Stanford (+3) over ARIZONA STATE: ASU, thanks to an 8-1 conference record, gets to host this Pac-12 Championship with the lone loss coming to Stanford 42-28 in September. You might think it was close as ASU finished with a 417-391 yardage edge, but Stanford led 29-0 at halftime and played a “prevent” defense the second half. Both of these offensive and defensive units rank in my Top 30, but the one matchup that clearly favors the Cardinal is their defensive front seven, which ranks 10th in the NCAA with 32 sacks, against the Sun Devils offensive line, which is 100th with 32 sacks allowed. Last year Stanford beat UCLA in the regular reason and did so again in the Pac-12 Championship and I’ll go for another sweep this year.
Florida State (-29) over Duke: The first question most fans have is: How could a team be favored by four-plus TDs in a conference championship? The answer is because it is Florida State vs. Duke. Many teams may top 54 points in a game and many also allow 11 or fewer points in a game, but the Seminoles have averaged a 54-11 win this year while outgaining conference foes by 231 yards per game. Meanwhile, vs. FBS teams, the Blue Devils have topped 54 points once and have allowed 11 or fewer points twice while getting outgained in conference play by an average of 41 yards per game. This Seminoles team is playing to a historic level and I often mention my unit rankings on these pages with Florida State being the only team in the country to be ranked in my Top 10 in offense, defense and special teams.
LAST WEEK (NCAA): 1-1
SEASON: 13-14-1