Cougs open as double-digit underdogs against Badgers

Happy game week Coug fans!

After defeating the Idaho Vandals in week one, your Washington State Cougars will travel to Madison, Wisconsin to play the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers are coming off a win over an FCS opponent of their own, defeating the Illinois State Redbirds 38-0.

Coming off a less-than-ideal — but still a winning — result against the Vandals, DraftKings has opened the line for the game with the Badgers being 17 point favorites at home against WSU. The over/under for total points in the game is sitting at 46.5 and the moneyline has WSU as +750 odds to beat the Badgers, meaning a $100 bet would profit you $750.

Other notable lines include the halftime spread sitting at -9.5 for Wisconsin with a O/U at 24 total first half points. The Badgers are also favored to lead by more than 6.5 at the end of the first quarter.

Despite the victory last week, the Cougs didn’t exactly put in an eye-popping performance against the Vandals. Meanwhile, the Badgers seemed to take care of business and will likely remain ranked in the top 18 at kickoff.

Like every year, expect a heavy dose of the run from the Badger offense. This year, Braelon Allen will be anchoring the running back room. The 6’2, 235 lb. sophomore ran 14 times in the opener for 148 yards and two touchdowns in the season opener against Illinois state. As a freshman, Allen carried the rock 186 times for 1,268 yards (6.8 yards/carry) and 12 rushing touchdowns. If the Cougars are going to be successful, stopping the run will be priority one. The front seven did an outstanding job last week of stopping the run, holding the Vandals to just 1.8 yards per carry.

Offensively, the Coug-Raid will have to do a much better of holding onto the ball. Luckily for WSU, the Vandals only capitalized on one of the three Cougar fumbles, scooping it up and scoring for a touchdown. The Wisconsin offense is much more lethal than Idaho, turnovers will almost certainly be punished at a much higher rate. On a few drives, the offense was able to pick apart the Idaho defense using an up-tempo pace. With the way Wisconsin likes to pound the rock and wear defenses down, keeping the Badger offense on the sideline and giving the defense time to breathe for as long as possible, may be key in limiting the Badgers scoring chances.

Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30PM PST, 2:30PM CST on FOX.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.