Nearly all trends point to the visitors. The Cardinal thrive ATS on Thursdays, having covered in five of the past seven in midweek. They are coming off a straight-up and ATS setback, a scenario in which they are on an 18-7-1 streak outright and 14-4 with the spread. Under coach David Shaw, they have never dropped three in a row. If RB Bryce Love (ankle) sits out again, all bets are off. Because he exceeded 300 rushing yards against the Sun Devils last season, the Cardinal hope all systems are go with their bulwark.

Stanford has developed a habit in recent seasons of mid-season funks followed by strong finishes. This appears to be the case again as the Cardinal are looking to bounce back from double-digit losses to Notre Dame and Utah. The injury loss of Bryce Love was huge as the Cardinal failed to have success in the passing game. Even so, they are 6-2 off a bye under coach David Shaw and have covered two straight. The Sun Devils are notoriously dangerous as a home underdog in prime time games, but this is a difficult matchup for them.

Stanford has lost its last two and plays its third road game in four weeks -- at Oregon, at Notre Dame and home against Utah last week. It's a short week for the Cardinal who waste a day traveling. Utah just smoked them 40-21, and the week before Notre Dame outgained them by 321 yards -- and there's no time to fix it. Night games in Tempe always seem to make road teams worse than they are. Ask Michigan State about it. ASU is the play.

The Cardinal simply aren't the same without a 100 percent RB Bryce Love -- and its inability to score or simply get downfield is affecting both sides of the ball. Stanford the last two weeks has lost to Notre Dame and Utah by a combined 40 points. ASU has lost three of four, each by exactly seven points, but at home against a struggling Stanford seems like a good point for a breakout game for the Sun Devils. My projections call for an ASU win, I'll grab the points before the line moves based on Love's health.

This should be a really good game between two strong PAC-12 squads along the line of scrimmage. That’s where this game will have to be won. New Sun Devils coach Herm Edwards has instilled the mental toughness into his team, and we’ve seen ASU do a great job of overcoming mistakes to pull out close games. This one provides a tougher matchup as Stanford’s passing game has been impressive this year, giving the Cardinal the balance they need.