Washington State Cougars (2-2 SU, 3-1 ATS) vs. No. 15 Stanford Cardinal (3-1 SU, 3-1 ATS)
College Football Week 6
Date/Time: Saturday, October 8, 10:30PM EST (7:30PM PST)
Where: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, CA.
TV: ESPN
by Wilson, NCAA Football Handicapper, Predictem.com
Point Spread: WSU +7.5/STAN -7.5
Over/Under Total: OFF
The Washington State Cougars are coming off of a huge win 51-33, over the Oregon Ducks. Oregon was looking to avenge last years loss to the Cougs in Eugene but it was the Cougs who made it two years in a row by downing the Ducks. Normally the Ducks are a Pac 12 powerhouse and make quick work of the conference in route to big-name bowl games or a BCS gamenot this season. In fact, the Cougars may be the team heading for a significant bowl game despite their two losses early in the season. The bigger question is if the Washington State Cougars can maintain the level of play they displayed versus Oregon when they head down to take on yet another Pac 12 bully-gone-soft in the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford was rolled by the Washington Huskies 44-6 last week and bumped from No. 7 to No. 15 while the Huskies climbed all the way to No. 5 in the country. Will Washington State hand Stanford their 2nd loss in as many weeks? I think they will.
First, WSU has worked out their bugs on both sides of the ball. Beating Oregon the way they did will have a huge impact on their confidence to both run and pass the pigskin. We all know Mike Leach is the guru of the Air-Raid offense but it was the rushing attack of the Cougs that really sank the Ducks. If WSU continues to utilize the running game like they did last week the passing attack will be even more potent. Lookout Stanford! The Cougars are just getting started and it might be a long night for the Cardinal if they cannot scheme to stop the run.
It is definitely a credit to Washington States offensive line who just dominated the line of scrimmage thus allowing the Cougars to run effectively and often. The Cougs had 6 rushing touchdowns! This is a passing team, right? Yes, but when the O-line can open up huge holes for the running backs, well, now this a run and gun teamdouble threattriple threat if you throw in longevity and experience especially with the O-linethese guys have come a long ways and this year it is beginning to pay off.
Washington State has played well the last two weeks (scoring over 50 points in both contests) and seemingly has ironed out wrinkles in their game. The open line on this game was Stanford -12.5 but it has moved to -7.5 and might move again, and as of this writing the Sports Books have not assigned a TOTAL for this game. The Stanford Cardinal are not accustomed to getting smacked around like they did last week in Seattle by the Washington Huskies, so you can bet they will be more than ready to take their frustrations out on the Cougars come Saturday night. If the Cougars can steal anything from the game film between Stanford and UW it will be how well the Huskies contained Stanford star running back Christian McCaffrey. The Huskys outside linebackers did a fabulous job of staying home and forcing McCaffrey to the inside of the field which limited his ability to break for big gains. Pressure on the QB and run containment will be the key for the Cougars in this contest. Everyone in the country will be watching to see if Stanford can rebound from such a beating or will they be another over-rated squad who has a pretty decent running back? Another consideration with this matchup is the secondary defense of the Cardinalif they are still missing their two regular starting CBs I imagine WSU QB Luke Falk will routinely hook up with Cougs standout WRs Gabe Marks and River Cracraft to torch the Cardinal for deep yardage.
I like the Cougars to cover this lineStanford is tough at home but they are not the same caliber team as in the past few years.
Wilson’s Pick to Cover the Point Spread: The Cougars cover. Luck to ya.