The Washington Huskies are set to face the Stanford Cardinal this weekend. Check out our college football odds series, which includes our Washington-Stanford prediction, odds, and pick.

Washington trailed the lowly Arizona Wildcats 16-7 midway through the second half before rallying for an ugly and unconvincing 21-16 victory over a winless opponent. Washington needed a lot of help from Arizona to score that come-from-behind victory. It was a win, but it felt in many ways like a loss. The Huskies played as poorly as they have played all year. Their opponent was simply worse. Head coach Jimmy Lake remains under fire from Washington fans, but there is no immediate sense that UW administrators want to fire him or are even going to threaten to do so.

Stanford has fallen on hard times in recent weeks, losing tough games to Arizona State and Washington State. The Cardinal have been competitive, but they haven't made decisive plays in close games. If Stanford wants to make a bowl game this season, Saturday night's game in Palo Alto is extremely important, almost in the must-win category.

Here’s how the bookmakers have set the Washington-Stanford odds:

College Football odds: Washington-Stanford Odds

Washington: +2.5 (-110)

Stanford: -2.5 (-110)

Over: 47.5 (-114)

Under: 47.5 (-106)

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Why Washington Could Cover the Spread

The Huskies have a solid defense. They also have Zion Tupuola-Fetui, their best defensive player, back in the lineup after an injury threatened to wipe out the entirety of his 2021 season. It was feared that Zion Tupuola-Fetui — nicknamed “ZTF” as an acronym — would miss all of the season or at least 10 games, but he has come back much sooner than anticipated. He played an inconsistent game against Arizona, but that was to be expected given the inability to practice on a regular basis and get into full game shape. He should be even better and more active against Stanford. That is worth considering when you arrive at a Washington Stanford pick.

Why Stanford Could Cover the Spread

The case for Stanford in this game is not a complicated one. The Cardinal own the Huskies on The Farm in Palo Alto. Stanford has won seven of the last eight games against Washington on its own campus, going back 17 years to 2004. The only Stanford loss in that span of time was in 2007. Washington has not won at Stanford since the Pac-10 Conference expanded to the Pac-12 in 2011. 

The other obvious reason to pick Stanford is that Washington's offense is abysmal. The Huskies needed takeaways from their defense to post a modest 21 points against Arizona, the doormat of the Pac-12. Washington quarterback Dylan Morris has been well below average throughout the season. Lake and his staff have insisted that Morris is and should be the starter, but he hasn't played well at any point this year, with the possible slight exception of an overtime win over California.

Washington has one of the worst offenses in the Pac-12 alongside Colorado and Arizona. That's enough of a reason to lean to the Trees in your Washington Stanford prediction, measured against the college football odds.

Final Washington-Stanford Prediction & Pick

When Washington pays a visit to The Farm, ugly football usually emerges. You can go with Stanford or the under. Either play is a reliable one on Saturday night in the Bay Area.

Final Washington-Stanford Pick: Stanford -2.5, under 47.5