NFL Tickets
TV Schedule: Saturday, October 31, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Location: Martin Stadium, Pullman, Washington
Line: Stanford (-12)
The No. 8 Stanford Cardinal (6-1, 5-0 Pac-12) have bounced back from a disappointing season-opening effort to climb back into the College Football Playoff conversation and atop the Pac-12 standings heading into Week 9. Similarly, the Washington State Cougars (5-2, 3-1) have rebounded from a horrible start to their season to get right into the thick of the Pac-12 title race. Now, the Cardinal head to the Palouse to take on the upset-minded Cougars in a matchup of contrasting styles.
Stanford has once again found their signature style with a physical offensive attack and a tough defense. Their pass defense will be tested by the Air Raid of Washington State but ranks second in the Pac-12, giving up an average of 204.9 yards per game and holding opposing quarterbacks to just 52.9 percent completion percentage. Their offense has been ignited by the emergence of Christian McCaffrey who leads the nation in all purpose yards, averaging 259.7 yards per game and a robust 9.0 yards per touch. His explosive playmaking has generated some Heisman buzz in Palo Alto and given the Cardinal a much-needed offensive spark.
WSU, meanwhile, has finally started to click in Mike Leach‘s wide open passing attack with Luke Falk under center. The Cougars lead the Pac-12 and rank second in the nation in passing, averaging 415 yards per game this season. Falk has completed 72.9 percent of his passes this season racking up 2,885 yards with 26 touchdowns and just four interceptions. Behind Falk, Washington State has been able to out-score their opponents (more often than not) even without a great deal of help from the running game (91.1 yards per game, last in the Pac-12) as the defense is still a work in progress, giving up 31 points per game this season, ranking No. 9 in the conference.
At the end of the day, this game will come down to the Stanford defense against the Washington State offense. Can the Cardinal secondary contain the high-flying passing attack of the Cougs and keep their College Football Playoff hopes on track or will WSU pull off the massive upset and stake a legitimate claim to the Pac-12 North title?
Prediction: Stanford 34, Washington State 28
You can follow Tyler Brett on Twitter @ATylerBrett, on Facebook and on Google.
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