Stanford at Arizona State Odds

Written by Matthew Martz

The No. 6 Stanford Cardinal will continue their chase of the Oregon Ducks for the PAC-10 conference title while defining themselves as one of the best teams in the nation as they take on Arizona State at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe on Saturday, November 13. Game time is 7:30 PM ET.

When the two teams met last October, Stanford beat ASU 33-14.

Our college football odds show the Cardinal as -5 ½ over the Sun Devils with a game total of 59 ½.

Stanford will attempt to sweep the State of Arizona as they beat the University of Arizona last week, 42-17. QB Andrew Luck passed for 293 yards and two touchdowns to lead the 10^th ranked (AP) Cardinals to victory.

The score was 21-3 at halftime and the defense made a difficult return for Arizona QB Nick Foles, who threw for 248 yards and 28 completions totaling only a single touchdown. The Cardinal defense frustrated the Wildcats as Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor had a break out day scoring four touchdowns.

The win brought the Cardinal record to 8-1, second in the pac-10. Heisman hopeful Luck has thrown 175 completions for 2,213 yards, which has helped the team to a 38^th ranked passing attack with 249 yards a game. On the ground, Taylor has scored 11 touchdowns and the team stands 12^th overall with a strong 223 yards a game. All combined the offense is a powerhouse, scoring over 42 points a game, while the defense gives some breathing room, limiting opponents to 20.8 which is 34^th.

Meanwhile, ASU lost a 34-33 heartbreaker to USC last week. Trojan QB Matt Barkley threw three touchdowns on 215 yards while ASU QB Steven Threet completed 24 of 40 for 228 yards and three touchdowns of his own. The Sun Devils tried to mix things up a bit, when within the first minute of play Threet snapped of a nice trick pass to grab 54 yards, and followed up a few short passes later with a touchdown toss to Gerell Robinson.

The loss put ASU on the losing side of the column, bringing their record to 4-5, 7^th in the PAC-10.

Threet has been a threat all year, with 191 completions, 2,372 yards, and 17 touchdowns. That contribution gives the Sun Devils a 16^th ranked passing attack that provides 292 yards a game. Combine that with a 82^nd ranked rushing crew (136.4) and the offense scores 32.1 PPG, which is 36^th.

Running backs Deantre Lewis and Cameron Marshall have combined for 11 touchdowns while running for a combined 1,001 yards.

The defense limits foes to 24.4 a game 60^th overall. Those numbers are solid but the team never quite got on track this year and lost three straight against Wisconsin, Oregon and Oregon State. Their 50-17 blowout to California showed just how bad their defensive shortcomings are.

Matt’s Free Prediction: Stanford -5 ½ – As much as I like ASU, and think them better than they have played, the numbers don’t lie and Stanford will win this one. Luck has seemed to settle in, completing 70-plus percent of his passes in the last three games, while finding as many yards as needed for the victory. That reliability is a reason why this offense scores at will and can exploit shortcomings in their opposition. ASU tends to break down at times, and any hole the Cardinals find will create a ditch too big for the Sun Devils to crawl out of.

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