Despite being undefeated, No. 2 Washington (13–0) is listed as a four-point underdog in its College Football Playoff semifinal matchup against No. 3 Texas (12–1) on Monday night at the Sugar Bowl.
Oddsmakers’ shocking power rankings on the Huskies of late has left many analysts and sports bettors perplexed to say the least. In two of Washington’s last three games, the Huskies were installed as underdogs: by one point on the road at Oregon State and by 9.5 points against Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game at Las Vegas.
Although the Huskies have emerged victorious in every game this season, including against the Ducks twice, they remain considerable underdogs heading into their Playoff showdown with Texas.
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Junior defensive end Bralen Trice, who leads the club with five sacks this season, struggles to understand the disrespect of Washington being placed in the role of underdogs for the third time in the last four games.
ESPN’s Andrea Adelson reported on Friday that Trice and his teammates are using the curious opinions of oddsmakers as extra motivation to play even harder.
“I think it’s crazy,” said Trice. “Just the level of disrespect we get, I can’t really understand it, but it helps us because it makes us have our backs against the wall as we go into these games, ready to play even harder because we are the underdogs. You don’t take anything for granted out there. We’re grateful to be in the position we’re at because of the hard work we put in. We can be the underdog. We can be on top, and we’ll come out with the win.”
Trice and the Huskies will have their chance to prove oddsmakers wrong yet again this season when they face the Longhorns in New Orleans in the Sugar Bowl at 8:45 p.m. ET on New Year’s Day.
