Washington State vs. Washington Spread Pick | CFB Week 3

Washington State Cougars (2-0 SU, 2-0 ATS) vs. Washington Huskies (2-0 SU, 1-1 ATS)

NCAA Football Week 3

Date/Time: Saturday, September 14, 2024, at 3:30 PM EST

Where: Lumen Field, Seattle, Washington

TV: Peacock

The Washington State Cougars make the trip to Seattle to play the Washington Huskies on Saturday. This pairing, known as the Apple Cup, was played on the first Friday after Thanksgiving in recent years, a late-season game with high stakes. The dissolution of the Pac-12 has led to it becoming an early-season game. Washington is now in the Big Ten, with Washington State a team without a country, having struck a deal with the Mountain West to play members of their conference this season, with games against Washington and Oregon St. being the only vestiges left from their old schedule. Despite the upheaval on both sides, each team enters this spot at 2-0. A 30-9 Saturday win over Eastern Michigan completed a cushy little two-game warm-up to the season for the Huskies. The Cougars, meanwhile, scored a nice 37-16 win over Texas Tech.

Getting a Lay of the Land

Conference ramifications and timing aside, I wouldn’t expect the importance of this in-state rivalry to be lost on either team. It won’t be what it once was, but I’d expect both teams to be up for this. In Washington’s favor is that they’ve won this matchup 12 of the last 14 years. Each team should be coming into this game in pretty good shape, each unbeaten and still having not left the state, with this one at the big building across town from UW’s normal stomping grounds of Husky Stadium. Cougars’ head coach Jake Dickert’s leadership has been calming for a Washington State squad that will be looking at a lot of different conditions this season as he begins his third full year at the helm. Washington, having seen Kalen DeBoer take over at Alabama, now has Jedd Fisch at the helm following his turnaround of the Arizona program.

What to Expect from Washington

While not a home game technically, they won their 16th straight last week. It’s a largely rebuilt team from the national championship contender we saw last season. Will Rogers is now at the helm, and last week, he threw for four TDs, while getting a nice showing from RB Jonah Coleman, who was over 100 yards. They’ve seen their defense not allow a TD to begin the season through two games, and on Saturday, we saw a big defensive play set up their first score in what was at first an early-game struggle for the Huskies. They got the pass-rush cranked up and the defense really allowed the offense to find its footing. Anyone expecting last season’s Huskies to show up will be disappointed, but whatever they are now, they better bring it on Saturday, as the opposition-level ratchets up a notch or two after wins over Weber St. and Eastern Michigan.

What Washington State Brings to the Table

A week one win over Portland State was routine enough, with their lopsided win over Texas Tech on Saturday showing a different dimension. QB John Mateer has taken over behind center, setting a Cougars’ QB single-game rushing record with 197 yards against the Red Raiders. They got some other big rushing plays on a big day running where they were over 300 yards, with Mateer adding a TD with his arm. He made some mistakes along the way, and one wonders how well the Texas Tech aerial offense would have done if not for all their mistakes, as their QB was well over 300 yards. Could Will Rogers exploit what might once again be a shaky Washington State pass defense? Might the mistakes that maybe didn’t cost Washington State so dearly against their first two opponents resonate worse against a still-impactful Washington defense?

Issues for the Cougars

While handling one the few opponents they get from a Power-Four conference this season last week, the Red Raiders have a lot of issues to iron out. Washington might be a totally different kettle of fish, even with the personnel, coaching, and conference upheaval on their plates. Mateer’s performance has been promising on some level, with this being his third season with the program. And his run-heavy style might work against what is a much easier schedule for them this season. But against the likes of Washington, they might need a lot more, and Mateer’s work in the passing game hasn’t really shined. Paired against a multi-pronged Huskies offense and a “D” that is far superior to what they’ve seen this season, could this game be a big reality sandwich for Jake Dickert’s squad? Or could the same be said for a Huskies team that has really been eased into the season with two cupcakes, and this is where we truly start to see the falloff? Even with the Huskies a national contender last season, they only beat the Cougars by three points. These games can be more competitive than what they seem on paper.

Lay the Short Number

One should be reluctant to pick on the Cougars despite their predicament, as they are a team with guts that will usually be out there trying really hard for you. And while they have some things going for them, I sense the Huskies still have a little juice. The offense is already striking a bit of an identity both through the air and on the ground. With their defense still being halfway-formidable, they are just enough of a complete team to give a massively-transitioning Cougars’ squad a little too much trouble overall in this spot. I see a close game, with the Cougars’ offense hitting a bit of a wall, as the Huskies close with a win and a cover at Lumen Field on Saturday. I’ll take the Huskies.

Loot’s Prediction to Cover the Point Spread:

I’m betting on the Washington Huskies minus 4 points.

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