Stanford opens 6.5 favorites
- Thread starter tiger2121
- Start date
I'm not a better...the only two bets I've ever made on college sports are this year to beat Nebraska...that was just too easy. And a little 15 dollar bet to win it all which I knew wouldn't happen..just had to.
After losing I don't know what this team will do. I'll cheer with no money involved. Who's gonna put their money where their mouth is?
After losing I don't know what this team will do. I'll cheer with no money involved. Who's gonna put their money where their mouth is?
Perfect. More than happy to continue in the underdog role, although I recognize that Vegas sets the spread in a way to encourage equal betting on both sides, and that the line will presumably move. Vegas does tend to influence the national perception of who's the favorite and who's the underdog, and I'm sure Kirk and the guys are also more than happy to assume the underdog role again. I expect us to move the ball and score with much more consistency and regularity against the Cardinal than we did against a much more stout MSU defense. Like our chances.
If our D plays with the intensity in the Rose Bowl that they did last night we will win. Stanford is a good team though if our D plays hard again we will limit the damage of McCaffery and Hogan. I do think we will be able to run better than we did against MSU. I hope JC is able to play. His going out hurt us last night.
We gave up 173 rushing to a very average rushing team. Stanford is a lot better at running the ball than Sparty is. I don't think this game will be that close.
Wow, is this for real?
I've never placed a bet with Vegas but if they want to give money away I'll take it.
I've never placed a bet with Vegas but if they want to give money away I'll take it.
Except when they played Northwestern and completley got shut down by that front. Stanford's defense is also nowhere near MSU's. We should be able to establish a run against them.
I'm still trying to understand how NW held Stanford to 6 points. Whatever they did. . . let's do that!
Haven't seen that game. Maybe someone who watched it can comment on how NW got the job done. Considering what McCaffrey has done in the remainder of the season and how explosive their offense seems to have been for most of the year, that NW game just doesn't seem to add up.
Haven't seen that game. Maybe someone who watched it can comment on how NW got the job done. Considering what McCaffrey has done in the remainder of the season and how explosive their offense seems to have been for most of the year, that NW game just doesn't seem to add up.
They ran for 225 yards against them for one thing and controlled the clock. They also didn't give up much to Hogan in the pass game. He averaged less than 5 yards per pass against them.
Thanks for the info. Sounds like something the Hawks are accustomed to doing. Hopefully they can execute when it counts.
Risky to "compare" teams, even the same teams over the course of a year. For example, MSU vs Iowa was much, much more healthy than most of the other games they played. Not sure about Stanford. But...their style of play is more fitting with an Iowa win.
Iowa was also 1.5 point favorites over Nebraska; so they can be off by a touchdown or two, as well.
I look at it this way:
Stanford best wins:
#8 Notre Dame at home
#25 USC (twice) on the road
Stanford worst losses:
#13 Northwestern on the road
#15 Oregon at home
Iowa best wins:
#13 Northwestern on the road
Unranked Wisconsin on the road
Iowa worst losses:
#3 Michigan neutral site
This looks pretty even, to me. Stanford has somewhat of an edge because they played five games against ranked teams, while Iowa only played two. On the other hand, Stanford was only 3-2 against those ranked teams, which doesn't exactly elevate them to an elite level. I don't see anything to justify a 6.5 line on this game.
Last edited:
Good point, rev. That's a game that people often overlook, but any program with a huge rival like that understands that it's a tough game no matter what the records turn out to be. Just ask Oklahoma about their loss to Texas this year. Sure, it's a horrible loss, but it's hard to describe the effort you often see from the underdog in a rivalry game. It can't be measured or anticipated by their record. That's precisely why they talk about how "you can throw out the records" when describing rivalry games. Many are surprisingly more competitive than one would expect on paper.
No, ISU aren't world-beaters by any means this year, but winning in Ames is rarely easy, regardless of their record.
No, ISU aren't world-beaters by any means this year, but winning in Ames is rarely easy, regardless of their record.
ISU is better than their record...another team that falls into that category is Indiana, IMHO...
Nebraska falls in there also...similar to the recent Iowa models...lots of close games, most of them ending with a painful loss. Undisciplined play leads to such things of course.
I like to evaluate teams based on the talent and the experience of their QB...and how they have performed on the road, especially in tough venues...Iowa...at Wisc...at Neb...at ISU...at Indiana...at NW...those are great wins.
Nebraska falls in there also...similar to the recent Iowa models...lots of close games, most of them ending with a painful loss. Undisciplined play leads to such things of course.
I like to evaluate teams based on the talent and the experience of their QB...and how they have performed on the road, especially in tough venues...Iowa...at Wisc...at Neb...at ISU...at Indiana...at NW...those are great wins.
MSU averaged 3.8 per rush and 5.8 per pass. The defense played awesome Saturday night.
It was the first game of the year and Stanford didn't come ready to play. Simple as that. Christian McCaffrey had 66 rushing yards against NW. He had 207 rushing yards in Saturday's Pac 12 Championship game. They're just a better team now versus then. I think you could say the same thing about Iowa getting better as the year went on.
Some teams get better. Others get worse -- usually because of injuries, as TCU and Baylor both epitomized this season.
Yeah -- I'm pretty sure a Stanford-NW rematch would look a lot different about now. Hard to imagine NW repeating anything close to that performance. Sometimes teams just have an off day for reasons that are hard to explain. I'm sure Iowa will see a very formidable Stanford team on New Year's Day.
I'm not sure it would be a big change. I don't simply think it was just an "off day" for Stanford. I think it was a matchup problem. Northwestern has a very sound run defense. They made Stanford look very slow. Stanford occasionally got some tough yards up the middle but the Northwestern linebackers and secondary pursued very well. Stanford couldn't do anything running on the outside. I think a lot of people also underrate Northwestern simply because of our game with them and the Michigan game.
Agreed. Northwestern only lost two games this year and beat Stanford, Wisconsin on the road, Nebraska on the road, shutout Minnesota, beat a 7-5 Duke team on the road. They played great defense against Stanford.
