Arizona State vs. Stanford Football: Betting Odds Preview, Prediction

If the Arizona State Sun Devils are going to contend for the Pac-12 Championship this year, they'll have to win at least a couple of conference road games.

They are a road underdog at No. 5 Stanford, where they are just 1-5 against the spread in their past six visits to "The Farm".

Early this week, most college football betting outlets monitored by OddsShark.com opened ASU as a 7.5-point underdog against the Cardinal; the total of right around 50. Both numbers had held steady through Thursday.

Arizona State, now ranked No. 23 in the polls, opened this season (a week later than most teams) with a 55-0 win over Sacramento State, covering as 38-point favorites. Last week, the Devils rallied from an early 11-point deficit to lead Wisconsin late, then caught a break when the clock ran out as the Badgers tried to set up for a potential game-winning field goal.

ASU won 32-30, but couldn't cover as 6-point favorites.

So far this year, while running coach Todd Graham's up-tempo offense, Arizona State quarterback Taylor Kelly has completed 63 percent of his throws for 650 yards and five touchdowns, with just one interception.

Stanford, meanwhile, is 2-0 this year but 0-2 ATS. The Cardinal opened with a 34-13 win over San Jose State, but couldn't cover as 24-point chalk. Then last week, Stanford traveled cross-country to beat Army at West Point 34-20, but came up well short in trying to cover 30 points.

The Cardinal are now 7-0 SU with Kevin Hogan as their starting quarterback, but only 2-3-2 ATS over that span.

Stanford got out-rushed by the Black Knights on Saturday 284-203, while ASU suffered a similar ground-game deficit against Wisconsin (231-116).

In their first season under Coach Graham, the Sun Devils went 0-2 both SU and ATS when dogged by a touchdown or more. Also, going back to last year, Arizona State has played four OVER results in a row.

The Cardinal, meanwhile, are just 1-5 ATS the last six times they've been favored by a touchdown or more.

These two teams haven't met since 2010, when the Cardinal, quarterbacked by Andrew Luck, won in Tempe 17-13.

Fox has the live coverage of Saturday's festivities from down on the Farm starting at 7pm ET.

Computer Pick: 56-45 Stanford (from Odds Shark NCAA football computer)