San Jose State Spartans vs Washington State Cougars Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 09/20/24

One of my favorite situational spots of the week comes on Friday night when Washington State will host San Jose State. The Cougars are fresh off a terrific win as underdogs in the Apple Cup against in-state rival Washington in a game that came down to the final seconds. Now, Washington State will return home for an interestingly placed game against a mid-tier Mountain West opponent, with a road game against Boise State on deck. That’s a pretty difficult sandwich spot to handle for a team that will likely still be riding off the high of last weekend’s result, and San Jose State could give the Cougars a real scare as a result.

The Spartans have quietly exceeded expectations to this point, sitting with a 3-0 record straight up and against the number. San Jose State has found an offense, as quarterback Emmett Brown has 9 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 passing yards through 3 games. However, the real star is wide receiver Nick Nash, who is easily one of the best players in the Group of 5 that nobody talks about. Nash already has six touchdowns this season and is coming off a 17-reception effort in a Week 3 victory over Kennesaw State.

On the other side, Washington State has gotten off to an impressive 3-0 start as well, thanks to quarterback John Mateer and some opportunistic plays from its defense. However, the Cougars lost the box score pretty convincingly to Washington and benefited massively from turnover luck against Texas Tech. This is still a team that is 85th in offensive success rate (75th in 3rd-down offense) and 76th in defensive success rate (84th in 3rd down defense), so I’m pumping the brakes just a bit on the Washington State hype for the time being. The Spartans should hang tough on both sides of the ball, especially if Washington State comes out a bit sluggish. Don’t be surprised if San Jose State gets on the board first and puts some scoreboard pressure on the Cougars. If Nash is going off once again, this one could very interesting down the stretch. I’m taking the Spartans to at least keep within 2 touchdowns for my San Jose State vs Washington State best bet.

San Jose State vs Washington State prediction: San Jose State +14.5 available at time of publishing. Playable to 13.

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