The Oregon State Beavers take on arguably the best team in the Pac-12 this week when they host No. 4 Stanford. The odds place Oregon State as 20.5 to 21.5-point underdogs to the Cardinal.
That line is about right. Besides last week's triple-overtime thrilling win over the USC Trojans, Stanford has been blowing opponents out all year. Their closest victory of the year (excluding the USC game) came by 26 points against the UCLA Bruins.
The Beavers have shown that they can score at home this year, recording totals of 37 and 28 points in their past two home match-ups. Those numbers figure to drop a little bit against Stanford's strong defense, which has limited teams to just 17.0 points per game (13th-best in the nation), but the Beavers should still get opportunities to put points on the board at home.
If Andrew Luck can keep the offense moving as he has all year, Stanford should be able to cover the spread. If the Cardinal stagger in the aftermath of their emotional win against USC, however, the game could be much closer than the odds predict.