Washington vs. Utah Total Pick
The Washington Huskies kick off Pac-12 play on Saturday night with a road game against undefeated Utah. Will the conference rivals combine to score enough points to cash the over?
Game Snapshot
205 Washington Huskies at 206 Utah Utes
10:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, September 15, 2018
Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Huskies are 6.5-point favorites to beat the Utes. The total, meanwhile, sits at 48 points. As of this writing, 67% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Huskies.
Washington Huskies
Jake Browning completed 23-of-37 passes for 317 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in a 45-3 rout of North Dakota on Saturday. It wasn’t Browning’s best game — not even close — but he did more than enough to keep the Huskies from being upset against the Fighting Hawks. His first score was a step up in the pocket to find Ty Jones from four-yards out, and he added a one-yard score to Cade Otton on a play-action pass near the goal line. He also made a couple of silly throws, including the two picks. Still, the numbers are solid, and Browning — for the most part — has looked okay in 2018. They need him to play better next Saturday against Utah.
Utah Utes
Washington HC Chris Petersen praised reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week Utah redshirt senior LB Chase Hansen. Hansen, a former safety, had 12 tackles, 2.5 TFL, two sacks, a fumble recovery, and a game-sealing pick-six against NIU. “That guy has made a lot of plays for Utah over the years and what a heck of an athlete — to play him in the secondary and now at linebacker,” Petersen said. “He’s just around the ball and fearless and physical. Really good player.” As for Utah HC Kyle Whittingham, he calls Hansen “prototypical linebacker when you talk about playing at the next level.” Whittingham added: “He has the size and strength, he’s 230-plus pounds. He’s got great speed and he’s instinctive and tough. He had all of those qualities as a safety, he has just transferred them closer to the line of scrimmage.”’
Betting Trends
Washington
The under is 4-0 in the Huskies’ last four games played in September.
Utah
The over is 4-1 in the Utes’ last five conference games.
Prediction
The over has been a profitable play in this series, cashing in four straight games between these two teams, but I see this game staying low-scoring. This Huskie offense is not yet firing on all cylinders under new offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. Jake Browning and Co. really struggled two weeks ago in their opener versus Auburn and while the Huskies beat North Dakota 45-3 last weekend, it was far from Browning’s best performance. Utah owns the No. 1 defense in terms of total yards and allowed and is No. 1 in passing yards allowed as well. The Utes have surrendered an average of 8.0 points per game thus far and even though the Huskies are an experienced offense, it could take a few weeks before they’re running at full speed.
College Football Prediction: Washington/Utah under 47.5