Oregon State Beavers vs. Utah Utes Betting Odds, College Football Pick

The betting favorite is 3-1 both straight up against the spread in the four Oregon State-Utah meetings since the Utes joined the Pac-12, which perhaps bodes well for Utah heading into Saturday night's bout with the Beavers in Salt Lake City.

Point spread: The Utes opened as 21.5-point favorites, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark. (Line updates and matchup report)

College football pick, via Odds Shark computer: 29.0-19.8 Utes

Why the Oregon State Beavers can cover the spread

OSU is in rebuilding mode, with a new head coach, trying to make progress from week to week. The Beavers won a couple of games earlier this season against lesser foes and gave Stanford a tough three quarters a few weeks ago, although they couldn't carry that forward in a pair of Pac-12 road losses at Arizona and Washington State. Last week Oregon State fell at home to Colorado 17-13, even though it outgained and outrushed the Buffaloes.

On the season the Beavers are averaging 189 yards per game on the ground. If they can grind out some first downs and control some clock this week they could keep this one close enough to cash.

Why the Utah Utes can cover the spread

After starting this season with six straight victories, Utah suffered its first loss last week, falling 42-24 at an inspired USC. The Utes led early 14-7, but gave up 17 points in the last four minutes of the first half, seven on a Travis Wilson pick-six as Utah was driving for the tying score, and never recovered.

Prior to that, though, the Utes beat the likes of Michigan, Utah State, Oregon, Cal and Arizona State, all of who own winning records at the moment. Utah also outrushed each of those opponents. Now the Utes get to go against an Oregon State defense giving up almost 200 yards per game on the ground.

Smart pick

Utah is still in the running for a division title and may be ripe for a bounce-back effort following the dud at USC. Meanwhile, Oregon State is still struggling under the new coaching regime. So even though the line on this game is probably inflated by at least a field goal or so, the smart money resides with the Utes.

Betting trends

Utah is 6-2 ATS in its last eight games at home in October.

Oregon State is 15-5 ATS in its last 20 games on the road in October.

Oregon State is 0-5 SU and ATS in its last five games on the road.

All point spread and lines data courtesy of Odds Shark, all quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line movement updates and get the free odds tracker app.