Washington Huskies (8-4 SU, 6-6 ATS) vs. BYU Cougars (8-4 SU, 5-6-1 ATS)
Fight Hunger Bowl
Date/Time: Friday, December 27, 2013 at 9:30PM EST
Where: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California
TV: ESPN
By Loot, NCAA Football Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
Point Spread: WASH -3/Brigham Young+3
Over/Under Total: 60
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In this year’s Fight Hunger Bowl on December 27 in San Francisco, the Washington Huskies take on the BYU Cougars. These two 8-4 teams should combine for an entertaining tilt. After a 1-2 start, Brigham Young won 7 of their last 9, scoring some nice wins against Utah State, Houston, and Boise State along the way. Washington had their knocks after a promising 4-0 start. They lost 4 of their next 6 as they hit the skids, but enter this game on an impressive 2-game winning streak, including an explosive 69-27 win at Oregon State. Maybe they’re back on the right track.
The man who helped pump life back into the Washington program, Steve Sarkisian, will not be there due to his accepting the USC gig. Serving on an interim basis will be old Huskies standout QB Marques Tuiasosopo. It’s been a trying season for Washington. They looked poised to challenge the Pac-12 elite after a 4-0 start and on the heels of a promising 2012. A 3-point loss at Stanford wasn’t a cause for alarm, but they came back the following two weeks and got smashed by Oregon and Arizona State. That set the tone, as if to indicate to Washington that they weren’t yet up for tangling with the best. Admirably, they ended the year winning 4 of 5 games. They have a really good quarterback in 3-year starter Keith Price. Bishop Sankey (306-1775-18) is one of the better backs in the conference and Price works with a useful receiving corps that features 5 players with 25 or more receptions.
The Cougars of BYU also had an up-and-down 8-win season. They opened the year with an upset loss at Virginia, before coming back the next week to throttle Texas, before losing to Utah the next week. Then began a 5-game winning streak that included wins over Utah State, Georgia Tech, Houston, and Boise State. Since then, they lost to Wisconsin and Notre Dame, but ended on a good note with road win at Nevada. BYU can really run the ball when at their best. As their 5-6-1 ATS record attests, however, they are not always at their best.
BYU has some real horses that should test the Washington “D.” Quarterback Taysom Hill has thrown for 2645 yards and run for 1211 more, for a combined 28 touchdowns. RB Jamall Williams ran for 1202 yards, and their leading receiver is big Cody Huffman. But BYU, at root, has become more of a running team that hopes its defense can keep a lid on the other team. That defense will have their work cut out with a Washington offense that has scored 186 points in their last 4 games.
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BYU really benefitted from getting offensive coordinator Robert Anae back in the fold this year. A longtime Brigham Young guy, coach Anae is a master of customizing a system to accommodate his personnel. BYU, a formerly pass-happy team has smoothly transitioned into an offense of variety that creates problems with a dynamic run-game. Having a gifted QB in Taysom Hill certainly helps and he has thrived in this system. Washington’s run defense hasn’t exactly been stout, so that could be a major problem for them in this game.
Perhaps more worrisome is Washington’s leadership. Tuiasosopo gets a lot of respect. But Sarkisian is taking a lot of his staff with him and their statuses for this game aren’t very clear at the moment. On one hand, Washington ended their season well. They looked pretty powerful putting up 69 points, albeit against a slip-sliding Oregon State team. But who’s going to be coaching them here? Will players buy in? Will the game plan even be up-to-snuff? It’s disconcerting for a group of young men to be left in this state of limbo prior to a bowl game, with the leadership suddenly evaporated. Yeah, they have the BCS’ third-leading rusher in Sankey, a steely leader at QB in Price, and a deep core of ball-catchers, any of whom can step up and deliver a good performance. The mental aspect is just a component that needs to be accounted for in this game. BYU is a team that should really test Washington’s state-of-mind and if it’s less than peak, there could be problems for the Huskies.
The Cougars are hardly infallible. They are inconsistent and have been prone to major swings of form throughout the season. Against a Washington team that is out-of-sorts, however, they should be able to run the ball, control the tempo, and emerge with a hard-earned win against a Washington team that might not have that extra gear.
Loot's Pick to Cover the Fight Hunger Bowl Point Spread: I’m taking the BYU Cougars plus 3 points.
