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12-01-2025, 12:44 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-01-2025, 04:32 PM by
Papa John.)
Well played Vandelay and 13 others!
I predicted two wins. At the time I was thinking that we would beat Hawaii and SJSU, so the 2025 Stanford football team overachieved IMO. A 12th-pace finish in a 17-team conference isn't something to brag about, but Stanford was picked to finish a distant last in the ACC preseason poll.
Here's how the ACC results played out, with preseason and final rankings:
1st preseason: Clemson; final ranking: tied with four other teams for 7th, treated as 9th (average of 7 through 11); difference: -8
2nd: Miami; tied with four other teams for 2nd, treated as 4th (average of 2 through 6); -2
3rd: SMU; 5-way tie for 2nd=4th; -1
4th: Georgia Tech; 5-way tie for 2nd=4th; 0
5th: Louisville; 5-way tie for 7th=9th; -4
6th: Duke; 5-way tie for 2nd=4th; +2
7th: Florida State; 3-way tie for 13th=14th; -7
8th: North Carolina; 3-way tie for 13th=14th; -6
9th: Pitt; 5-way tie for 2nd=4th; +5
10th: NC State; 5-way tie for 7th=9th; +1
11th: Virginia Tech; 3-way tie for 13th=14th; -3
12th: Syracuse; 2-way tie for 16th=16.5; -4.5
13th: Boston College; 2-way tie for 16th=16.5; -3.5
14th: Virginia; 1st (!); +13
15th: California; 5-way tie for 7th=9th; +6
16th: Wake Forest; 5-way tie for 7th=9th; +7
17th: Stanford, 12th; +5
Clemson, FSU and UNC are the big underachievers, per the preseason experts.
Virignia is obviously the biggest surprise, with a decent chance of making the CFP. Cal and Wake Forest are playing in bowl games, so they overshadow Stanford's level of "overachievement."
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)
