The no. 10 Washington Huskies will look to stay perfect in Pac-12 play as they host the Arizona State Sun Devils. Kickoff is set for 10:30 EST on Saturday, September 22, at Husky Stadium in Seattle. The game will be available nationally on ESPN.
Oddsmakers list the Huskies as 17.5-point favorites at home. Click here to see college football odds for every game this week.
Washington has responded well after dropping their season opener to Auburn. The Huskies took care of business the following week against North Dakota, beating the FCS team 45-3. Last week, Chris Peterson’s team hit the road for the Pac-12 opener but managed to come out on top against Utah 21-7. The Huskies weren’t quite clicking offensively the way they would have liked, but they were strong defensively for much of the game and able to cover the spread on the road.
As for Arizona State, Herm Edwards and company made headlines a couple weeks ago when they upset Michigan State. However, the Sun Devils quickly saw all that positive momentum disappear in a loss to San Diego State a week ago. Like a lot of teams, Arizona State had difficulty containing the San Diego State rushing attack, ultimately costing them the game 28-21 and their spot on the top-25.
Despite last week’s loss, the Sun Devils are in good shape heading into Pac-12 play. The South division looks wide open, so an upset over Washington could put Arizona State in the driver’s seat. The Huskies, meanwhile, still have their eyes on a spot in the College Football Playoff. But after their loss to Auburn, they need to win out, so they can’t afford to relax against any opponent.
It’s hard to believe, but Arizona State has won 11 of their last 12 meetings with Washington. Since 2002, Washington’s only win in this series came in 2016. The Sun Devils won a low-scoring 13-7 game against the Huskies last year when Washington was ranked no. 5 and previously undefeated. The Huskies will surely be hoping to avoid a similar result on Saturday.
Based on the results early in the season, there are a lot of reasons to think that Arizona State will be able to keep this game close and beat the spread. In fact, at 17.5 points, the oddsmakers are begging you to take the Sun Devils. But I’m going to go against the grain and lean toward Washington to cover.
I’ll admit that Washington has struggled to find their rhythm offensively this season. Quarterback Jake Browning has thrown as many interceptions as touchdowns and has only completed 59% of his passes. Running back Myles Gaskin has also been a little slow to get it going, averaging what for him is a modest 4.4 yards per carry while only finding the end zone twice. However, I feel like it’s only a matter of team until the Huskies get it going. They’re too talented offensively not to, and their first Pac-12 game at home seems like a good time for that to happen.
To be fair, Edwards has made nice strides with the ASU defense early in his tenure. But some of the numbers are a little deceiving. The Sun Devils allowed over 300 yards through the air against Michigan State, a team that’s not all that dynamic offensively. Last week, the Arizona State defense got pushed around by San Diego State in the trenches, allowing two different backs to rush for over 100 yards. Considering the balance Washington has on offense with Gaskin on the ground and Browning through the air, not to mention their strength along the offensive line, I question whether the Sun Devils can consistently get stops against the Washington offense.
On the other side of the ball, I see an Arizona State team that’s a little one-dimensional. If you take away their season opener against UTSA, the Sun Devils haven’t had any success running the ball this year. Over the last two weeks, Eno Benjamin has 48 total yards on 26 carries. Things probably aren’t going to be much easier against the Washington defense, who held Utah to 261 total yards last week.
In fairness, Arizona State can sometimes get by solely on the back of quarterback Manny Wilkins. The senior has seven touchdown passes and just one interception while averaging over 300 yards per game this season. He and the ASU receivers had a nice performance against a stout Michigan State defense a couple weeks ago. But the Sun Devils only managed 16 points in that game, and they have to be better at finishing drives against Washington.
With an offense that’s too one-dimensional, I think Arizona State will struggle to win on the road, something they couldn’t do last week against SDSU. Unlike last week, they’ll be playing a team this week that can threaten opposing defenses on the ground and through the air. I’m willing to bet the Huskies get their offense humming in the second half and end up creating enough separation from Arizona State to cover the 17.5-point spread.