Washington State Cougars vs. Stanford Cardinal Betting Odds, Football Pick

Stanford is 8-0 in its last eight meetings with Washington State and 5-3 against the spread. But the Cougars gave the Cardinal a good scare last season and now hope to do more than that when they head down to the Farm for an interesting Pac-12 North battle Saturday night.

Point spread: The Cardinal opened as 12.5-point favorites, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark. (Line updates and matchup report)

College football pick, via Odds Shark computer: 32.1-29.3 Cardinal (College football picks on every game)

Why the Washington State Cougars can cover the spread

After starting this season inauspiciously enough with consecutive defeats, Washington State has won two in a row, hitting the 50-point mark twice, including in a 51-33 victory over Oregon last week.

The Cougars scored a touchdown on their first possession of the day, led 28-14 at the half, and allowed the Ducks to pull to within 10 points in the third quarter. They then reapplied the gas, scoring three more times to procure the outright win as three-point home dogs.

WSU outgained Oregon 651-416, getting its usual 371 yards through the air but also piling up 280 yards on the ground, its best such performance in four-plus seasons under head coach Mike Leach.

If the Cougars are going to add a consistent running game to their attack—they're averaging 161 yards per game on the ground this season after averaging 80 last season—they might become a pain to stop.

Why the Stanford Cardinal can cover the spread

It hasn't happened often over recent seasons, but Stanford is coming off a poor performance from last week, a 44-6 loss at Washington. The Cardinal fell down 13-0 in the first quarter and never recovered, later trailing 30-0 on their way to their worst margin of defeat since 2007.

Not much good can be taken from last week's effort; they'll just have to move on.

Up until then, Stanford was 3-0 both straight up and ATS on the season, playing no cupcakes. The Cardinal opened with a win over Kansas State, then beat USC, then beat UCLA at the Rose Bowl, covering 12, seven and three points, respectively. The Cardinal are also 32-4 SU and 22-14 ATS at home under head coach David Shaw.

Smart pick

Stanford might be poised for a bounce-back effort after everything went wrong last week in Seattle, and the contrast in style of play would seem to give the Cardinal an edge. But that Washington State offense is clicking, and the Cougars were a missed 43-yard field goal away from beating Stanford last year.

If they can keep Christian McCaffrey from killing them—perhaps keep him off the field by moving the chains themselves—the Cougars could pull off the upset here.

Betting trends

Washington State is 0-8 SU in its last eight games against Stanford.

Stanford is 11-2 SU in its last 13 games at home after consecutive road games.

Washington State is 9-1 ATS in its last 10 games against its conference.

All college football betting lines and point spreads data courtesy of Bleacher Report’s official odds partner Odds Shark. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line movement updates and Odds Shark YouTube for picks and analysis, or download the free odds tracker app.