Pac-12 Championship Total Prediction
On Friday night the Utah Utes and Washington Huskies will play for the Pac-12 Championship at 8:00 p.m. ET. With the total sitting in the mid-40s, will the game turn into a defensive struggle in this conference title tilt?
Game Snapshot
305 Utah Utes at 306 Washington Huskies
8:00 p.m. ET, Friday, November 30, 2018
Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Huskies are 5-point favorites to beat the Utes. The total, meanwhile, sits at 44.5 points. As of this writing, 67% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Huskies.
Utah Utes
Utah freshman QB Jason Shelley completed 19-of-28 passes for 141 yards and one touchdown, and he added 61 yards and one touchdown on the ground in Saturday’s 35-27 win over BYU. This game wasn’t pretty, but they did enough late to walk away with a win. In fact, the Utes needed to score 21 points in the fourth quarter to get it done. Shelley put the game away on a 33-yard touchdown run with one minute left on the clock, but the freshman quarterback will have his hands full against Washington in the Pac-12 Championship Game. The Utes will need a lot more than today’s 5.0 YPA to pull off the upset.
Washington Huskies
Washington senior RB Myles Gaskin rushed for 170 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries in Friday’s 28-15 win over Washington State. Gaskin (5’10/193) was just about the only player on either side to find consistent traction in what was a fun, snow-filled evening of football. The elements slowed him none. His highlight-reel run came shortly after the start of the fourth quarter, when the senior back bolted down the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown run to put Washington up double-digits. From that point on, WSU was in serious trouble. The Huskies secured a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game with this Apple Cup victory. They will be opposed by Utah in that bout for conference supremacy. For his part, Gaskin is now up to 1,076 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns for the campaign. He has rushed for at least 1,000 yards with double-digit scores in every one of his four seasons in Seattle.
Betting Trends
Utah
The over is 13-3 in Utes last 16 games after accumulating less than 170 yards passing in their previous game.
Washington
The under is 5-2 in Huskies last 7 games after accumulating more than 200 yards rushing in their previous game.
Prediction
It will be difficult for Shelley to move Utah’s offense against this stout Washington defensive unit. He may have had a big fourth quarter against BYU last week but it’s unlikely he puts together a similar performance given the stakes on Friday night. On the other side, Jake Browning has been more efficient than anything else but if Gaskin doesn’t rush for 170 yards like he did last week in the snow versus Washington State, the Huskie offense could also struggle. The under is 9-3 in the Huskies’ last 12 games overall and is 6-2 in their last eight neutral site games.
Pac-12 Championship Game Prediction: Utah/Washington under 44.5