Sugar Bowl 2024: Updated Odds and Comments for Texas vs. Washington

The Sugar Bowl is projected to be the higher-scoring game of the two College Football Playoff semifinals.

The over/under for the clash between the Texas Longhorns and Washington Huskies is 19 points higher than the Rose Bowl that precedes it on New Years' Day.

Both of the passing offenses, led by Quinn Ewers and Michael Penix Jr., should find plenty of success inside the Superdome in New Orleans.

One former Washington quarterback believes there are some vulnerable areas in the Texas secondary that Penix can take advantage of and create the difference in the contest.

Updated Odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Spread: Texas (-4)

Over/Under: 63.5

Money Line: Texas (-185; bet $185 to win $100); Washington (+154; bet $100 to win $154)

Latest Comments

Former Washington quarterback and Fox analyst Brock Huard pointed out what he believes is a particular weakness within the Texas defense, per Seattle Sports' Brandon Gustafson.

"I mentioned all that beef up front, and on the back end, they play a true freshman corner. On the back end, they play some safeties that are a little bit more run safeties than they are space safeties that like to come up and fill," Huard said. "They're a quarters defense, they're not the most exotic defense either. … Like, 'Hey, we're not going to bust coverages, we're not going to be overly exotic,' and they are not."

"There are vulnerabilities there. There are going to be plenty of opportunities," Huard said.

Washington may need to exploit some weaknesses in the passing game because Texas' defensive front is so strong.

Anonymous Big 12 coaches told The Athletic's Bruce Feldman that the unit led by T'Vondre Sweat is one of the toughest to run on in the country.

"You can't run the ball on them because of their defensive tackles," said one Big 12 staffer. "You can't run the ball inside on those guys. Don't even try it. They change the math on you. (T'Vondre) Sweat is like 360 and can move the way he can? It doesn't make sense. If you spend two to block him, he's gonna beat the double team. They have four (defensive tackles) and none of them suck. They haven't recruited great everywhere, but they've recruited great there.

"Oklahoma State wanted to run the ball because that's what they're good at, and they couldn't. K-State kept trying to run it on them because that's who they are, and they couldn't."

Washington running back Dillon Johnson will at least try to break down the Texas front seven.

The Huskies' rushing attack has not been in the spotlight for most of the season because of Penix's production, but Johnson noted the ground game has come alive in most of the Huskies' top games, per The Daily UW's Ethan Kilbreath.

"All year, before probably halfway through the year, everybody was talking about how good the passing game was, and 'we have no run game, and we couldn't win big games without the run game,'" Johnson said. "Every time we have a big game, the run game comes alive. We show the world every time that we can run the ball."

As for Texas, head coach Steve Sarkisian liked what he saw during the first two weeks of preparation for the Sugar Bowl, per 247Sports' Jeff Howe.

"I think those two weeks really helped us," Sarkisian said. "We got back into our groove here at the end of last weekend with a couple practices on Friday and Saturday, took a break on Sunday and now we're really back to it, so I'm excited about the process that we're in."

Texas dealt with some injuries throughout the season, but Sarkisian also noted during his latest press availability that everyone on the roster is healthy, which is a good sign for a Longhorns team that will be tested in every facet of the game by the Pac-12 champion.

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