How and what to watch for Stanford vs. No. 12 Oregon

The Oregon Ducks get back in action this week in the first game after the Justin Herbert era, as they welcome the Stanford Cardinal to town to open up the season.

Even with the loss of Herbert, the Ducks are still a good team. There’s a bunch of new faces on offense and its still unclear who will even be the starting quarterback. But its corps of running backs is very good. Led by junior back CJ Verdell, who has eclipsed 1,000 yards in both of his seasons of college action. He’s also been a decent safety valve in the passing game as well, with 440 receiving yards in his two seasons as well.

Stanford had a very uncharacteristic season last year, falling to 4-8 and struggled on both offense and defense. Quarterback Davis Mills is taking over for KJ Costello, who transferred to Mississippi State. Last season he had close to 2,000 yards passing and 11 scores in just eight games. The Cardinal also has a good group of pass-catchers, who will be going up against an Oregon defensive backfield where many players opted out because of COVID-19 concerns.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch Stanford vs. Oregon on Saturday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, or you can stream it via the ESPN app with a cable or streaming service login.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Stanford vs Oregon (-9.5)
Point Total: 50.5
Money line: Stanford (+255), Oregon (-355)

• Stanford is 1-5 ATS in its last six games
• The total has gone over in five of Stanford’s last six games
• Oregon is 6-3 ATS in its last nine
• The total has gone over in six of Oregon’s last nine

Betting splits

Stanford: (49% of handle, 26% percent of bets)
Oregon: (51% of handle, 74% percent of bets)

The Best Bet

The best bet here is the point total. While it’s normally safe to call for the under in a team’s first game of the season, that shouldn’t apply here. Oregon’s run game is going to be very good even with questions under center. Mills will have a great game against a secondary full of backups.

Pick: Over 55.5

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