I love underdogs. It is such a great feeling to watch the team that wasn’t supposed to win, the team that no one thought could hang with their opposition — the undermanned and outmatched bunch — pull out a victory.

I also like pressure. When a streak is on the line or when a team needs to pull out a season-defining victory, the athletes who can handle the pressure best are invariably the ones that will come out on top. We have seen it all at Stanford this year as well as throughout the college sports world.

Welcome to another weekend in college sports, where the underdog prevails, pressure runs high, and history is in the making.

With that said, on to my predictions of the winners and losers for this weekend in college sports.

Winner: Stanford Women’s Cross Country

Going for an unprecedented 12th straight Pac-10 title, the Stanford women’s cross country team should get number 12 this weekend at the Pac-10 championships, hosted by Oregon State.

The Cardinal women are currently the No. 1 team in the nation and should have no problem defeating their Pac-10 foes. Led by returning All-Americans Arianna Lambie, Teresa McWalters, Lauren Centrowitz and Lindsay Flacks, the Stanford women placed two in the top three at the Pre-NCAA Invitational two weeks ago, with McWalters and Lambie finishing just one second apart. It seems that it’s all tune-ups for these ladies until the NCAA Championships in the middle of November.

Loser: Los Angeles

No. 3 Stanford women’s volleyball is 19-1 overall and 8-1 in conference play. This weekend, they head south for two huge matches against No. 7 UCLA and No. 6 USC. In their first meetings, Stanford swept both teams at Maples Pavilion in convincing fashion. These matches are away, which will make them much tougher. Stanford must win two to keep pace with Washington, who handed them their only loss of the season and also sits at 8-1 in the Pac-10. The Cardinal will come ready to play against the Los Angeles schools and should reproduce the same results as last time. But the wins won’t come as easy as they did before.

Winner: Penn State

It’s the year of the upset in college football, and the trend should continue on Saturday. Ohio State is undefeated and ranked No. 1, and is playing at Penn State (6-2). The Nittany Lions’ “whiteout” crowd — with the entire Beaver Stadium dressed in bright white — will be too much for the Buckeyes. Ohio State has not been tested at all this year, and Joe Paterno’s squad is a very good team with a very good defense. Penn State has already played a tough conference road game (a loss at Michigan), and now it’s Ohio State’s turn. The Lions’ defense will limit Ohio State’s offense and the game will be a battle of field position. In the end, Penn State should prevail in a close one, knocking off yet another unbeaten.

Loser: USC

After last week’s 38-0 thrashing of Notre Dame, the Trojans seem to be back on track following their stunning loss to Stanford. But it couldn’t be a worse time for the Trojans to meet the Oregon Ducks, who rushed for a school-record 465 yards last week against Washington, en route to racking up 661 total yards. Mark Sanchez looks to be the starter for the Trojans, and USC is slowly starting to get back some of its injured players. But Autzen Stadium will be out of control, and the duo of Dennis Dixon at QB and Jonathan Stewart at tailback is one of the most explosive in the country. This could turn into a scoring contest, as Oregon does not have a strong defense (the Cardinal racked up 31 points against the Ducks, and Washington managed 35). But Oregon will get up for this game and will end up being too much for USC. Aren’t we used to saying the opposite?

Winner: Stanford Football

Popular consensus has the Cardinal losing Saturday’s game handily to the Beavers. However, coach Harbaugh has this team on the right track after two straight conference road wins. The Cardinal will be depleted at running back again, and Oregon State does have the leading rush defense in the Pac-10 (63 yards per game). The Beavers also lead the Pac-10 in sacks per game (4.1). But the Cardinal offensive line has been playing well of late, and Harbaugh should look to utilize Pritchard’s ability to roll out of the pocket while using quick passes and screens to exploit a shaky Beavers secondary. His game will be closer than expected as long as the Cardinal can contain OSU’s Yvenson Bernard, who is on his way to becoming one of the Pac-10’s all-time leading rushers. So the turnaround season for the Cardinal will keep rolling this weekend, as the Cardinal takes down the Beavers in another nail-biter.

Think your skills of prognostication are better than Danny’s? Let him know at dbelch1@stanford.edu.