[Farm93]

Now some of the major preseason polls are getting released.

Stanford sits at #11.  Oregon, UCLA and USC are in the top 15.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca.../13376765/

[Farm93]

Now some of the major preseason polls are getting released.

Stanford sits at #11.  Oregon, UCLA and USC are in the top 15.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca.../13376765/

[fullmetal]

Amway?!

Oregon at #4 and UCLA at #7?!  Well, more surprise at UCLA than Oregon.  Washington at #25.

[fullmetal]

Amway?!

Oregon at #4 and UCLA at #7?!  Well, more surprise at UCLA than Oregon.  Washington at #25.

[Farm93]

Amway - Top (only) bidder for the honor, I guess.  It would seem like someone should have assessed fit.

In other fun news...USA Today also elected to rank the 25 starting QBs on those 25 teams.  Hogan came in at #11.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca...13092933/ 

[Farm93]

Amway - Top (only) bidder for the honor, I guess.  It would seem like someone should have assessed fit.

In other fun news...USA Today also elected to rank the 25 starting QBs on those 25 teams.  Hogan came in at #11.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca...13092933/ 

[oman]

Nothing wrong with Amway.  I got a nice Amway Pinot Grigio the other day....

[oman]

Nothing wrong with Amway.  I got a nice Amway Pinot Grigio the other day....

[71Bear]

Farm - They did assess fit. 

USA Today Rep. to Amway Rep. --- "How many dollars can you fit into that bank vault over there?"

Amway Rep. to USA Today Rep. --- "As many as necessary."

[71Bear]

Farm - They did assess fit. 

USA Today Rep. to Amway Rep. --- "How many dollars can you fit into that bank vault over there?"

Amway Rep. to USA Today Rep. --- "As many as necessary."

[Spiny_Norman]

Amway?!

Simultaneous with the release of each weekly poll will be a message to the FBS schools - "We must recruit 100 new voters by 2 pm!!"

h/t to Stewart Mandel

[Spiny_Norman]

Amway?!

Simultaneous with the release of each weekly poll will be a message to the FBS schools - "We must recruit 100 new voters by 2 pm!!"

h/t to Stewart Mandel

[French Rage]

In case we needed confirmation, our road games are against the #4, #7, #17, #18, and #25 teams.  And one more in Berkeley.

[French Rage]

In case we needed confirmation, our road games are against the #4, #7, #17, #18, and #25 teams.  And one more in Berkeley.

[BigEasyCard]

In case we needed confirmation, our road games are against the #4, #7, #17, #18, and #25 teams.  And one more in Berkeley.

Five opportunities for quality wins!  Plus #15 at home.

Geaux Cardinal!

[BigEasyCard]

In case we needed confirmation, our road games are against the #4, #7, #17, #18, and #25 teams.  And one more in Berkeley.

Five opportunities for quality wins!  Plus #15 at home.

Geaux Cardinal!

[martyup]

[quote author=French Rage link=topic=10284.msg93455#msg93455 date=1406917298]
In case we needed confirmation, our road games are against the #4, #7, #17, #18, and #25 teams.  And one more in Berkeley.

Five opportunities for quality wins!  Plus #15 at home.

Geaux Cardinal!
[/quote]

That is the half full glass spirit that we're looking for here.  We are going to have to beat those teams to make the Rose Bowl National Championship Semi-final Game.  We are the smartest and cruelest team in the country.    Fear the Tree. 

[martyup]

[quote author=French Rage link=topic=10284.msg93455#msg93455 date=1406917298]
In case we needed confirmation, our road games are against the #4, #7, #17, #18, and #25 teams.  And one more in Berkeley.

Five opportunities for quality wins!  Plus #15 at home.

Geaux Cardinal!
[/quote]

That is the half full glass spirit that we're looking for here.  We are going to have to beat those teams to make the Rose Bowl National Championship Semi-final Game.  We are the smartest and cruelest team in the country.    Fear the Tree. 

[OutsiderFan]

One thing David Shaw's team knows is all it has to do is win and it will be in the playoff.  Stanford controls its destiny as much as any team in college football this season, and is one of the few teams that can lose one game and get in no matter what, and lose two games and still have a legit shot at getting in (depending on who the losses are against), due to the difficulty of the schedule.

I don't know how to assess this, but Stanford's schedule might be the most difficult one in college football history.  My guess is we'll be hearing David Shaw mention this quite a lot if Stanford is in the hunt for the Pac-12 title in November.

[OutsiderFan]

One thing David Shaw's team knows is all it has to do is win and it will be in the playoff.  Stanford controls its destiny as much as any team in college football this season, and is one of the few teams that can lose one game and get in no matter what, and lose two games and still have a legit shot at getting in (depending on who the losses are against), due to the difficulty of the schedule.

I don't know how to assess this, but Stanford's schedule might be the most difficult one in college football history.  My guess is we'll be hearing David Shaw mention this quite a lot if Stanford is in the hunt for the Pac-12 title in November.

[Farm93]

Funny thing about SOS.  If you win a lot, you almost certainly will not have the toughest SOS.  UCB, for example, plays #11 and defending conference champion Stanford conversely Stanford plays lowly UCB.  At the end of the season it is likely that UCB will have played a tougher slate of opponents, in part because they don't have UCB on their Pac-12 conference schedule.

From the coverage I have seen on the subject, a few other Pac-12 conference teams have tougher SOS based on pre-season rankings.  Again, in part because they have Stanford on their schedule.

However, I suspect that if Stanford is in the top 5 in the polls at the end of the year, then Stanford will have the toughest SOS of any team in the top 5. 

[Farm93]

Funny thing about SOS.  If you win a lot, you almost certainly will not have the toughest SOS.  UCB, for example, plays #11 and defending conference champion Stanford conversely Stanford plays lowly UCB.  At the end of the season it is likely that UCB will have played a tougher slate of opponents, in part because they don't have UCB on their Pac-12 conference schedule.

From the coverage I have seen on the subject, a few other Pac-12 conference teams have tougher SOS based on pre-season rankings.  Again, in part because they have Stanford on their schedule.

However, I suspect that if Stanford is in the top 5 in the polls at the end of the year, then Stanford will have the toughest SOS of any team in the top 5. 

[OutsiderFan]

I know the polls mean less from here on out than ever before, but still, the fact UCLA is ranked higher than Stanford is a pretty significant lack of respect for a team that has been in the Top 5 most of the previous four seasons, coming off two consecutive conference titles.  Not to mention the fact a North team has won every PAC-12 title since the CCG started.  Let's see UCLA beat Stanford or Oregon (or both) before ranking them so high.

[OutsiderFan]

I know the polls mean less from here on out than ever before, but still, the fact UCLA is ranked higher than Stanford is a pretty significant lack of respect for a team that has been in the Top 5 most of the previous four seasons, coming off two consecutive conference titles.  Not to mention the fact a North team has won every PAC-12 title since the CCG started.  Let's see UCLA beat Stanford or Oregon (or both) before ranking them so high.

[PrinceLightfoot]

I know the polls mean less from here on out than ever before, but still, the fact UCLA is ranked higher than Stanford is a pretty significant lack of respect for a team that has been in the Top 5 most of the previous four seasons, coming off two consecutive conference titles.  Not to mention the fact a North team has won every PAC-12 title since the CCG started.  Let's see UCLA beat Stanford or Oregon (or both) before ranking them so high.

I agree. If our road schedule wasn't so tough, we probably would have started with a top10 ranking. Also, dropping road games to unranked Utah and USC last year probably played a bit into most pollsters thinking.

The reason so many people are high on UCLA is because they play most of their tough games at home, return eight starters on each side of the ball, and are viewed as having the top preseason defense in the conference despite the NFL draft departures of of OLB Anthony Barr, DE Cassius Marsh, and ILB Jordan Zumwalt.

They gave up 42 points to Oregon and 38 points to ASU both of them resulting in losses. Both of those teams are on their schedule except they play ASU on the road and Oregon at home. I guess the pollsters see wins over everyone except Oregon. A win over ASU makes sense since they only return two starters on defense. A win over Stanford? On paper it might seem reasonable, but my Cardinal-colored lenses tell me we are simply better than them; our defense held them to their season low of 10 points last year.

Unless they are able to run the ball effectively, they won't defeat us. Rushing was the difference two years ago between the first game where we destroyed them at home and gave up only 73 yrds on the ground and then struggled the following week in the CCG where we gave up 264 yrds. Last year, we gave up 74 yards. Stop the run!

[PrinceLightfoot]

I know the polls mean less from here on out than ever before, but still, the fact UCLA is ranked higher than Stanford is a pretty significant lack of respect for a team that has been in the Top 5 most of the previous four seasons, coming off two consecutive conference titles.  Not to mention the fact a North team has won every PAC-12 title since the CCG started.  Let's see UCLA beat Stanford or Oregon (or both) before ranking them so high.

I agree. If our road schedule wasn't so tough, we probably would have started with a top10 ranking. Also, dropping road games to unranked Utah and USC last year probably played a bit into most pollsters thinking.

The reason so many people are high on UCLA is because they play most of their tough games at home, return eight starters on each side of the ball, and are viewed as having the top preseason defense in the conference despite the NFL draft departures of of OLB Anthony Barr, DE Cassius Marsh, and ILB Jordan Zumwalt.

They gave up 42 points to Oregon and 38 points to ASU both of them resulting in losses. Both of those teams are on their schedule except they play ASU on the road and Oregon at home. I guess the pollsters see wins over everyone except Oregon. A win over ASU makes sense since they only return two starters on defense. A win over Stanford? On paper it might seem reasonable, but my Cardinal-colored lenses tell me we are simply better than them; our defense held them to their season low of 10 points last year.

Unless they are able to run the ball effectively, they won't defeat us. Rushing was the difference two years ago between the first game where we destroyed them at home and gave up only 73 yrds on the ground and then struggled the following week in the CCG where we gave up 264 yrds. Last year, we gave up 74 yards. Stop the run!

[Mick]

The reason so many people are high on UCLA is because they play most of their tough games at home, return eight starters on each side of the ball, and are viewed as having the top preseason defense in the conference despite the NFL draft departures of of OLB Anthony Barr, DE Cassius Marsh, and ILB Jordan Zumwalt.

I seem to recall that Terry had some pretty compelling evidence that these elements, particularly 16 returning starters, typically meant an upcoming season of unrelenting success.  Was that accurate Terry?  Do you still retain those stats?

[Mick]

The reason so many people are high on UCLA is because they play most of their tough games at home, return eight starters on each side of the ball, and are viewed as having the top preseason defense in the conference despite the NFL draft departures of of OLB Anthony Barr, DE Cassius Marsh, and ILB Jordan Zumwalt.

I seem to recall that Terry had some pretty compelling evidence that these elements, particularly 16 returning starters, typically meant an upcoming season of unrelenting success.  Was that accurate Terry?  Do you still retain those stats?