Washington vs. Louisville: 2024 Sun Bowl Game Keys & Pick

Bowl season is one of the best times of the year with some downtime from work for the holidays and a plethora of football each day.

Predicting the outcome of the postseason games has always been challenging, but it is even more so now with transfers and players opting out of bowl games to prepare for the NFL draft.

Nonetheless, here are my picks and previews for the Sun Bowl between Washington and Louisville.

Line: Louisville –2.5
Over/Under Point Total: 49.5
Broadcast Team: Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, and Jenny Dell

Louisville has been consistently good all season.

Their four losses were all one-score games, and three were to good opponents—falling at Notre Dame and dropping home games to SMU and Miami.

The lone outlier was an inexcusable three-point loss at Stanford.

Washington had an up-and-down season with a 6-6 finish and only putting together consecutive wins once all season, knocking off Weber State and Eastern Michigan to open 2-0.

Louisville wins if…Harrison Bailey can perform at a high level. With Tyler Slough opting out of this one, the starting spot under center falls to Bailey. He has had limited action and will be thrown against a Washington defense that was very elite.

Washington wins if…the run defense can keep the Cardinals in check. Louisville is missing a lot of weapons from the passing game, and if the Huskies can neutralize the rushing attack, they could have their way.

In UW’s six wins, they allowed just 113.5 yards per game on the ground. In the six losses that number jumped to 202.6 per game.

My outlook: Louisville has been hit a bit harder in the transfer portal than Washington. The Cardinals must be hitting themselves for some missed opportunities preventing them from the ACC title game.

The Huskies can cap off a rebuild with a bowl win. I think this one will mean more to UW and for that reason, so I think they pull off the upset.

—My Picks—
Against the spread: Washington
Points Total: Under
Outright winner: Washington