The PAC-12 Conference is on display when the Stanford Cardinal travel to Salt Lake to play the (18) Utah Utes to finish off a day of college football. The game is set to start on Saturday, October 7th at 10:15 p.m. EST and can be seen on Fox Sports Go. Heading into this match-up, the Cardinal are -4.5 point favorites. The contest’s total currently rests at 51 points.
The Stanford Cardinal head into this showdown with the Utah Utes off a 30-24 win against the Arizona State Sun Devils. In that game, the Cardinal looked to their outstanding tailback to lead the way and Bryce Love answered the call, recording over 300 yards rushing and three scores. He provided enough offense by himself to secure the victory on the road.
The Utah Utes enter this battle after surviving the Arizona Wildcats on the road 30-24. The Utes needed to dig deep as they lost the services of their starting quarterback Tyler Huntley in the first half with a shoulder injury. Once again, the Utes defense responded by creating three interceptions and two fumbles.
Coming into this match-up, Utah holds a 4-2 advantage in the all-time series. That also includes three straight victories. Most recently, the Utes downed the Cardinal in a 20-17 road win on November 15, 2014.
Stanford Cardinal (3-2)
The Stanford Cardinal use a simple recipe to get wins against opponents in 2017. Now that Keller Chryst has been sidelined since week one, they just hand the ball off to amazing tailback Bryce Love.
Bryce Love is making a bid to become this year’s Heisman Trophy representative for the Stanford Cardinal. Last week, Love went off for 301 yards rushing on 25 carries for three trips to the promised land. Overall, he now leads the country with 1088 yards rushing and also has eight combined touchdowns. However, he will have his hands full against an outstanding Utah front seven.
Backup quarterback K.J. Costello has taken over the starting job since Kellen Chryst has been out with a severe concussion. The Cardinal haven’t asked him to do a whole lot but manage the offense and not turn the ball over. In a limited role, Costello has completed 33 passes for 376 yards with three touchdown tosses and no interceptions.
Stanford like to spread the ball around to four different pass catchers when they try to expose opposing team’s secondaries. All of them have caught over 10 balls and all of them have well over 100 yards receiving. Furthermore, all but one have found their way into the end zone. Utah native Dalton Schultz will be returning to his old stomping grounds for this match-up. The 6’6, 245-pound tight end has caught 11 balls and scored twice.
Defensively, Stanford is holding their opponents to an average of 25.4 points per game (63rd), and 444.2 total yards per game (105th). I can’t remember when I’ve seen Stanford ranked this low four games into a season. Fortunately, the Cardinal has forced 10 turnovers on the season and have an overall turnover margin of +5.
(18) Utah Utes (4-0)
The Utah Utes are going to have to find a way to recover after losing impressive quarterback Tyler Huntley. Unfortunately, Huntley went down last week with a shoulder injury and is out indefinitely. We all know the defense will do their part, but a new face needs to emerge to help the Utes put points up on the scoreboard.
Senior quarterback Troy Williams will be handed back the keys to the Utah Utes’ offense. Even though he started all the games for Utah last season, he was beaten out for the starting gig by Tyler Huntley. Time will tell if he can hit the ground running and keep the chains moving for the Utes.
With the loss of quarterback Tyler Huntley, so went about 45 percent of Utah’s rushing offense. Now, tailback Zack Moss will be asked to carry the load. So far, Moss has been handed the ball 58 times for 265 yards and two scores. Troy Williams can move the ball with his feet but whether he will make an impact is yet to be seen.
Utah does boast one of the more talented wide receivers in the conference. Darren Carrington II is well on his way to the best receiving season he has had in three years. This season, he has already caught 30 passes for 485 yards and four scores. Last year with Troy Williams under center, he caught 43 balls for over 600 yards and five scores.
Defensively, the Utes are holding their opponents to an average of 17.3 points per game (18th), and 296.5 total yards per contest (16th). More importantly, they only allow 87 yards on the ground to opposing running back. Like the Cardinal, Utah is very opportunistic. In 2017, they have forced 14 turnovers and have a turnover margin of +6.
Prediction
Apparently, Bryce Love’s performance last weekend really impressed oddsmakers in Sin City. Even with a bottom-ranked defense, the Cardinal come into this game as a -4.5 point road favorite. We’ll see about all that on Saturday. Look, Love is a special talent who can break away from anybody at any time. Then again, that was against the Sun Devils’ front seven and not the 9th-ranked Utes run-stop unit.
On the flip side, nobody is exactly sure how Utah’s offense will respond after losing Tyler Huntley. The newly assigned quarterback was doing it with his arm and his legs before he fell victim to the injury bug. Troy Williams has plenty of experience, but whether or not that will translate to yardage and points is yet to be seen.
This is what I know. Utah clearly has the better defense of the two clubs. They also have a 4-2 record against the Cardinal including beating them when McCaffery had his big season. I have been punished repeatedly throughout my prognosticating career betting against Utah. Especially as a home dog in a conference game.
With that being said, I recommend laying your money down on the Utah Utes to cover the four points at home. Line setters have the over/under at 51 points. Personally, I like the under here with the strong Utah defense and the unknowns at their signal-caller spot. Still, I’m not making a play on it because I think there is more value on the Utes to cover the spread. #moneytreesgrow @EriktheHun
Trends
The Cardinal Cardinal are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 road games.
The Cardinal Cardinal are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
The Over is 4-1 in the Cardinal last 5 conference games.
The Utes are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 conference games.
The Utes are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 home games.
The Under is 6-1 in the Utes last 7 games overall.
