Washington State Cougars 2023 Future Odds
Cougars Went 16-8 ATS Over Last Two Seasons
After a 5-11-1 ATS mark in 2019-2020, the Cougars have turned the corner with bettors after third-year head coach Jake Dickert was promoted to the top spot after serving as an assistant for two seasons. In his tenure, Washington State (7-6/4-5) is 8-2 ATS as a favorite and 7-3 ATS when playing on the road. Those numbers are the clues that teams start to leave before they begin their descent to the top of the Pac-12 standings even if it won’t be in 2023. Most Washington State future odds indicate that the Cougars will finish in the middle of a stacked Pac-12.
Washington State Cougars At A Glance
| Odds to Win | Opening Odds | Current Odds |
| National Championship | +40000 | +40000 |
| Conference | +3500 | +4000 |
| Regular Season Win Total | 6.5 (o+145, u-165) | 6.5 (o+145, u-165) |
| To Make Playoffs (if applicable) | N/A | N/A |
Dickert to Build On Leach’s Culture
Former WSU Head Coach, Mike Leach, passed away late last year after suffering a heart attack, but his legacy lives at a program that was barely noticeable before Leach arrived in Pullman. To give you an idea of what the Cougars once were, we look at their ATS history to give readers a sense of how far they’ve come. Leach took over a WSU team in 2012 that was just 40-42 ATS (-415 units) since 2005, but even worse was their 24-60 straight-up record, including a 12-50 Pac-12 record.
That all changed under Leach in 2015 when Washington State finished 9-4 SU and 6-3 in the Pac-12. That was their first winning season inside the conference since 2003 under Bill Doba (10-3/6-2). The Cougars won the Sun Bowl, their first win in a bowl game in 12 seasons. The betting numbers took an immediate right turn, producing a 55-37 ATS record (+1446 units) over the last eight seasons under Leach, Nick Rolovich, and finally Dickert. Rolovich was fired after refusing to comply with the universities Covid vaccine policy. Dickert took over after seven games in 2021.
Despite some shuffling at the top, it has been clear to fans and bettors that the Cougars were to be taken seriously. Last season, the WSU projected win total was 5.5, a number Washington State cruised over. Bookmakers opened their 2023 projection at 6.5, but even though we like where the program is heading, a deep Pac-12 makes the betting public think that the seven-win mark might be a little too much. We continue our Washington State future odds preview with a look at some of the other prop wagers on the Cougars.
National Championship Odds: Utah Opened As 59th Choice to Win Title!
We used this headline to pretty much say there isn’t hope for a National Championship in 2023, but there are some interesting numbers that bettors can take with them into the season. WSU was +20000 to win the title last season, and +40000 currently this year. This is more of a reflection of the Pac-12 depth, with six Pac-12 team’s odds better than the Cougars. College Football betting experts know Washington State has been a reliable wager against teams under .500 as the Cougars look to extend a 16-2-1 ATS mark, including eight straight. Since 2013, WSU is 22-4-1 ATS against teams .500 or less (+1647 units), the best mark in College Football. We continue our Washington Cougars future odds preview with a look at their chances for a Pac-12 crown.
Conference Odds: Cougars Projected to Struggle, but Still Competitive
Oddsmakers have given credit to Dickert’s team after making Washington State +3500 to win the Pac-12 in 2023, after opening +5000 in 2022. Even with their support, that’s only good enough to make the Cougars the seventh choice to with the conference crown. We’ll dig deeper into their schedule in the next section, but it’s worth mentioning that bettors are on a 13-5 ATS run when the Cougars face conference opponents.
They are a perfect 7-0 ATS against Pac-12 opponents when the favorite, 4-0 ATS at home. WSU won’t be at the top of the Pac-12 College Football standings, but you can bet the Cougars will give the big boys in the conference a run for their money each week. We conclude our Washington State future odds preview with our regular season win total prediction.
Regular Season Wins: Cougars to Sneak Into Bowl Game
Washington State’s NCAA football game schedule shows that the Cougars have one of the easier schedules when adding up their opponents’ records from 2023 (69-79), but we know bettors will have to look deeper than that to cash a win total wager. Offensive question marks accompany the team as Ben Arbuckle takes over after one season at Western Kentucky after the Hilltoppers finished tops in College football with almost 5,000 yards of total offense, Quarterback Cameron Ward will have plenty of weapons to use with Kyle Williams (UNLV), Josh Kelly (Fresno State) and Isaiah Hamilton (San Jose State) joins veteran receiver Lincoln Victor.
Expect a passing attack that averaged 263.5 yards per game in 2022, to be even better despite the coaching change. Last year, WSU sailed over their season win total projection of 5.5, but we think they’ll have a hard time finding seven wins this season, making our official selection under 6.5 (-165), still good enough to find themselves in a bowl game. That does it for our Washington Cougars future odds preview, it appears that our under-prediction is the strongest among all the future WSU wagers on the board.
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