The back-to-back national champions took back the top spot in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. Georgia is back to No. 1 ahead of Saturday’s trip to Knoxville to take on No. 18 Tennessee.
The Bulldogs clinched their third straight SEC title game appearance with last week’s win and now the Volunteers are trying to play spoiler against their division foe with the regular season winding down. Out West, No. 5 Washington is staying alive in the playoff race but the Huskies are up against another stout challenger on the road this week in No. 11 Oregon State.
As far as games that factor into the CFP race goes, Georgia-Tennessee and Washington-Oregon State are clearly the marquee matchups but No. 7 Texas and No. 6 Oregon are both worth keeping an eye on as they take on Iowa State and Arizona State, respectively.
No. 5 Washington vs. No. 11 Oregon State
Spread: Washington +2.5 (-110) | Oregon State -2.5 (-110)
Moneyline: WASH (+110) | ORST (-138)
Total: 63.5 – Over (-110) | Under (-110)
Game Info: Saturday, Nov. 18 | 7:30 p.m. ET | ABC
Location: Reser Stadium | Corvallis, OR
The Huskies opened as 2.5-point road favorites but since Sunday that line has moved steadily in the direction of the Beavers, who are now favored by 2.5 in Saturday’s showdown. Oregon State has won nine straight at home, including a 62–17 thrashing of Stanford last week, while Washington extended its winning streak to 17 after outlasting Utah, 35–28.
The Pac-12 championship participants are still undecided with two weeks to go in the regular season. The Huskies just need to win one of their final two games to clinch a trip to Las Vegas. The Beavers, however, have to win out to earn a spot in the conference title game, which would require taking down two consecutive top-10 teams: No. 5 Washington and No. 6 Oregon.
Close calls have become a staple for the Huskies (10–0, 7–0 Pac-12) in conference play. Of their Pac-12-best seven conference wins, four have been by one score and they’ve only covered the spread twice.
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. leads the FBS in passing yards and has the second-best odds to win the Heisman Trophy behind Bo Nix and Washington is fifth in the nation in scoring average (41 points per game) but 48th in points allowed (23.5). That defense was an issue in close calls against Arizona and Stanford, two teams the Huskies were projected to beat by multiple scores.
Oregon State (8–2, 5–2 Pac-12) isn’t far behind on offense. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei leads a top-15 scoring offense (37.9 points per game) but the heart of that unit is the rushing attack. Damien Martinez is one of 17 players with over 1,000 yards on the ground this season and he just had a season-best 146-yard, four-touchdown performance against the Cardinal. The Beavers’ defense is tied for 31st in opponent scoring (20.5 points per game) and held its last two opponents under 20 points.
The over has hit in six of 10 games for both Washington and Oregon State this season, though the Huskies are more accustomed to totals being set in the 60s than the Beavers. (The over/under in the USC-Washington game a few weeks back was set at 76 and it hit easily.)
Washington has turned almost every conference game into a shootout this season — at least 63 points have been scored in five out of seven in Pac-12 play and that will be the case again Saturday in Corvallis. Oregon State has a sound defense, but it won’t be able to hold up for four quarters against the duo of Penix and Rome Odunze, which means Uigaleilei and Martinez will be forced to answer.
Best Bet: Over 62.5 (-110)
