I wouldn't be 100% confident but I'd prefer Stanford. That's the smartest and most resourceful team in the country, IMO. I generally look to bet on them or I stay away. I haven't had the greatest start to the season in terms of betting but Stanford put me way over the top last week. I'm still in disbelief at that line. It didn't even feel like gambling. Stanford was as low as -8 at Washington State, which is coached by the biggest fraud of my lifetime. It was guaranteed that one team would be thoroughly prepared and physical while the other would rely on finesse and while cutting corners at every turn. I've knocked Mike Leach on every site for years but I hope he keeps a top gig forever, to set up more opportunities like that. It's unbelievable how many fans fall for his garbage.
Anyway, Stanford would own many of the edges that Florida did but they are markedly more balanced and confident, with nary a loss for several years. That's why I don't understand how so many people can confidently pick the Canes. Stanford lost Shayne Skov early in the 2011 season so they were more vulnerable on defense than they should have been. Oregon took advantage, as did Oklahoma State in the bowl game, even though the Stanford kicker blew that one on the final play of regulation, missing a chippie. Skov is now a senior and playing as well as ever. It's not quite the equivalent of facing Luke Kuechly at Boston College, but in that ballpark. Stanford would know all of our tendencies and smack around our receivers along the same theory as Penn State and Alabama used in those long-ago national championship debacles.
It's an excellent team, a joy to watch. Shaw has been masterful in recruiting, stealing away plenty of blue chip linemen from my alma mater USC. I do credit the posters who conceded they don't know much about Stanford. Frankly, that was obvious in other posts. The Pac 12 in general is underrated on virtually every college football board.