BYU has looked like one of the most physical and balanced teams in the country thus far. The Cougars' opening-night shellacking of Navy is seared into the mind of observers and factored into what might be a bloated spread Friday. Skip Holtz's Bulldogs are solid in their own right and historically good in these spots. THey have covered four straight road games and four of their last five as an underdog. The hook on the key number provides added value on Louisiana Tech.

BYU has throttled Navy and Troy -- usually good offensive teams -- by a combined score of 103-10 this season and the Cougars are allowing just 165.0 yards per game, No. 1 in the nation. Louisiana Tech has scored 97 points in its two games but against horrible defenses (one an FCS program). Most simulations have this game finishing somewhere in the ballpark of 52 combined points, so we are backing the Under at -110. It is 10-3 in Tech's past 13 on the road.

Right now, BYU's defense is playing some really good football. The Cougars have held opponents under eight points in their first two games of the year. In this matchup, they will have to make the Bulldogs one-dimensional. With the way the Cougars' defensive line can dominate the point of attack, it looks as if they will be able to do so. BYU also has a big-play offense, and it will make a lot of them against a very suspect Louisiana Tech defense.