Winston Churchill, were he an NCAA football betting man, and, of course, alive, might say, speaking of the Washington Huskies, that never in the field of college football wagering has so much been owed to so few plays. Their foes du jour, the Oregon State Beavers shall fight the Huskies on the line of scrimmage, they shall fight them on the red zone, they shall fight them on field goals and punts; and they shall never surrender. Or, perhaps, they shall. Who knows?
.@CoachPeteUW talks with the media ahead of Saturday's game against Oregon State in Corvallis.#PurpleReign pic.twitter.com/FKrIcaKwql
— UW Football (@UW_Football) September 25, 2017
- Date: September 30th
- Time: 8:05 PM
- Venue: Reser Stadium, Corvallis, OR
- Online Sportsbook Odds:
Washington U -26½ (-110) 62 (-110) -5000
Oregon State +26½ (-110) 62 (-110) +2500
Burning the candle at both tight ends
The 2016 Huskies, who set a school record with 41.8 points per game, had, at one point every 1.60 plays, the most efficient offense among all Power Five schools, and they have picked up right where they left off, averaging 59.3 plays per game in four games and 44.5 points per game, which is tantamount to saying that U-Dub has the most efficient offense in the nation at one point per 1.33 plays. The Huskies often utilize two tight ends, and even two running backs in the backfield. QB Jake Browning is generally in shotgun formation, but will go under center as well. “It’s a well-oiled machine right now,” quondam UW quarterback and current UW radio analyst Damon Huard said. “And you were to ask me: What is our offense? Our offense is everything. And a lot of ways, each week we can do different things.” And one of the things they can be, not unreasonably, expected to do is cover the massive 26½-point NCAA football betting spread against the Beavers this Saturday.
“Nice Beavers.” “Thank you. We just had them stuffed.”
Adding support to the theory that the Huskies can cover the spread are the following: Oregon State’s defense is gossamer-thin and the Beavers currently rank 127th in scoring defense; basically, the defense is undercutting the offense, offense which is not really that bad but just lost starting QB Jake Luton to a thoracic spine fracture, and while he could, according to head coach Gary Andersen, return this season, the Beavers will have to make do, for the time being, with backup Darell Garretson, who transferred from Utah State. Garretson and sat out 2015 and started six games in 2016, going 2-4 and averaging just 103 passing yards per game, with three touchdowns and four picks. Oregon State has managed, even while losing more often than not, to score enough points for the NCAA football betting total to go over in each of their four games this season, while they are 1-3 SU and 0-4 ATS. It remains to be seen, though, whether those trends remain in place with a different starting quarterback, though Oregon State already ranks 10th in passing offense in the Pac-12 as it is.