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Fresno State at Washington State (Saturday – 9:30pm ET)
Fresno State has won three in a row since getting shutout by USC back in Week 1. Slow starts have been an issue for the Bulldogs this season, though. Given what we now know about the Trojans’ defense, getting blanked by that team is not a good look. While Fresno wound up dropping 49 points on an awful Sacramento State team, it went scoreless in the first quarter.
The next week the Bulldogs led San Jose State just 6-3 at half, before escaping with a more comfortable 26-10 win. Maybe a cushy matchup at home against Rice would be a spot to start faster? Nope. Fresno actually trailed 17-14 at half before getting it together and winning by two touchdowns.
I don’t trust this Fresno State team to be ready to go at kick, and Washington State has been the complete opposite. Wazzu has been a very scrappy team out of the gates, playing some good teams very tough. Washington is not exactly living up to the hype this season, but the Cougars covered the first half on the road in Week 1, giving up just 10 points. Wazzu was not as sharp on the road at Kansas State the following week, but two big road games to start the season was a tough spot.
Since then, the Cougars have looked good at home, beating up on Duquesne and giving Arizona a scare. As a double digit home underdog to the Wildcats, Wazzu jumped out to a 14-0 lead and led at halftime. Ultimately, they lost by 10, but covered the spread. That was a night game against Arizona, as is the case this week. I expect another strong start for the Cougars, especially against this Fresno team that continues to get off to sleepy starts. Let’s play Wazzu on the first half moneyline.
CFB Pick: Washington State 1H ML (-120)
