ESPN’s top betting expert, Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica, likes Utah on Friday in the Pac-12 title game.

Fallica and ‘Stanford Steve’ Coughlin offered their thoughts on Championship Week throughout the country earlier this week. The Bear is 41-22-1 against the spread this season with his picks and is a featured part of ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast on Saturdays. Feels like good news for Utah that he’s rolling with coach Kyle Whittingham’s group.

Here’s what he said:

We’ve seen Pac-12 teams flop in this spot with so much at stake time and time again. It happened to Utah a few years ago, and now the Utes can return the “favor.” Dalton Kincaid was a huge matchup problem in the first meeting and while SC will certainly make some adjustments, that might allow Utah to find other ways to move the ball down the field against an SC defense that, unless the opponent is turning the ball over, hasn’t been very good statistically. Maybe Caleb Williams is that good to nearly single-handedly get SC to the playoff, but it won’t be easy against the Utes.

The fourth-ranked Trojans could have the weight of the Pac-12 on their shoulders in the game. We’ll see. USC is looking to give the league its first College Football Playoff bid since 2016. With USC checking in at No. 4 in the penultimate CFP rankings, they’re likely a win away from a semifinal appearance in Lincoln Riley’s first season.

“It’s just football,” Riley said earlier this week, echoing a message he has tried to convey to his team.

Riley has been in this spot before, taking teams to the Playoff while at Oklahoma.

But Utah has been here, too. This is the Utes’ fourth appearance in the title game in five years. They’re looking to defend their 2021 title and make it back to the Rose Bowl.

Kickoff is set