Last week: 3-2 straight up, 2-3 against the spread
Season to date: 26-12 straight up, 15-17 against the spread
Thursday
Stanford (-6.5) 31, Washington 17 – Steve Sarkisian will benefit from having seen USC flounder against the Cardinal’s Cover Two defense, but doesn’t have the offensive line to keep quarterback Keith Price clean and run the ball effectively.
Saturday
California 24, Arizona State (+1.5) 23 – The Golden Bears were destroyed at the line of scrimmage by USC, allowing 296 rushing yards while quarterback Zach Maynard was sacked eight times, and now have their season hanging in the balance. Jeff Tedford will do everything to reestablish a physical and nasty brand of football, including more carries for electric sophomore running back Brendan Bigelow.
Arizona 28, Oregon State (+2.5) 27 – Here I go underestimating the Beavers once again, just the way Mike Riley’s In-N-Out loving bunch likes it. Expect quarterback Matt Scott to bounce back from his lousy showing at Autzen and give the Wildcats just enough scoring punch to hand Oregon State its first loss.
Oregon (-30.5) 55, Washington State 23 – Coordinator Nick Aliotti’s defense delivered a masterful performance to shut out Arizona, all the more impressive considering the ‘Cats’ six trips inside the red zone. They’ll have their way with a putrid Washington State offensive line that is allowing nearly three sacks per game and just 2.65 yards per carry.
UCLA (-19.5) 42, Colorado 20 – The Buffaloes got a surprising number of timely plays from their defense to pull off that comeback thriller on the Palouse, but quarterback Brett Hundley and UCLA have a much more complete offense, one that will be buoyed by the return of senior guard Jeff Baca (head injury) after missing the last two games.
Dan Greenspan is the publisher of Cal Sports Digest and writes about the Pac-12 for Fox Sports Next. Follow him on Twitter @DanGreenspan.