Football Predictions – October 27-28, UW, WSU, Seahawks, SNF
By Ed Stein
Washington State Cougars at Stanford
Andy Patton – Stanford is a dangerous, dangerous team at home and I think there will be somewhat of a hangover (so to speak) for the Cougars following their big-time win over the Ducks on GameDay. Stanford has a pair of elite pass rushers in Jovan Swann and Joey Alfieri, and I think they can disrupt WSU’s passing game enough to squeak out a win in Palo Alto. Plus, WSU has to deal with receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside and his 632 yards and nine touchdowns on the season.
Matt Barry – I hate to do this because The Apple Cup has such potential to be a huge showdown the last week of the season. WSU is coming off a big win over Oregon and currently ranked 14th. Gardner Minshew II is making the Heisman race interesting as well.
But this game has DANGER written all over it. Coming off a highly emotional win and going on the road to face a tough Stanford team is a recipe for disaster. If WSU starts fast, they should be fine. But I see Stanford being ready to play and beating the Cougars at home.
Jordan Cordano – This should be one of the better college football games of the season. The Cougars had an emotional season-defining win last week vs Oregon and will look to keep the ball moving (through the air). Stanford will be fresh, coming off of a bye week, and that’s good news for star running-back Bryce Love as he has been hobbled a bit for the Cardinal.
It’s is a matchup of two teams that do a little bit of the opposite of each other on offense as Mike Leach’s bunch loves to air it out behind quarterback Gardner Minshew while Stanford relies on establishing the run and feeding Love. Both team defenses are among the top in the conference. It could be a shootout down at the farm and that may be the difference as the Cardinal will take this one by less than 10 points in from of their home crowd.
Ed Stein – Stanford is a good team and hard to beat at home where they have won 11 of their last 12 games. For both teams, it’s an elimination game. There’s something about Mike Leach’s demeanor this week that makes me think, he’s got this. No doubt this game will be a dogfight, but Wazzu pulls this one out to climb into the top-10.