TCU Horned Frogs vs SMU Mustangs CFB Odds, Betting Preview 9-7-18

Friday evening college football action and the Big 12 Conference will meet the American Athletic Conference as the TCU Horned Frogs will battle it out with the SMU Mustangs. This contest has a start time of 8:00 pm ET and will take place at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. These teams met last year and the Horned Frogs won at home by a score of 56-36.   

Lines:  TCU -22… Over/Under 59.5

A Look At TCU

The TCU Horned Frogs have high hopes this season and they did what was expected of them in their opener as they crushed Southern U. by a score of 55-7. It will get tougher for them as the season goes on. Last year they beat SMU by a score of 56-36 and while they were happy with their offense in the game, they were not happy with their defense. They allowed the 36 points on 463 yards, including 339 yards through the air. This year’s defense is rated as the best in the Big 12 and will look to have a much better showing in this one. They did allow just 185 yards in the win over Southern.

The offense piled up 499 yards in the win and they had 619 yards in the win over the Mustangs last year. The offense will be good this year, but it may take some time as they have just five starters back from last year and are breaking in a new QB. Shawn Robinson and Michael Collins are battling for the number one job. Robinson may have a leg up now after throwing for 182 yards and three TDs while rushing for 45 yards and two TDs last week. He will hope for big numbers against a suspect SMU defense. TCU does have to be careful not to look past this game as they do have Ohio State on deck.

A Look At SMU

Sonny Dykes took over a 1-11 team and in three years he led them to a bowl game. The Mustangs did go 7-6 last year, but they lost to Louisiana Tech in the Frisco Bowl by a score of 51-10. They have 14 starters back from that team, but many feel that they could struggle this year. A big reason is because of a defense that allowed 36.7 ppg last year. That defense did not have a good start at all as they allowed North Texas to put up 46 points and 529 yards in the 46-23 loss. If they can’t get their defense going in this one, then it could be a long night for them.

The Mustangs have six starters back on offense, including QB Ben Hicks, who threw for 3569 with 33 TDs and 12 INTs last year. Also back is Running Back Xavier Jones, who ran for 1075 yards and nine TDs last year. Still, the Mustangs had just nine first downs and 256 yards of total offense in the loss. They ran for just four yards in the game and Hich was 12/24 for 252 yards with two TDs and an INT. This offense will have to be far better than that against the Frogs.    

Trends

TCU is:

5-2 ATS in their last 7 games following an ATS loss

4-1 ATS in their last 5 games on fieldturf

3-8 ATS in their last 11 games in September

The Under is 8-2 in their last 10 games on fieldturf

The Over is 9-3 in their last 12 games in September

SMU is:

10-4 ATS in their last 14 non-conference games

7-3 ATS in their last 10 games after allowing more than 40 points in their previous game

0-5 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up loss of more than 20 points

The Over is 17-6 in their last 23 games following an ATS loss

The Under is 7-3 in their last 10 non-conference games