Let’s see which team is the takes the win on this Cardinal at Cougars betting preview.
The Stanford Cardinal will travel to Martin Stadium on Saturday night to take on the Washington State Cougars in a Pac-12 Conference matchup on Week 7 of the NCAAF calendar.
The Cardinal are 3-3 (2-2) this season and are coming off a 28-10 road loss against the 22nd-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. Sophomore quarterback Tanner McKee struggled as he went 27-of-45 for 356 yards with a touchdown and three touchdowns. The Cougars are also 3-3 (2-2) this year and are coming off a 31-24 home win against the Oregon State Beavers.
Sophomore quarterback Jayden de Laura had a good game as he went 32-of-46 for 399 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
Continue to Improve
The Stanford Cardinal loves to air the ball out as junior wide receiver Elijah Higgins has been a solid receiving threat this year. So far this season, he has 29 catches for 383 yards (13.2 yards per reception) with four touchdowns.
In his last game against the Arizona State Sun Devils, Higgins had his best game as he finished with seven catches for 110 yards (15.7 yards per catch) with a touchdown. If the Cardinal can figure out how to keep drawing up plays designed to get Higgins going, it will be great for Stanford.
The Stanford Cardinal have been struggling defensively a bit as they are giving up 27 points per game thus far this season. Looking at the last game against the Arizona State Sun Devils, they allowed 28 points on 430 total yards (175 passing, 255 rushing).
The Sun Devils have been struggling to get stops on big downs as they went 7-of-13 on third down and 1-of-2 on fourth down. Another big issue was the fact that Arizona State finished with 5.8 rushing yards per attempt. If Stanford can figure out how to defend better, they will be in a better spot here.
To The Max
The Washington State Cougars have been running the football extremely well as senior running back Max Borghi has been doing well with 65 attempts for 332 rushing yards (5.1 yards per carry) with three touchdowns on the ground and four receptions for 55 yards (13.8 yards per catch). In his previous game against Oregon State, Borghi finished with nine rushes for 33 yards (3.7 yards per attempt) with a rushing touchdown. If the Cougars can figure out how to run the ball well, it will do wonders for their offense.
The Washington State Cougars have been a decent defensive team as they are giving up 24.8 points per game. In their last game against the Oregon State Beavers, they allowed 24 points on 467 total yards of offense (158 passing, 309 rushing).
The biggest issue was the fact the opposing offense ran the football well, as they averaged 6.9 yards per carry. If Washington State can figure out how to stop the running game better, they will be able to win at home.
Who to Bet
These two programs are extremely close as not even a full field goal separating the two teams. Stanford is allowing 27 points per game this season, while Washington State is allowing 24.8 points. Borghi should be able to dominate on the ground as the Cardinal are allowing 219.8 rushing yards per game.
The Stanford Cardinal have failed to cover the spread in their last five games against the Washington State Cougars so go with the Cougars to win, getting 1.5 points at home.
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