Washington State vs Utah State Picks & Parlay: Famous Idaho Potato Bowl SGP

Bowl season continues on Monday with the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on the blue turf of Albertsons Stadium at Boise State. This matchup pits the 6-6 Washington State Cougars and the 6-6 Utah State Aggies, and the action kicks off at 2:00 pm ET on ESPN. 

To get you set for the Potato Bowl, I put together a Washington State vs. Utah State Same Game Parlay with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook. Let’s get into my favorite picks for Monday’s bowl game before you head over to our NCAAF predictions for tips on picks on every postseason game. 

Washington State ML (-105)

Leo Pulalasi (WSU) anytime TD (+330)

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Same Game Parlay odds: +550

Washington State Cougars ML over Utah State Aggies (-105)

There are likely to be some moving pieces for Washington State ahead of this game due to its coaching change, as head coach Jimmy Rogers is off to Iowa State to replace Matt Campbell. Defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit will serve as interim head coach for this game. At the time of writing, starting RB Kirby Vorhees hit the transfer portal and won’t play against Utah State, but other than him, most of the potential opt-outs are depth pieces rather than starters.

At near-full strength, Washington State has a solid defensive advantage in this game. The Cougars allow just 20.2 points (26th) and 303.3 yards per game (17th) compared to the Aggies’ 28.3 points (90th) and 424.4 yards per game (121st). Furthermore, Wazzu is top-35 in yards per play and third-down conversion rate allowed this season, while possessing a slight red-zone advantage defensively. More recently, Washington State is 5th in PPA per play and 1st nationally in points allowed per quality drive since Week 9, and that doesn’t even include those road games out east to Ole Miss and Virginia in which they held the Rebels and Cavaliers to 24 and 22 points in Weeks 7 and 8, respectively. 

While better against the pass, the Cougars are well above average against the run, ranking top-30 in both PPA per rush and standard downs PPA since the end of October. That success should force Utah State into uncomfortable, obvious passing situations on third downs, which is not where the Aggies thrive. In fact, Utah State is outside the top 130 in third-down conversion rate this season and 80th in PPA per pass since Week 9. Give me the better defense to prevail on Monday afternoon.

Leo Pulalasi (WSU) anytime TD (+330)

With Vorhees off to the transfer portal, someone is going to have to fill in the void he left behind in the offense. Backup running backs Angel Johnson and Leo Pulalasi should split the work Vorhees left behind, and while Johnson has more carries this year, I’m going to side with Pulalasi for a couple reasons. First, Pulalasi is the bigger back, standing at 6’1” and 212 pounds compared to Johnson at 5’9” and 192 pounds. Because of the size advantage, Pulalasi should get a few more goal-line carries than Johnson. 

Another reason to like Pulalasi, other than having a more appealing touchdown price, is that he has experience playing in the postseason for Washington State already. When Wayshawn Parker opted-out of last season’s bowl game against Syracuse, Pulalasi stepped into the lead role with 14 carries. If he has anywhere near that on Monday, he really stands out in terms of touchdown value.