The game between the Utah Utes and the Washington Huskies is a huge test for a Utah team which has the talent to make its first-ever Rose Bowl appearance. To do that, they\u2019ll need to prove that they can win big games away from home. This will be their fourth road game of the season but it could be their toughest as the Huskies are a quality Pac-12 foe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Utes have to like their chances here because their opponent just isn\u2019t that good. Washington isn\u2019t a bad team but this team is not College Football Playoff-caliber; they aren\u2019t nearly as good as they have been in past seasons. The Huskies lost to a bad Stanford team, scoring just 13 points against the Cardinal, then scored just one touchdown in a home-field loss to California early in the season. They blew a 28-14 lead to the Oregon Ducks a week and a half ago and lost again. Washington has been in position to win every game it has played but the Huskies played terrible fourth quarters against Stanford, Cal and Oregon, and now sits at 5-3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge for the Huskies is that this year\u2019s defense isn\u2019t what it used to be. They allowed three second-half touchdowns and 35 total points to Oregon in a bitter loss which knocked the Huskies out of the Pac-12 title race. For the most part, teams have run wild on them as they\u2019re 61st in rush defense, giving up a whopping 164.6 yards on the ground per game. Utah comes in averaging 218.9 on the ground per game, so that figures to be a great matchup for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Washington Huskies are a proud team, they\u2019re talented and they\u2019re well-coached. They made the Rose Bowl last season and they have won two of the past three Pac-12 championships. While they know they won\u2019t win their division or be getting to that level in 2019, they\u2019re not about to quit on their season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we know about Utah is that they play great defense in home games, giving up 33 points in five home games, but are not the same on the road. They\u2019re allowing 8.2 points per game at home but 16.3 on the road. They\u2019re not a great passing team as quarterback Tyler Huntley has just one touchdown pass and one pick in his last two games. If the Huskies can somehow corral the Utes running game, this will be a dogfight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington\u2019s 35-31 loss at home to Oregon, plus Utah\u2019s 30-23 loss at USC earlier in the season, suggest that both defenses will struggle \u2013 Washington because its defense simply isn\u2019t good, Utah because its defense doesn\u2019t play as well in road games. Expect big plays in this game, because these teams are different from last year, when they played two very ugly games in which the average number of total points scored was 20.5 (combined). This game should feature a lot more offense and go over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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