If 3.5 wins is the natural O/U, I am taking the over. I think we'll have at least five wins. I'll project wins against Cal Poly and SJSU, and wins against three of the following: TCU, VaTech, Louisville, Wake Forest and SMU. Maybe an NC State win.
Here's a wild card...Stanford will do better than expected against East coast ACC teams during west coast nighttime games. I'm assuming all 7:30 p.m. PT games. That means that games against TCU, VaTech, Louisville, and Wake Forest will kick off at 10:30 p.m. body clock time for the players and coaches of those schools. The second half of those games will be played after midnight, body clock time. That's a heck of a handicap. Also means 9:30 p.m. body clock times for SMU, so...hopefully second-half meltdowns for that team.
Along those lines...no, I'm not a fan of evening games in general, but now that we're in this dog's breakfast of a football conference, I'm a strong advocate for evening games for the advantage it gives Stanford. Recall the 9/4/99 69-17 loss against Texas. 9 a.m. body clock game kickoff for Stanford players and coaches, we got crushed. We had a good team, 10 returning defensive starters and Husak, finished 8-4 and went to the Rose Bowl. Next year, it was a 9:30 pm body clock game for Texas players at Stanford. Presto, 27-24 win for a Stanford team that finished 5-6.
It works the other way, of course. I would take the opponent for any East Coast games that kick off at 12 p.m. or 1 p.m.
Here's a wild card...Stanford will do better than expected against East coast ACC teams during west coast nighttime games. I'm assuming all 7:30 p.m. PT games. That means that games against TCU, VaTech, Louisville, and Wake Forest will kick off at 10:30 p.m. body clock time for the players and coaches of those schools. The second half of those games will be played after midnight, body clock time. That's a heck of a handicap. Also means 9:30 p.m. body clock times for SMU, so...hopefully second-half meltdowns for that team.
Along those lines...no, I'm not a fan of evening games in general, but now that we're in this dog's breakfast of a football conference, I'm a strong advocate for evening games for the advantage it gives Stanford. Recall the 9/4/99 69-17 loss against Texas. 9 a.m. body clock game kickoff for Stanford players and coaches, we got crushed. We had a good team, 10 returning defensive starters and Husak, finished 8-4 and went to the Rose Bowl. Next year, it was a 9:30 pm body clock game for Texas players at Stanford. Presto, 27-24 win for a Stanford team that finished 5-6.
It works the other way, of course. I would take the opponent for any East Coast games that kick off at 12 p.m. or 1 p.m.
Audaces fortuna iuvat