Oregon State gets a break as Joe Montana's son Nick will start in place of Keith Price who got injured after a crushing loss to USC and now they go on the road to play Oregon State team that has pride to play for. I don't think that is why they win this game, it will be more about Washington's defense which is ranked 11th on 3rd down allowing 49.26% conversions on the year. Oregon State should finally have a balanced attack in their last 3 games they haven't rushed the ball at all 32, 33, and 27 yards in each game, but they faced CAl Stanford, and Utah the 3 best run defenses in the Pac 12 who are ranked 31st, 8th and 11th in the nation, Washington is more like Washington State allowing 4.8 ypc on the year and over 6 in their road games.
If Oregon State can find balance like they did vs. Washington State they should have a field day on offense and expect James Rodgers to get into it in this game in a big way. Washington is not only bad vs. the run but they are ranked 104th in pass defense and Oregon State and Sean Manion are 21st in passing offense. Washington allowing opposing QB's a 63.5% completion rate and a 147 QB rating. The last time SEan Manion faced a bad pass defense was Wash St and ARizona and they won both of those games. This will be a Sr. moment with 17 Sr's on SR day expect both the offense and defense to be pumped up. Washington has allowed 13 sacks in the last 2 games expect Oregon State to get after the young Montana.
Utah started 0-4 in the Pac-12 and now have been on a run and even have a long shot at a BCS bowl game, but Washington STate is playing for their bowl lives after a huge win over a very good ARizona State team. Arizona State went to Utah and won outright. Washington State should be able to win if they can stop John White and to do that they will stack the box. They held ARizona state to just 2.4 ypc and on this is just a bad match up for Utah in my opinion. It's not like their offense is a juggernaut ranked 109th in total offense and converting just 34.35% on 3rd downs this season while Washington State is converting 42.86%. Washington State's defense is allowing just 29.6% conversions in their last 2 games so I think that continues into this key game.
Utah has also relied on turnovers way too often this year but they have turned the ball over 19 times themselves. WAshington St has turned the ball over just 6 times in 5 home games so I don't think Utah has enough to cover as favorites on the road against a team fighting for bowl eligibility unless they win the turnover battle which I don't believe they will. Meanwhile I mentioned this being a bad match up for Utah, because Washington State is not a running team. Utah is built to stop the run, but Washington State will simply just try to throw they are ranked 9th and they got a guy who just came in relief in Connor Halliday who threw 27-36 for 496 yards 4 TD and 0 INT vs. a stiff ARizona State team. Utah ranked 75th in pass defense and I think Washington State has the talent to get behind the secondary of Utah in this game. Lastly this game also comes down to red zone and Washington State is converting 76% of their opportunities at home into TD's while their defense is allowing 55% and Utah continues to struggle in the red zone as they do on 3rd downs converting just 48% of their attempts on the season and 37% on the road.
