The Utah Utes (2-0) and the #12 Washington Huskies (1-1) will square off in a showdown of Pac 12 constituents set to take place at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, September 15th, 2018. Kick off is set for 10:00 PM ET and will be broadcasted on ESPN. The two teams have met five times dating back to 2011. The Huskies have won four of these five meetings, but Utah has covered in the last three fixtures. In the previous two meetings, the Utes were double-digit underdogs but lost by a combined ten points in these recent two defeats.
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Washington Huskies at Utah Utes Overview
Washington Huskies
The Huskies participated in the 2018 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic against #6 Auburn in what was a defensive thriller. UW had plenty of opportunities to win the game but made a series of careless mistakes that resulted in War Eagle stealing a 21-16 win against the highly-touted Purple and Gold. The Huskies were the last team to represent the Pac-12 in the College Football Playoff when it entered as the #4 seed in the 2016 edition. UW responded to their loss in Week One with a 45-3 beatdown of North Dakota in Seattle, last week.
Utah Utes
The Utes come in undefeated, on a four-game winning streak dating back to 2017. In 2018, the Utes would make quick work of Weber State to open up their campaign and follow it up with a 17-6 victory on the road at Northern Illinois. The same Huskies team that many Iowa Hawkeyes feared going up against in Week One. As is a staple of Ute football, Utah features a ferocious defense and a methodical rushing attack anchored by a bell-cow in Zack Moss.
Reasons To Back Utah
In many regards, these two teams are carbon copies of each other. Utah and Washington employ a similar approach to the game, playing in a notorious finesse and offense-oriented conference. For both ensembles, it has yielded dividends as both teams have been in the fold for divisional and conference accreditations on a consistent basis. Factoring in the energetic atmosphere of Rice-Eccles Stadium, there is a lot of potential equity in getting a touchdown-plus in what should be a very physical and defensive football game.
Reasons To Avoid Washington
There is little question that the Huskies are loaded with talent on both sides of the football. However, the hyperbole that surrounds this unit from the play of their dynamic rusher Miles Gaskin and their playmaker quarterback Jake Browning can make them prone to being overvalued in a situation where there is a lot of uncertainty given how this team will play in hostile confines against a team that plays their style of football. Usually, UW makes a living off of beating up on the razzle-dazzle teams but struggles against its own kind.
Get more details: Washington at Utah NCAAF Match-Up
