The Maryland Terrapins and Stanford Cardinal meet up in the Foster Farms Bowl tonight in college football action. The game is scheduled for a 10:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN. Currently the odds for the game have Stanford favored by a couple of touchdowns in this one.

Maryland    +14   OV48.5
Stanford      -14   UN48.5

The spread in this one is a bit alarming — Stanford comes into the contest laying two touchdowns against a Maryland team that had a decent season, their first in the Big Ten. Both the Cardinal and Terrapins finished the season with 7-5 records and a bowl victory would certainly be a nice prize.

Maryland comes into the contest having alternated wins and losses since beginning the campaign with a 4-1 record. The better teams on the schedule (Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State) all defeated the Bucks this year, but the end of the season loss to Rutgers has to sting. Then again, the Scarlet Knights dominated North Carolina in their bowl game, so maybe the loss isn't so bad.

Stanford had a huge win in their final game of the season, knocking off No. 8 UCLA in Los Angeles by three touchdowns. It was easily the best win on the schedule for the Cardinal, who suffered losses to five ranked teams this season — USC, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Oregon and Utah.

Kevin Hogan has had a decent season, throwing 17 touchdowns, but he was sacked 21 times and threw eight interceptions. The 65.7 completion percentage is pretty good, but he still has to make better decisions for the Cardinal to be successful tonight. There's no doubt Stanford is the bigger, more physical team and they'll probably look to have this game going on the ground.

On defense, Stanford should be able to keep Maryland grounded as well. The Cardinal give up just 16 points per game this season, which is second best in the country. Maryland, on the other hand, scores an average of 29 points per game but that might be enough to win this one today.

C.J. Brown gives the Terps a dual-threat option, leading Maryland in rushing as well this year. He's combined for 20 touchdowns and better than 2,600 yards of total offense. Stanford has seen plenty of dual-threat guys this season, so Maryland has to be able to find a wrinkle or two.

Stanford is probably the better team, but Maryland is going to move the football tonight. The Terps certainly have their work cut out for them, but this shouldn't be a blowout.

Free Pick: Stanford 27, Maryland 17

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