The wild, wild West will continue this week and we’re expecting more close contests.
Three of the six games have spreads less than five points, and two of the remaining three, feature road favorites.
The Pac-12 isn’t doing themselves many favors by being so competitive with each other, so we’ll see if the main teams can take care of business this week.
Here are two games we’ll keep an eye on this weekend. Last week’s betting guide for each major conference went 7-1 and was 1-1 in the Pac-12. Overall for the season, the betting guides have been 12-6 in the Pac-12 and 47-39 overall in the power-five conferences.
Stanford at Colorado (+16)
We saw the Cardinal struggle last week against a surging Washington State team. The offense didn’t do a lot running the football, which is the calling card for Stanford.
And the defense struggled mightily against the Cougars.
We like Washington State, so we’re not going to be too down on the Cardinal. But that game should give pause to everyone who was crowning Stanford as the best team in the Pac-12 by far. There are still some weaknesses and this is the second straight road game for Stanford.
Also, it’s an early afternoon game. We’ve seen Stanford in that window before. The last time the Cardinal played in the early afternoon, it sleepwalked through the Northwestern game and lost. The Buffaloes aren’t as bad as they have been in the past.
Don’t sleep on Colorado in this one. — Go against the chalk with Colorado
Arizona State at Washington State (-3)
We’ve given Arizona State too many chances this season to cover for us. And it seems the betting public’s patience has worn as thin as ours with the Sun Devils.
The opening line actually had the Sun Devils as favorites. Since that time, the public has moved the line four points and we don’t blame them. Unlike everyone else, we didn’t give up on the Cougars after losing to a FCS school in the opening week.
Sometimes teams are slow starters and we liked this offense before the season began. Usually we like the Sun Devils, since they’ve been good covers during the last few years.
But this year, they just haven’t gotten the job done. The Sun Devils are 2-6 against the spread and we believe oddsmakers haven’t adjusted to the mediocrity of the Sun Devils.
This isn’t a team to trust and we’re going with the Cougars. — Go chalk with Washington State
Other Pac-12 games
UCLA (-17.5) at Oregon State
Utah at Washington (-1.5)
California at Oregon (-4.5)
Arizona at USC (-20)
