediction and pick. Find how to watch Sam Houston BYU.

The Sam Houston Bearkats are moving up in the college football world. They used to be part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), the lower competitive division in major college football. However, this year, the Bearkats have been able to move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the collection of conferences which competes for College Football Playoff berths and New Year's Six (Group of Five) bowl slots.

Sam Houston is now a part of Conference USA within the larger FBS ecosystem. Conference USA lost several teams to the American Athletic Conference this year: UTSA, North Texas, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Rice, and UAB. Conference USA had to find some schools to compensate for all those lost programs. CUSA (there is no longer a hyphen in the conference's presentation) invited four schools: Liberty and New Mexico State, both FBS independents; Jacksonville State, which had been an FCS school; and fellow FCS program Sam Houston. It will be fascinating to see how these new programs fare in their new conference home.

Before Sam Houston plays a Conference USA game, however, it has to deal with its nonconference schedule. This first game figures to be daunting. The Bearkats go to Provo, Utah, at night to take on BYU, a team which won the 1984 national championship, has produced Heisman Trophy-quality quarterbacks (including 1990 award winner Ty Detmer), and has delivered good results under current head coach Kalani Sitake. It will be a challenge for Sam Houston, but a welcome one. This is life in the big leagues, and the Bearkats want to be tested by good programs. It is part of their evolutionary process.

Here are the Sam Houston-BYU College Football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Football Odds: Sam Houston-BYU Odds

Sam Houston Bearkats: +19.5 (-105)

BYU Cougars: -19.5 (-115)

Over: 46.5 (-110)

Under: 46.5 (-110)

How To Watch Sam Houston vs. BYU

TV: Fox Sports 1

Stream: Fox Sports app

Time: 10:15 p.m. ET/7:15 p.m. PT

*Watch Sam Houston vs BYU LIVE on fuboTV (click for free trial)*

Why Sam Houston Could Cover the Spread

The Bearkats are going to view this game as a Super Bowl of sorts. Everyone is excited to play the first game of a new college football season, and BYU will certainly be motivated to play this game, but this is an extra-special moment for Sam Houston as its first-ever FBS football game. Guys are going to play harder, with more energy and purpose, than they will in most of the games they'll play this year.

BYU is also beginning life as a Big 12 school, which is a huge deal for the university. The Cougars, though, will have their big moment later in the season when they play Big 12 opponents. This is probably a good spot for Sam Houston to catch BYU.

Why BYU Could Cover the Spread

The Cougars will have Big 12 energy in the building, and they're going to want to represent themselves — and the Big 12 — with distinction, even though they're playing a lesser-known opponent. That point aside, BYU has superior strength and depth in the trenches. The Cougars are going to show Sam Houston how difficult it is to climb the ladder from the FCS to the FBS and compete at a higher level in college football. It will be hard for Sam Houston to make that jump all at once. It might happen over the course of the full season, but the Bearkats are probably going to struggle early against good teams such as BYU.

Final Sam Houston-BYU Prediction & Pick

The emotions and variables in this game are numerous and complicated. It's best to stay away from this game and maybe consider a live-betting play.

Final Sam Houston-BYU Prediction & Pick: Sam Houston +19.5