The Pac-12 meets the Big Ten in an exciting Week 2 showdown!
Washington State University will take on the University of Wisconsin at 3:30 pm ET on Saturday in Madison.
The Cougars survived with a gutsy win in Week 1 against FCS opponent Idaho. Fumbles and bad kicks almost cost WSU the game, but a strong defense helped them with the most tackles for loss (14) and sacks (7) they have recorded in more than half a decade. Unfortunately, the competition will be significantly tougher this week.
Wisconsin easily handled Illinois State, posting a 38-0 shutout in their opening week contest. Running back Braelon Allen made Swiss cheese with the Red Birds defense, totaling 148 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries against the dominated team. If he can repeat that performance against the Cougars’ defense, he will put himself firmly on the college football map.
Here you will find everything you need from a betting perspective on the Cougars vs. Badgers game from point spread, money line, over/under total and expert pick (odds via fox bet)
Related: Week 2 odds, lines
Washington state @ Wisconsin (3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, FOX) V
Dispersion Point: Wisconsin -17.5 to win (Wisconsin is 17.5+ points favorite to win, otherwise covers Washington State)
money line: Wisconsin -1000 favorites to win (bet $10 to win a total of $11); Washington state +550 losers to win (bet $10 to win $65 total)
Total score over/under: 49.5 points scored by both teams combined
FOX Sports Betting Analyst Geoff Schwartz:
Bringing Wisconsin here feels like a public gamble, but I firmly believe it’s the right move in this game.
He was skeptical of Washington State’s offensive outlook heading into 2022 with the addition of Cam Ward at quarterback. Ward was fantastic at Incarnate Word for two seasons (a spring 2021 COVID-19 season transitioned directly into a fall 2021 season) before making the jump, along with Ward’s offensive coordinator, to Pullman. There are only a few examples of quarterbacks who have successfully made the jump from FCS to FBS as drastically as Ward is attempting. And in Washington State’s opening week game against Idaho, Ward and the Cougars’ offense looked just as I’d hoped. They fought.
The Cougars scored 24 points, had just 19 first downs and were under 50% on third downs. While it’s fair to believe improvement is expected as Cam gets more comfortable in Pullman, this isn’t the weekend he’d expect that jump.
The Wisconsin Badgers had one of the best defenses in the country last season and allowed zero points and just 243 yards in their weekend opener win against Illinois State. The Cougars are better than the Redbirds, but Cam isn’t ready for the fast, physical nature of this Badgers defense. He just doesn’t see how the Cougars’ offense will score enough offensive points to cover in this game.
It can be argued that their defense can limit the Badgers to 24-31 points. This means a couple of WSU scores could cover this number. But I’m not so sure it’s feasible. While the Cougars’ defense is feisty, they are an undersized unit. That generally doesn’t do well against the Badgers.
This is a matchup where Wisconsin’s offensive line and running game should dominate the Cougars’ line of scrimmage and attrition. I’ll take Wisconsin to cover this number at home.
TO CHOOSE: Wisconsin (-17.5 on FOX Bet) wins by over 17.5 points
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