The Oregon Ducks and the Stanford Cardinal meet in week 5 Pac-12 conference college football action from Stanford Stadium on Saturday.

Oregon Crushes Colorado

The Oregon Ducks smashed the Colorado Buffaloes in a showcase game, improving to 4-0 on the year with a 42-6 win over the Buffaloes in their last game. Bo Nix has thrown for 1,169 yards, 11 touchdowns and an interception on 79.4% passing while Bucky Irving leads Oregon with 305 rushing yards in addition to 3 TDs and Jordan James has 28 grabs for 209 yards and 6 touchdowns this season. Troy Franklin leads Oregon’s receiving group with 25 grabs for 418 yards and 5 touchdowns while Tez Johnson has 15 receptions for 203 yards and 3 TDs. Oregon has another three receivers with 100+ receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Tysheem Johnson leads Oregon’s group with 24 total tackles while Khyree Jackson has a pair of interceptions. Jordan Burch leads Oregon with 3 sacks and Jamal Hill has 2 sacks while Oregon’s defense as a whole has 13 sacks and 4 interceptions this season.

Oregon Ducks Team Facts

Oregon has won each of its last 16 games against non-AP-ranked teams.
Oregon has covered the spread in seven of its last eight games against non-AP-ranked teams.
Oregon has won the first half in eight of its last nine games against conference opponents.
Seven of Oregon’s last eight games as a favorite have gone UNDER the total points line.

Stanford Loses Third Straight

The Stanford Cardinal fell just short in their last game, dropping to Arizona by a final score of 21-20 to fall to 1-3 on the year. Ashton Daniels has thrown for 534 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on 59.2% passing while Justin Lamson’s thrown for 307 yards and an interception on 46.3% passing. Casey Filkins has a team-high 184 rushing yards while E.J. Smith has 135 rushing yards. Benjamin Yurosek has a team-high 15 receptions for 227 yards while three other Stanford pass-catchers have 100+ receiving yards as well on the year. On defense, Alaka’I Gilman has a team-high 25 total tackles while David Bailey has a team-high 4 sacks as well this season.

Stanford Cardinal Team Facts

Stanford has lost each of its last eight games against AP-ranked teams.
Stanford has failed to cover the spread in each of its last eight games against AP-ranked teams.
Stanford has won the first quarter in three of its last four games against conference opponents.
Stanford has lost the first half in 14 of its last 17 games against conference opponents.
Eight of Stanford’s last nine home games in September have gone UNDER the total points line.

Matchup/League Facts

Stanford was one of only 27 FBS teams to lose 2+ games when leading after Q3 last season.
Stanford ranked T40th among FBS teams for Q4 win percentage last season (.500).
Oregon ranked 3rd among FBS teams for Q2 points per game last season (14.4).
Oregon ranked 4th among FBS teams for Q3 points per game last season (10.4).

Chris’ Pick

Right now, I’m leaning towards Oregon here. Now granted, Oregon’s lone true road game was that nail-biter against Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders are a couple steps ahead of Stanford, and this Stanford team has taken a step back from the team that beat Hawaii to start the year, getting blown out by USC losing to FCS Sacramento State and last week’s defeat against Arizona. There’s concern for a letdown from Oregon after such a huge win over Colorado last week, but I just think there’s too much of a gap here to consider anything other than an Oregon win and cover.