Washington State at Washington Line
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Apple Cup will be up for grabs when the Washington Huskies host the Washington State Cougars on Saturday. The Huskies come in 6-5 overall and 4-4 in conference play, while the Cougars have stumbled to a 4-7 record and are just 2-6 inside the PAC-12. Washington has won the past two meetings, but Washington State gave them all they could handle in a 35-28 Huskies win last season. While the Huskies appear to be the better team, that doesn’t guaranteed anything when you are dealing with in state rivals. Over the last 10 meetings between these two teams the underdog has won outright six times.
Taking a look at the week 13 lines, oddsmakers currently have Washington favored by 6.5-points over Washington State with the total set at 65.5 points.
Washington State:
It has been an up and down season for the Cougars in 2011. They started out the season 3-1, including a 31-27 win at Colorado in their first conference game, but would lose their next five games to fall to 3-6. Just when it looked like this team had given up, they stunned Arizona State 37-27 at home and nearly beat Utah in their last game, falling 27-30 in overtime. Finishing up a bad season with a win over Washington would really give this team some confidence going into next season.
The Cougars seem to have found some new life behind redshirt freshman quarterback Connor Halliday, who carried this team on his back by throwing for 494 yards and four touchdowns in their upset win over Arizona State. While Halliday threw for 290 yards and two touchdowns against the Utes, his four interceptions kept this team from winning the game. Those kind of games are going to happen when you are throwing 48 times with a freshman, but there’s no denying that this team has played it’s best football with Halliday in charge.
With no running game to speak of, Washington State is going to go into this game against Washington and let the young kid do his thing. There’s a good chance Halliday will deliver against a Huskies defense that hasn’t been able to stop the pass all season. Washington comes in 85th in the country, allowing 248.9 passing yards per game.
Washington:
While the Huskies are coming in playing some of their best football, the Huskies have lost three straight since opening the season 6-2. The first two losses came against two very good football teams in Oregon and Stanford, but in their last game they were upset by Oregon State 21-38. It was the first time this season Washington lost to a team that wasn’t ranked in the Top 25.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian decided to start Nick Montana against the Beavers and let sophomore Keith Price rest an injured knee. Montana wasn’t terrible, but didn’t exactly play all that great either. He went 11 of of 21 for just 79 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Surprisingly, Price would end up replacing Montana, and you have to wonder why he didn’t start if he was capable of playing at all.
Junior running back Chris Polk totaled just 116 yards in the Huskies two losses to Oregon and Stanford, but got back on track with a 109 yards on 25 attempts. It was the eighth time this season Polk has rushed for at least a 100 yards.
Price will be the starter against Washington State, but the Huskies are going to need their defense to step it up if they want to avoid another loss. Washington allowed Oregon State’s offense seven plays of 20 yards or more, and giving up big plays has been a problem of this team all season.
Luckily for the Huskies, the Cougars defense has been even worse this season. Washington State is 58th against the run (152.1 ypg) and 107th against the pass (278.3 ypg).
Betting Trends:
Washington State is 6-2 ATS vs. a team with a winning record.
Washington is 7-21-2 ATS in their last 30 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.
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