Washington State vs Washington College Football Free Pick

Washington State @ Washington (WAS -4.5, 55.5 at BetUS.com)

Saturday, September 14, 3:30 PM ET

Lumen Field

It’s the annual Apple Cup, but it’s not at its usual year-end. With Washington moving to the Big Ten, scheduling became an issue. The annual rivalry game was typically a Pac-12, year-end clash. This year, it’s a Week 3 game, but all of the tradition and hoopla will remain. 

This year’s game is even more special. Washington is this year’s home team and, usually, the Huskies play their home games at their own Husky Stadium. This year’s Apple Cup will be held at Lumen Field in Seattle, the home of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks.

Both teams are off to strong starts in 2024. Washington State won its first two games. The Cougars put up 70 points on FCS Portland State in a 70-30 victory. They followed that up with an impressive 37-16 home win over Texas Tech. The Cougars covered the spread in both games.

Washington is fresh off a loss in last year’s national championship game and the Huskies have a new head coach. Kalen DeBoer, of course, left at the end of last season and moved on to Alabama. Jedd Fisch steps in and his new team is also 2-0 with two easy wins to start the season. 

The Huskies pounded FCS Weber State in Week 1, 35-3, then followed that up with a 30-9 beatdown of Eastern Michigan. Washington’s offense has been extremely balanced and very efficient. The Huskies defense was equally dominant in the first two games, holding both opponents below 255 total yards.

Why Washington

Washington QB Will Rogers transferred in via the portal for his senior season. He played in the Air Raid with the Bulldogs and threw 40 to 50 times a game. In Fisch’s offense, Rogers doesn’t have to make a ton of throws. The Huskies roll with a more pro-style offense which suits Rogers just fine. 

Against Eastern Michigan last week, Rogers was almost perfect. He went 21-for-26 for 261 yards and he threw four touchdown passes. For the season, Rogers has completed 78.8 percent of his passes and he has not thrown an interception.

Rogers doesn’t have to throw as much because the Huskies have an elite running back in Jonah Coleman. Coleman averaged 6.8 yards per carry last year and rushed for nearly 900 yards for Fisch at Arizona in 2023. So far this season, Coleman has two 100-yard rushing games, 231 yards rushing, three touchdowns, and he’s averaging 8.6 yards per attempt.

What’s interesting is that Washington returned exactly zero offensive starters from last year’s Pac-12 champion. Fisch has rebuilt the offense from the ground up with a number of transfers. He had to do the same thing on defense where only one starter returned. So far, the defense has played well, but they have yet to see an offense like Washington State.

Can the Cougars Turn the Tide?

Washington State has lost nine of the last 10 games in this rivalry series. The Cougars offense lost a ton of talent from last year’s unit that scored 31.7 points per game and finished fourth in the country in passing offense (336.8 ypg). QB Cam Ward is now at Miami. Sophomore John Mateer has taken over and the offense is a little different. 

The Cougars are actually in the top-10 in the nation right now in rushing yards per game. They put up 301 on the ground last week against Texas Tech. Mateer is actually the leading rusher right now. Last week, he ran 21 times for 197 yards and one touchdown. There’s no question Cougars head coach Jake Dickert will try and establish the run on Saturday.

The question will be whether or not Mateer can get it done in the passing game. He has only attempted 36 passes and completed just 55 percent. Mateer did throw an interception last week, though it didn’t come back to haunt the Cougars. Washington has only allowed an average of 129 passing yards through its first two games. The roster is almost entirely different for the Huskies, but keep in mind this was a Washington pass defense that ranked 117th in the nation in 2023.

Apple Cup Best Bet

Bet on Jedd Fisch. This guy can coach. Plus, he’s destroyed Washington State’s defense before. Remember, he was the head coach at Arizona last year. His 2023 team put up over 500 total yards and 44 points against the Cougars defense. Coleman averaged over six yards per carry and scored three touchdowns in that game.

Will Rogers is a resurrected FBS quarterback who just done what Fisch has asked. He hasn’t made many mistakes and the Washington offense has been an efficient machine as a result. The Huskies defense has played well thanks to a couple transfer portal defensive linemen.

Washington State has run the ball effectively, but consider the opposition. They put up 224 yards on the ground against FCS Portland State. Then, they banged out 301 on a Texas Tech team that replaced every member of the front seven from last year.

The Huskies don’t lose many of these Apple Cup games. Good teams win – Washington is 8-1 SU in the last nine against Washington State. Great teams cover – the Huskies are 7-2 ATS in those nine games.

Best Bet: Washington -4.5 – Bet this pick now at Sportsbetting.ag