Washington Gets Back into CFP Title Conversation with Win Over USC; Huskies’ Odds Now +5000

• Washington is now 4-1 after their 28-14 win over USC on Saturday
• The Huskies have some serious concerns with their rush defense, which gave up 192 rushing yards to USC
• Read below to see if the Huskies have worked their way into the College Football Playoff picture

The Washington Huskies easily took care of business against the USC Trojans. With California and Utah recently losing, that puts them near or at the top of the Pac-12 food chain. Are the Huskies worth a bet in terms of the National Championship odds or are they still nowhere near the College Football Playoff conversation?

2020 CFP National Championship Odds

Odds taken 09/29/19 .

Huskies Beat Listless Trojans

Sure, the Trojans entered the week as a Top 25 team but that’s more of an insult to the Top 25 than it is a complement to the Trojans for being in it. This is a team that nearly lost to Fresno State in Week 1, beat a bad/shorthanded Stanford team in Week 2 and only has the one quality win, which came against Utah in Week 4.

Washington easily handled the Trojans in a 28-14 result. The Huskies were up double digits almost the entire game and really didn’t break much of a sweat. USC had three turnovers in the game and eight penalties for 80 yards, so while Washington did well, they had a lot of help from USC’s self-destruction.

Huskies Rush Defense a Major Concern

Washington now has one loss and four blowout wins on their resume this year but they really haven’t played anyone. USC will fall out of the Top 25 this week and so will Cal, who loss to Arizona State on Friday.

A big concern for Washington is their run defense, which coughed up 212 rushing yards to the Trojans in a win. How is that even possible? Cal also hammered away on the ground with plenty of success, compiling 192 rushing yards. Even Hawaii hit them up for 141 yards on the ground.

Teams like Utah and Oregon, who are coming up on the schedule, should exploit this weakness for Washington. Unless they find a way to plug those leaks, they’re going to get exposed again.

Eason, Passing Game Just So-So

It’s time to get a little bit concerned about Jacob Eason and the Washington passing game. No, they haven’t been bad but they definitely haven’t been good either. Eason has 611 passing yards and seven touchdowns against Hawaii and Eastern Washington. He has 632 passing yards, three touchdowns and two picks in his other three games combined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1lvwGKiPfU

Eason has an NFL arm but he completed just 60.7% of his passes against USC and Cal with no touchdowns and one interception. That is cause for concern.

What’s the Best Bet?

There’s no world where I’m interested in betting on Washington to win the National Championship. Their schedule is fairly easy the rest of the way as they’ll host both No. 13 Oregon and No. 19 Utah, and now Washington State has lost twice, but they’ll probably lose again. Even if not, the California loss has probably already sunk them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwJVnqZE0hQ

This Washington team is among the best in the Pac-12 but that doesn’t mean much this year. Stay away from their National Championship futures.