Stanford Washington Odds
Posted by Jimmy Boyd - Google+
This Thursday the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal will head to Seattle to take on the Washington Huskies in a Pac-12 North showdown. Kickoff is scheduled for 9:00 EST at CenturyLink Field and will be televised nationally on ESPN. Stanford has completely dominated this series of late. The Cardinal have won six of the last seven, including 4 straight by an average of 28 ppg. Last year, Stanford crushed Washington 65-21 behind 615 yards of total offense.
Oddsmakers seem to think Washington will at least be able to keep this game competitive. Looking at the odds, Stanford is only favored by 7-points over the Huskies. However, it’s the exact same line that was posted the last time the Cardinal visited Washington, and Stanford would go on to win that game 41-0.
Stanford:
The Cardinal have opened up the 2012 season with a perfect 3-0 record and are coming off one of the biggest wins under second-year head coach David Shaw. Stanford upset then No. 2 USC at home 21-14 in a game where they went off as a 9.5-point underdog. No one thought the Cardinal were going to be able to match their success of the past two years (23-3 overall) without Andrew Luck at quarterback, but after their win over the Trojans this team needs to be taken seriously.
Junior quarterback Josh Nunes has stepped into the huge shoes left by Luck and has played pretty well up to this point. Nunes has completed just over 53% of his attempts for 615 yards and six touchdowns. While the Cardinal came out on top, Nunes didn’t exactly have his best game against USC. He was just 15 of 32 for 215 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Nunes doesn’t figure to have a big day throwing the ball against the Huskies, who come in ranked 14th in the country allowing just 167.0 ypg through the air.
Luckily, Stanford likely won’t need a lot of Nunes to keep the offense on the field. The Cardinal should be able to have a lot of success running the football behind senior Stepfan Taylor, who carried it 27 times for 153 yards and a touchdown against USC. Taylor has carried it 67 times for 338 yards and three scores on the year, and should find some running lanes against a Washington defense that allowed LSU to pile on 242 yards. Not to mention the Cardinal rushed for 446 yards on 44 attempts last year against the Huskies.
As good as Stanford has looked in the early going, this will be their first road game of the season. Even the elite teams can struggle in that first away game, especially when its amplified by it being played on a weekday when so much national attention will be given. Normally this would be a key letdown spot after such a big win, but that shouldn’t be a factor with the Cardinal coming off a bye week.
Washington:
The Huskies come in 2-1 overall, but the hype surrounding this team took a huge hit when they lost at LSU 3-41 on Sept. 8. It’s no so much the fact that they lost the game outright, as it is just how bad they looked. While I personally think it’s way too early to write this team off, but another ugly loss and it’s going to be hard to argue with the critics.
Washington was able to bounce back from their horrible loss to the Tigers with a 52-13 beating of Portland State. It’s not an impressive win by any means, but it could end up being a huge boost of confidence for an offense that managed just 24 points over their first two games. The Huskies tied a school-record with 45 points in the first half.
Junior quarterback Keith Price was 14 of 19 for 181 yards and three touchdowns, while sophomore running back Bishop Sankey needed just 14 carries to pile on 103 yards and two scores of his own. While Washington managed to rush for 209 yards in the win over Portland St, it’s nothing to get excited about. they had just 132 yards in their first two games and are going up against a Stanford defense that leads the nation against the run, allowing just 41.7 ypg.
If the Huskies are going to have any shot of keeping this game close and pulling off the upset, they are going to need a big game out of Price. He was 23 of 36 for 247 yards and a touchdown against the Cardinal defense last year, so there is reason to believe he can move the chains.
Betting Trends:
Stanford is 12-3-1 ATS in their last 16 conference games, 37-16-1 ATS in their last 54 games following a S.U. win, and 5-0-1 ATS in their last 6 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. Washington is a respectable 6-2 ATS in their last 8 home games and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games following a bye week, but are just 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games following a SU win of more than 20 points.
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