It’s been a strange year for the Washington State Cougars. After an ugly 1-3 start to the season, they won three straight PAC-12 games, only to have coach Nick Rolovich and four of his assistants terminated for failing to meet the vaccine mandate.
Arizona State sits at 5-2 in Year 4 of the Herm Edwards era and looks to rebound after a 35-21 loss to Utah last time out. Will the Sun Devils find a cover as favorites, or will the strange Washington State season continue?
Check out our picks and predictions for the Washington State Cougars vs. the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday, October 30 to find out.
Washington State vs Arizona State odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
Arizona State opened as -15 favorites. The line has moved to -15.5 across most books at the time of this writing.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until kickoff and be sure to check out the full college football odds before placing your bets.
Washington State vs Arizona State picks
Picks made on 10/27/2021 at 11:55 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Washington State vs Arizona State game info
• Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ
• Date: Saturday, October 30, 2021
• Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
• TV: FS1
Washington State vs Arizona State betting preview
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our NCAA football weather info.
Key injuries
Washington State: Deon McIntosh RB, (Questionable) Armauni Archie DB (Questionable), Renard Bell WR (Out)
Arizona State: Rachaad White RB (Questionable), Johnny Wilson WR (Probable), Evan Fields DB (Probable), Chase Lucas DB (Questionable), Connor Soelle LB (Questionable), Jermayne Lole DL (Out)
Find our latest NCAA football injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The home team is 13-3 ATS in the last 16 meetings between these two schools. Find more NCAA betting trends for Washington State vs. Arizona State.
Washington State vs Arizona State predictions
Arizona State -15.5 (-110)
I can’t in good conscience recommend betting on the Washington State Cougars at this point in time. I’ll admit that the three straight PAC-12 victories at the beginning of October — including one over the surging Oregon State Beavers — were impressive, but it doesn’t appear to be a sign of things to come.
It’s an unprecedented handicap when a team has their head coach, plus four of his assistants, terminated mid-season for failing to meet the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. What does that do to a team’s morale? It’s hard to tell exactly, but it likely isn’t good.
Although the wins are nice, the stats don’t paint a nice picture on either side of the ball. The Cougars have the 85th-ranked offense (372.6 yards per game) and the 78th-ranked defense (391.8 yards per game).
Arizona State has been performing at a high level all season, averaging 7.0 yards per play offensively while allowing only 5.0 yards per play defensively. Standout running backs Rachaad White and Deamonte Trayanum could have a field day against a Cougars defense allowing 166.4 yards per game on 4.6 yards per carry. The Sun Devils have rushed for at least 148 yards in 11 straight games — expect that streak to continue.
The Sun Devils also have the advantage at quarterback, where Jayden De Laura (arguably the conference’s best) will keep the defense honest with his dual-threat ability.
This may seem like a high spread, but take into consideration the off-the-field concern with the Cougars and the picture becomes a little clearer. The Sun Devils have been an undervalued team, going 5-1 ATS in their last six conference games. Expect the Cougars to struggle on the road, especially considering that the home team is 13-3 ATS in the last 16 meetings between these teams.
Arizona State First Half -7.5 (-115)
The Sun Devils have looked like a world-beater in nearly every game they’ve played… until the second half comes around. Outside of the BYU loss, they’ve controlled their opponents en route to a 2.0 yards per play differential on the season. Things were going swimmingly a week ago when they held a 21-7 halftime lead over Utah. Then, they imploded in the second half and surrendered 28 straight points in a losing effort.
The secondary boasts 151 combined career starts, good for second in the entire country. This veteran unit should hold the Washington State offense down while the Sun Devils run game allows them to get out to an early lead.
They hold the advantage over Washington State in nearly every facet of the game, are refreshed off the bye week, and will be playing in front of their home crowd. A hot start is to be expected. Head coach Herm Edwards and his staff tend to get conservative in the second half when holding a lead, and one way to circumvent leaving the backdoor open is to take the first-half spread. That’s what we’ll do here.
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