Fiesta Bowl Preview and Pick - Boise State Broncos vs. TCU Horned Frogs

There hasn't been a more highly anticipated NCAA football betting battle on the gridiron all season! On Monday night, BetUS Sportsbook customers will get their chance to dive into the fantastic Fiesta Bowl betting proceedings between the Boise State Broncos (13-0, 8-5 ATS) and the TCU Horned Frogs (12-0, 8-4 ATS).

Both of these squads have to feel like they were snubbed out of reasonable chances to play for the National Championship, as they both ran the table and are both fantastic on both sides of the football. This will be the first time that two mid-major teams have ever played in the BCS in the same season, and it's also the first time that two mid-majors ranked in the Top-6 have ever faced off in an NCAAf betting battle.

The Fiesta Bowl betting line features the Horned Frogs as 7.5-point favorites, while the 'total' has been set at 55.

Unlike his predecessor, Dan Hawkins, who left the Smurf Turf for the Colorado Buffaloes, it looks like HC Chris Petersen is going to be around in Boise for quite some time. Petersen was rewarded for his undefeated season by inking a five-year contract extension. And why not? The Broncos will be making their second trip to the Fiesta Bowl under Petersen's watch.

They famously knocked off the mighty Oklahoma Sooners in the 2007 edition of this game on RB Ian Johnson's epic "Statue of Liberty" play call on the game's final play. Now, Petersen will bring the #1 scoring offense (44.2 points per game) in the land into battle against the Horned Frogs in search of the school's second tremendous January triumph.

Don't be so fast to write off the Horned Frogs, though. They too, have locked up their head coach, Gary Patterson for another five years after TCU ran the table through the rough and tumble Mountain West Conference. Before just narrowly missing out on covering the heftiest spread of the season in the final week of their regular season (44.5 vs. New Mexico), the Horned Frogs had covered six straight spreads. Not only were they covering those numbers, but they were killing them as well. TCU was averaging winning games SU by 35.8 points per game from October 17th through November 21st, and covered the betting line by almost two full touchdowns per contest.

It's so hard to separate these two mid-majors. Boise State may have the highest flying offense in the land, but the difference in this game will be the Horned Frogs' defense. This wasn't a joke of a schedule that TCU went through this year, and if it can hold BYU to seven points on its home turf and Clemson to ten points in Death Valley, it can surely at least remotely contain the Broncos' offense. Anything less than 28 points scored, a number of which no team has dropped on TCU all season, probably won't be enough for Boise State to stay in front of the number. Look for Patterson's club to wrap up their perfect season.

Rose's Recommendation: 3* TCU Horned Frogs

Rating Scale 1* - 5*