Oregon State Opens Week As 23 1⁄2-Point Underdogs To #20 Stanford

Sitting at 1-6 on the season, Oregon State is losing ground in the fight for their first Pac-12 victory of the season.

The Beavers looked to be an inspired unit in the first showing under interim head coach Cory Hall, but still were unable to find a way past Colorado in a hard-fought 36-33 contest. Now, they’ll move on to their next opponent, as #20 overall ranked Stanford heads to Corvallis for a Thursday night clash, in which the Cardinal’s hopes for a conference title game birth will sit on the line. Will the Beavers have enough in the tank to muster the legendary upset? According to the earliest odds of the week from the Bovada-Las Vegas, that task seems unlikely.

Oregon State starts the week as 23 ¹⁄₂ point underdogs to the Cardinal, in a game where a spotty Beavers defense will be given the job of containing Stanford star running back and Heisman candidate Bryce Love. Love, who is currently averaging over 198 rushing yards per game, has been one of the country’s most outstanding talents through this portion of the season. Some of Love’s more impressive performances have come against comparable Pac-12 defenses in Arizona State and UCLA, where the 5’ 10”, 200-pound back tallied 301 and 263 yards respectively.

Slowing down Love and the rest of Stanford’s excitable offensive approach will be one of the Beavers’ biggest biggest tasks on Thursday night, along with kick-starting Oregon State’s offense against a stout Stanford defense. Currently, the Beavers are averaging just over 21 points per game, aided most recently by their posting of 33 points against the Buffs. Three times already this season, Oregon State has failed to hit the fifteen-point plateau.

The contest between Oregon State and Stanford is scheduled to kick-off at 6:00 PM PT on Thursday night (October 26th) and will be televised nationally on ESPN.