Washington vs. OSU Rose Bowl Pick
Following a devastating loss to Purdue in mid-October, Ohio State rattled off five consecutive victories to end the season. Will the Buckeyes cruise to their sixth straight win when they take on Washington in the Rose Bowl today at 5:00 p.m. ET?
Game Snapshot
275 Washington Huskies vs. 276 Ohio State Buckeyes
5:00 p.m. ET, Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Buckeyes are 6.5-point favorites to beat the Huskies. The total, meanwhile, sits at 55 points. As of this writing, 70% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Buckeyes.
Washington Huskies
Washington senior QB Jake Browning completed 21-of-33 passes for 187 yards with an interception in a 10-3 victory over Utah on Friday in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Browning’s interception couldn’t be less his fault; it was a perfect throw to Ty Jones that he dropped right into the receiver’s hands. Browning missed on several other throws, however, and was bailed out by the Huskies’ defense playing one of their best games of the year. We’ll see Browning play in one more game when he faces Ohio State in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State HC Urban Meyer will become the assistant AD at the school after the Rose Bowl against Washington. Meyer announced that he’d be retiring on December 4 after the game, and AD Gene Smith told reporters that Meyer would remain with the university in some capacity. He’s also apparently going to teach a character and leadership course at the school, but that will be small potatoes compared to the assistant athletic director position. We’ll see how long Meyer sticks with this position before he gets the coaching urge again.
Betting Trends
Washington
The Huskies are just 2-6 against the spread in their last eight games overall and failed to cover in four of their last five non-conference games as well.
Ohio State
The Buckeyes covered four of their last five bowl games and are 13-3-1 at the betting window in their last 17 games versus Pac-12 opponents.
Prediction
Public bettors are loading up on the Buckeyes, who are one of the most heavily-bet teams this bowl season. I think this creates plenty of value with the Huskies. Washington came into the season as the clear favorite to win the Pac-12 but after the Huskies struggled against Auburn in Week 1, college football fans outside of Seattle jumped off the bandwagon. They went on to lose a heartbreaker to Oregon in overtime and lost an ugly 12-10 contest at Cal in late October, but Chris Petersen’s team rebounded from there. The Huskies rediscovered their offense in victories over Stanford and Oregon State at home before dealing deadly blow to Washington State’s playoff hopes in the Apple Cup. They capped their season with a 10-3 win over Utah in the Pac-12 championship game, which didn’t receive much attention as the appetizer to the more-meaningful conference title games the following day.
Washington is well coached, has an outstanding defense and a veteran QB in Jake Browning that has struggled his senior year but is highly efficient when on his game. Ohio State, meanwhile, comes in hot but perhaps overconfident and distracted with Meyer stepping down. I love Washington in this matchup.
Rose Bowl Prediction: Washington Huskies +6.5