Big Ten picks: Can Washington make it 20 in a row at home?
The Huskies are favored, which has been a good position for them this season.
Washington is favored against UCLA on Friday, which means the Huskies will finish the regular season having been favored in exactly half of their games.
(Presumptuous of me, I know, to assume the Huskies will be underdogs in Eugene come Nov. 30.)
UW’s straight-up record as the betting favorite this season is 4-1, with victories over Weber State, Eastern Michigan, Northwestern and Michigan, and obviously a neutral-site loss to Washington State. The Huskies, then, are 1-4 straight-up when playing as underdogs, their lone “upset” coming two weeks ago vs. USC, which was favored by a mere 1.5 points.
In other words, the Huskies have generally won when they were supposed to, and mostly haven’t when they weren’t. And they’re going to finish this season having been favored in every home game but one (and even then, barely), and having been underdogs in all five of their true road games.
If trends hold, the Huskies will depart Husky Stadium on Friday knowing they’ll get another game in December. But UCLA is a different team now than it was in September, and the Huskies are coming off their most lopsided defeat of the season on a short week.
Let’s get into that and more Big Ten action with our weekly picks. All kickoff times are Pacific. All lines are courtesy of BetMGM. All rankings are via the College Football Playoff selection committee. Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan are idle.
Last week: 3-3 ATS (4-2 straight up)
Season: 27-35-1 (45-19)