Fresno State
vs.
Washington
College Football
Free Pick
9/16/17
Once again, Washington has a cupcake Schedule to open the season with this one being the last of them. The Huskies have won their first two Games by a combined 93-21 Scoreline and open the Game against Fresno State as a -33 point home favorite at 5Dimes Sportsbook.
While Washington has one of the easier early-season Schedules, Fresno State is on the other end of things with back-to-back road Games against Alabama and Washington. Coming off the trip to ‘Bama in which they didn’t get much accomplished, it’s a wonder how the Bulldogs will feel entering this matchup. Fresno ended up covering that Game, but that was mostly because Alabama put its backups in and only won the second half 13-7. While the Tide don’t usually like to completely blowout teams, the same can’t be said for Washington, having won Four of its last five non-Conference Games (non-CFP) by at least 35 points. With that being the case, it won’t be too difficult to back the home team.
Still, the Huskies are noticeably worse this season due to some issues on the offensive line. More so than anything, they still don’t have a 100-yard rusher, which is a bit surprising as Myles Gaskin is coming off back-to-back 1,300-yard seasons. But more than anything it appears that Washington is trying to save its running backs for the Pac-12 championship and bowl Game as Gaskin only has 16 carries and his backup LAvon Coleman is at 17. Jake Browning has been fine without top receiver John Ross, but again, the competition hasn’t been there to determine how good this team actually is.
Fresno State had a couple good drives last week, but still finished with 2.6 yards per carry and the passing Game had just 216 yards. Chason Virgil brings experience at quarterback, but he’s not good enough to Scoremultiple touchdowns against a defense like Alabama or Washington’s. Expect a similar offensive output for the Bulldogs with 10 points the max. The only touchdown FSU got last week came in the Fourth quarter when ‘Bama had most of its backups in.
Fresno State may be better than last year’s one-win record, but they’re still far from competitive against the best teams in the country. against better opponents in the past year, the Bulldogs have had trouble scoring, with 10 points often the max they could get, whether that was against ‘Bama and Nebraska or SDSU or CSU in Conference play.
The Huskies should run out to a lead and with the spread almost 10 points smaller than it was last week against the Tide, there’s a much better chance Washington covers against Fresno State. While the Huskies may not be as good as ‘Bama, they still have the talent from Browning and Gaskin to everyone on the defensive side to dominate this Game and cover. Washington -33