USC-Utah and Arizona State-Washington Highlight Vegas Pac 12 Predictions Week 9
Saturday Blitz Vegas Pac 12 Predictions Week 9
No. 15 Arizona Wildcats at Washington State Cougars
Line: Arizona by 2.5
Don’t look now, but the Arizona Wildcats are as much in the College Football Playoff race as anybody even after losing to USC. Now, coming off of a bye week, they play a 2-5 team, and at 5-1 they’re only a 2.5-point favorite? That’s ridiculous, and it should be used as motivation. Along with motivation, Rich Rodriguez’s team simply needs to use the balance it has shown all year. As great as Anu Solomon and Cayleb Jones are, this is more of a game that should be won by running the football a lot with Nick Wilson and Terris Jones-Grigsby. The Cougars aren’t physical on defense, the Wildcats have a great o-line, and running the ball keeps the Mike Leach offense off the field. That’s how you beat this team, as everybody else seems to have figured out.
Washington State, meanwhile, has to simply do what Washington State does. Throw it a lot. Unfortunately, that’s going to be tough against a Wildcats secondary that caused trouble for Cody Kessler and Marcus Mariota. The big thing for the Cougars is to avoid having Connor Halliday get sacked a lot. The Wildcats have a pretty good pass rush, and that helps out the secondary a lot. So if Leach can design a bunch of quick passing attacks and have his receivers run quick routes, they’ll have a chance to win. But then the defense is going to have to find a way to keep the Wildcats offense from moving the ball at least a couple of times. Maybe they’ll get a turnover.
Prediction
Coming off of a bye week, Arizona is rested, poses the exact match-up problems that have plagued Washington State all year, and now has motivation as only a 2.5-point favorite. That’s a recipe for disaster, and it’s going to lead to a Wildcats win. This will be a very comfortable win for Arizona too, as they prove they are one of the elite Pac-12 teams.
Arizona: 31 Washington State: 17