The No. 6-ranked Stanford Cardinal will try to remain undefeated as they face their toughest road test of the season in Week 9  college football betting action when they take on the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday night (8:00 pm Eastern, ABC) in this week's spotlight matchup between Pac-12 rivals.

Dynamic duel of elite pivots

Stanford's Andrew Luck is almost unanimously considered to be the best player in college football, and will almost certainly be the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. If Matt Barkley of USC decides to forego his senior season and enter the draft, he'll likely be a first-round pick as well.

The stats don't tell the full story on Luck, who is an excellent decision-maker and a leader with a full arsenal of intangibles that football coaches love and to which teammates respond. But the stats in  college football betting action are impressive nonetheless: Luck holds the fifth-highest passer rating in the nation at a lofty 180, with 1,888 passing yards, a 71.8 completion percentage, and a touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio of 20-to-3, all while conducting a complicated pro-style offense at Stanford.

And Barkley isn't too far behind, when it comes to flashy statistics. The Trojans' pivot boasts a passer rating of 154.7 with 2,006 passing yards, a 68.2 completion percentage, and a touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio of 19-to-4. Barkley's outstanding play is one of the main reasons that Southern Cal has exceeded expectations this season, and he's coming off an outstanding performance in the Trojans' impressive 31-17 road victory over Notre Dame last week.

Regardless of the outcome, this matchup of two of the premier quarterbacks in college football will be fun to watch.

Solid on both sides of the ball

It's difficult to find a weakness in Stanford's game, as each of their opponents have discovered to this point in college football betting results. The Cardinal are a perfect 7-0 both SU and ATS so far this season, and have won all seven of their games by at least 26 points. Stanford ranks second in the nation with 48.6 points scored per game, and fourth overall while allowing only 12.6 points per game.

Both sides of that impressive equation were on full display in last Saturday's 65-21 win at home over Washington – which was then ranked No. 25 – in a game that was supposed to provide the Cardinal with a difficult test. The Huskies were shut down after scoring an average of 37 points per game through their first six matchups.

Offensively, Stanford made it clear that they aren't a one-man team. Running back Stepfan Taylor led a ground game that racked up an astounding 446 yards and five touchdowns against the Huskies. The Cardinal also ranks a strong 17th in the nation with 219.4 rushing yards per game and can make any team pay if they focus only on stopping the aerial attack.

The big question for Stanford is whether they can continue this success in a hostile environment on the road. Wisconsin, which was ranked at No. 6 entering Week 8, looked equally unbeatable before they went on the road and lost to Michigan State.

Paradigm shift in SoCal

It's always helpful to look at recent head-to-head clashes when handicapping a  college football betting matchup. What makes this Pac-12 rivalry a little different is how much things have changed in a few short years.

Ex-coach Jim Harbaugh built Stanford from the bottom up before leaving for San Francisco and the NFL, first leaning hard on RB Toby Gerhart and more recently handing the reins over to Luck. Stanford went from a 1-11 record in 2006 to 12-1 in 2010, and the Cardinal are now a legitimate BCS contender.

USC, meanwhile, was hit hard by NCAA sanctions over the last few years. After years of conference domination and perennial BCS contention, the Trojans slipped to 9-4 in 2009 and 8-5 in 2010. They finally seem to be back on the rise this season, but it is a testament to change when you see Stanford currently listed as an 8-point road favorite against USC. After all, the Cardinal were a double-digit underdog against the Trojans every year from 2002-2009, no matter the venue.

While both teams are 3-4 O/U against the number this season, their rivalry suggests that we should expect some fireworks this Saturday night. Seven of the past nine games between USC and Stanford have gone OVER the posted total, with each of the last three games featuring 68 or more points of total offense.

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Kyle Hunter
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