Cardinal, Ducks meet in Pac-12 showdown

If Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal are going to make it to college football's National Championship Game this season they're going to have to first win their toughest matchup of the season this Saturday night against Oregon (8:00pm ET).

Despite being 9-0 on the season (and 9-0 ATS) the Cardinal still find themselves behind each of LSU, Oklahoma State, and Alabama in the BCS Rankings. A win over Oregon gives them a chance to leap over the Crimson Tide on that list, but to pass either the Tigers or the Cowboys in the BCS Rankings they're going to need those schools to get tagged with a loss before bowl season begins in December.

Stanford, though, can only worry about their own won-loss record right now, and that means focusing on an Oregon Ducks team that sits at No. 7 in the BCS Rankings and has beaten every team they've played this year except No. 1 LSU.

The Cardinal warmed up for their matchup with the Ducks by beating Oregon State 38-13 on the road last time out. Luck completed 20 of his 30 pass attempts for 206 yards in that contest, connecting on three touchdown strikes while getting picked off once. Tyler Gaffney and Jeremy Stewart each ran for scores for Stanford against Oregon State, while Griff Whalen, Stepfan Taylor, and Coby Fleener had touchdown receptions.

The Ducks (8-1 SU, 5-4 ATS) are coming off a 34-17 road win over Washington in which LaMichael James paced the offense with 156 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Kenjon Barner and De'Anthony Thomas also ran for scores in Oregon's win over the Huskies, while quarterback Darron Thomas was good on 13 of his 25 pass attempts for 169 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Last season Stanford came up well short against Oregon, falling 52-31 on the road. James had a monster game that day, running for 257 yards and three touchdowns, while Thomas threw for 238 yards and three scores. Luck went 29 of 46 for 341 yards through the air with two touchdown strikes and two interceptions in the loss.

Oregon covered the 6.5-point spread at home in that meeting, and they're 8-2 SU and 7-3 ATS over their last 10 games against Stanford. The teams have also played six straight OVER results, with the OVER/UNDER at 7-3 in the past 10.

The other unbeaten schools are also in action this week, including No. 1 LSU (9-0 SU, 7-2 ATS) getting a gimme game at home against Western Kentucky (5-4 SU, 7-2 ATS) a week after their hard-fought win against the Crimson Tide. Oklahoma State (9-0 SU, 7-2 ATS) is on the road against Texas Tech (5-4 SU, 5-4 ATS) on Saturday, while BCS No. 5 Boise State (8-0 SU, 4-4 ATS) hosts TCU (7-2 SU, 4-5 ATS). Houston (9-0 SU, 7-2 ATS), back at No. 11 in the BCS Rankings, is in action on Thursday this week as they play on the road against Tulane (2-8 SU, 3-7 ATS).

Oddsmaker will have all the college football betting lines for Week 11 of the regular season.