Utah Utes vs. Washington State Cougars: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 10/27/2022

Time: 10 p.m. ET

Venue: Martin Stadium, Pullman, WA

Where to watch: FS1

DraftKings: Utah -8.5; Utah -320, Washington State +265

FanDuel: Utah -8.5; Utah -365, Washington State +285

BetMGM: Utah -8.5

Caesars: Utah -8; Utah -335, Washington State +260

No. 14 Utah: 5-2 (3-1 Pac-12)

Washington State: 4-3 (1-3 Pac-12)

USC: won 43-42 vs. No. 7 USC

Washington State: lost 24-10 at Oregon State

That was absolutely one way for the Utah Utes to bounce back from a tough Pac-12 loss to UCLA. Come back home, beat USC in a thriller and remind people that the Utes might be the best team in the Pac-12 right now. The Utes’ 43-42 win over USC not only dashed USC’s potential College Football Playoff hopes, but you’d be hard-pressed to think that if Utah runs the table, there’s a legit possibility that it just knocked USC out of a potential New Year’s Six Bowl if this keeps up. Not many people can outplay Caleb Williams the way Cameron Rising did. The Utah quarterback threw for 415 yards and two touchdowns, and scored the game-winning score on a one-yard run with 48 seconds left, and also scored on the 2-point conversion to win the game. If you’ve ever wanted to see a steep slope in sports graphing, go look at the win probability chart on ESPN.com from that game and get back to me. That stuff is a wild mess.

"We were going to keep the ball in Cam's hands," Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said. "And if we score and time is close to expiring, we were going for 2, no question."

We don’t talk a lot about how good Utah is, considering they are the defending conference champs for a reason. But there is this unwavering belief that the Utes can hang with anybody. They showed last year they could hang with Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, and now they have the potential to get back to that game again and potentially make a big mark on how it unfolds. If Rising continues to play this way, it’s going to go a long way for Utah. It might not be in the CFP picture, but it’s going to make the top-10 very interesting.

The Washington State Cougars have hit a bit of a snag and have been unable to build off that near-upset at home against Oregon back on Sept. 24. The Cougars have lost three out of four, the lone win coming at home against Cal by 19 points, but have since lost by two scores at USC and at Oregon State. If there’s any positive they can take away from this it’s that the Cougars’ defense has kept them in games. It’s just the offense hasn’t had enough consistency to make things happen. WSU quarterback Cameron Ward threw for 345 yards and a touchdown, but also completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes. Meanwhile, the Cougars’ leading rusher in the 24-10 loss to Oregon State was Jaylen Jenkins’ 42 yards on six carries. There’s no balance, quarterback play is off and the defense is on the field for far too long in these instances.

I’m not saying Mike Leach’s offense would’ve worked at his former employer, but there needs to be a balance that works for this group. Until that can happen, taking Washington State in any game is a huge risk.

Utah laying 8.5 is a big number for a road game that could spell a tough environment to play on a Thursday night. Utah has played well in these types of games before, and taking the Utes would seem like a reasonable play here. Utah by 14

Utah is 3-10 ATS as a road favorite between 7.5 and 10 points since 1992.

Utah is 11-11 ATS as a favorite in the last three years.

Utah is 3-6 ATS in its last nine as a road favorite.

Washington State is 7-5 ATS in its last 12 home games.

Washington State is 5-1 ATS off two straight unders the past three years.

Washington State is 26-46 ATS since 1992 after two straight losses ATS

Passing: Cameron Rising – 1,855 yards, 15 TD, 3 INT

Rushing: Tavion Thomas – 414 yards, 5 TD

Receiving: Dalton Kincaid – 558 yards, 6 TD

Passing: Cameron Ward – 1,962 yards, 16 TD, 8 INT

Rushing: Nakia Watson – 325 yards, 2 TD

Receiving: De’Zhaun Stribling – 359 yards, 4 TD