Washington State +7 2.2% play
Statistically we have a pretty even match up as WAshington STate +0.2 yards per play vs. an average opponent +0.36, while Utah is +0.1 vs. average opponent +0.5. Washington State has a very good home field advantage, in fact Utah has not won here since 2011. Both teams off a bye, but I think that favors Washington State a bit more considering they had struggles in their last 2 games where they were showing regression, but for what its worth both of those games were on the road where this team seems to struggle.
Utah really has not been great on the road, and I think their defense has taken a big step back in fact Washington State has the better defense, and the strength of the defense is agaisnt the run where they rank 35th in ypc, which matches up well against Utah. Utah's defense ranks 111th in ypp, while Washington STate ranks 50th, and it's not like it's been against worse competition either. Washington STate has faced USC and Oregon on their schedule and their average opponent ypp is 48th compared to Utah at 42.
You are still paying a bit of a premium on Utah based off last year, and I don't think its warranted here. Utah typically always had the better special teams as well, but that's not longer been the case they rank 108th in sepcail teams compared to Washington STate ranking 34th. This is a Washington State team that beat Wisconsin on the road and held a double digit lead against Oregon at home.
