Washington Huskies vs Utah Utes CFB Odds, Betting Preview 9/15/18

College Football action on Saturday evening and a pair of teams from the Pac-12 will square off as the Washington Huskies duke it out with the Utah Utes. The start time is 10:00 PM ET and will take place at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. These teams met last year and the Huskies won by a score of 33-30 at home.    

Lines: Washington -4.5 … Over/Under 47.5

A Look At The Huskies

The Huskies were thought of as a team that will be in the playoffs this year. Well, it didn’t start out well for them as they lost their opener to Auburn by a score of 21-16. They did follow that up with a 45-3 win over North Dakota.  The only shot they have at the playoffs is to run the table the rest of the way, but getting past Utah will not be easy. The Huskies have a great defense that has allowed just 12 ppg and will hope to have a much better showing than they did in last year’s game. They did win game 33-30, but the defense did struggle in that game. The utes are not a powerful offensive team this year, so the Huskies have a shot of playing well on the defensive side of the ball.

The real test will be whether their offense can move the ball on the top-ranked defense in the nation. Jake Browning has thrown for 609 so far and has three TDs, but he has also thrown three INTs. Last year, he threw for 354 yards and two TDs against the Utes. Washington will look to run the ball with Myles Gaskin and that should make the job easier for Bowning. Washington must win this game if they have any hope of making the playoffs.

A Look At The Utes

The Utah Utes have started the year at 2-0, but this will clearly be their toughest test yet. They beat Weber State in their opener by a score of 41-10 and then Northern Illinois by a score of 17-6. It wasn’t a tough couple of games and they did struggle some with Northern Illinois. They may have been looking ahead to this game. Well, their offense was anyway. The defense played great in that game as they allowed just the six points on just 228 yards of total offense. They will be hard pressed to do that in this one as Washington does have an explosive offense. If they can’t slow the offense down, then the Utes could be in trouble for this one.  

The reason for that is because their offense did not look good against Northern Illinois last week. They put up just 354 yards of total offense, including just 68 yards on the ground. They will need much more balance from their offense if they hope to knock off the Huskies. Tyler Huntley has thrown for 539 yards with four TDs and an INT on the year. Last year, he threw for 293 yards with two TDs and an INT against this defense. Both defenses are solid, so whichever offense shows up will have a huge edge in this game.

Trends

Washington is:

8-3 ATS in their last 11 conference games.

5-2 ATS in their last 7 games following an ATS loss

1-5 ATS in their last 6 games after allowing less than 170 yards passing in their previous game

The Under is 8-3-1 in their last 12 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points.

The Over is 7-3-1 in their last 11 road games vs. a team with a winning home record

Utah is:

8-2 ATS in their last 10 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game

9-4-1 ATS in their last 14 conference games.

5-12 ATS in their last 17 games after allowing less than 170 yards passing in their previous game

The Over is 5-1 in their last 6 games after allowing less than 170 yards passing in their previous game.

The Under is 4-1 in their last 5 games following a straight up win