The 9th ranked Colorado Buffaloes battle the 5th ranked Washington Huskies for the Pac-12 title Friday evening at Levi’s Stadium. The Buffaloes are at 10-2 and off a 22-17 win over Utah, while the 11-1 huskies are off a 45-17 win over Washington State. This game has a start time of 9:00 pm EST.
Vegas odds have the Huskies listed as 7.5 point favorites, while the total has been set at 58.5. The game has a start time of 7:15 pm EST and will be televised on ABC & ESPN2.
Breaking Down The Colorado Buffaloes
The Colorado Buffaloes have been a pleasant surprise in college football this year as they have really come out of nowhere to win the Pac-12 South, which put them in the Pac-12 Title game. This has been a team that went just 4-9 last year overall and had won just 2 total Pac-12 games their last three years combined, but this year they have gone 10-2 overall and 7-1 within the conference. Just a great turnaround for this team. They have been led by QB Sefo Liufau, who has thrown for 2150 yards with 11 TDs and just three INTs, while also rushing for 481 yards and 7 TDs. He has been steady and has made few costly mistakes, but will be going up a very good Washington defense that has been getting better as they season has gone on. Colorado comes in ranked 29th in total offense, 31st in passing, 45th in rushing and 36th in scoring, putting up 34.8 ppg. The offense has been very solid for them this year, but they defense has been even better as they come in ranked 12th in total yards allowed, 20th vs the pass, 33rd vs the run and 13th in points allowed, giving up just 18.8 ppg. This defense will have its work cut out for them vs a very good and hot Washington offense.
Breaking Down The Washington Huskies
Many at the beginning of the year felt that the Washington huskies would win the Pac-12, but not many felt they would be in position for a spot in the NCAA Playoffs. That’s just where they are and will likely get in with a win in this game. That makes this contest doubly important for them. The Huskies brought back a ton of talent from a 7-6 team that won its bowl game a year ago and they have parlayed all that talent into an 11-1 record so far, with their lone loss coming at home to USC a few weeks ago. The Huskies have been led by QB Jake Browning, who has had a strong year and may just get an invite to New York as a Heisman finalist. Browning has thrown for 3162 yards with 40 TDs and seven INTs and he will have to be on point in this one vs a very strong Colorado defense. The Huskies also have a solid ground game with Myles Gaskin, who has run for 1180 yards and has 11 combined TDs. Overall this offense comes in ranked 21st in total yards, 26th in passing 40th in rushing and 3rd in scoring, putting up 44.8 ppg so far. This team also knows how to play some defense as they come in ranked 17th in total yards allowed, 33rd vs the pass, 23rd vs the run and 11th in points allowed, giving up just 17.8 ppg. The Huskies have allowed just 35 total points their last two weeks vs good offenses in Arizona State and Washington State
Trends: The Buffaloes have gone 11-2 ATS in their last 13 games overall and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 conference games, but just 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games in December and 0-6 ATS the last 6 games in this series. The Under is 10-3 in their last 13 conference games and 6-1 in their last 7 neutral site games.
The Huskies have gone 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games in December and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games after allowing less than 100 yards rushing in their previous game, but just 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games after accumulating more than 280 yards passing in their previous game. The Over is 7-1-1 in their last 9 vs. a team with a winning record and 10-2-1 in their last 13 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game.
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