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You'd think an overtime win after being down 18 points with about 10 minutes to go over your most hated rival would buy you a little respect in the halls of the Las Vegas bookies. Apparently, you'd be wrong. The Golden Nugget released some of their preliminary betting lines for college football today and the Washington St. Cougars are 14 point underdogs to the Washington Huskies.
Look, you can pontificate about "throw the records out" and "anything can happen in a rivalry game" and "despite manufacturer recommendations, oil changes don't need to occur every 3,000 miles". But there are real reasons the line should not be that high in favor of the Huskies. Sure, Washington has their quarterback in place and unlike Washington State, they've still got a future first round pick at tight end and a very talented running back. But they've still got a spaghetti strainer of an offensive line and with Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Kasen Williams accounting for nearly two-thirds (62.5 percent to be precise) of the team's receiving yard last year, Keith Price barely threw to anyone but his two favorite targets. Speaking of Price, he took about as long a plunge off the cliff as he could from 2011 to 2012. Even if he manages to improve a little from last year, he still probably won't be the sophomore year iteration we all crapped our pants in nervousness about.
Lets remember too, the Cougars should be improved as well (I've been saying this for a while but heck, why not try it again). This doesn't mean the Huskies can't improve. Obviously they can and should. But they'll spend the previous two weeks on the road and will face two teams that will likely be ranked in the UCLA Bruins and Oregon St. Beavers.
Finally, after another mediocre season, Steve Sarkisian's heat is a little more than toasty. If they can't get into their second bye week with at least four wins, there's a chance Sark could be looking for boxes to pack his office while Scott Woodward fends off the Tyee Club members with a chair and whip.
Granted, this is all pretty much meaningless at this point. It's the final game of the season and is damn near six months away. But if you had to make a choice right now, where do you put your money?