Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions

Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - Printable Version

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Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - JohnR34231 - 06-03-2021

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/06/02/win-totals/

Looks like they are just as optimistic about Stanford as people on the Cardboard seem to be.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - slide - 06-03-2021

pretty consistent from the Merky News. I think they had us 4th in the North last year and we lost a good bit of top talent from last year's team.

separately Athlon ran a piece on Pac-12 QB talent with Stanford coming in at #11.

lots of room to surprise on upside.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - CTcard - 06-03-2021

(06-03-2021, 04:03 AM)JohnR34231 Wrote: Looks like they are just as optimistic about Stanford as people on the Cardboard seem to be.

I dunno, Wilner picked the over for Stanford. (yeah, without much enthusiasm)
The over/under mark was set by DraftKings.

I think the whole conference is rather unsettled. The big favourites in the north, UO and UW, both have unclear QB situations themselves. ASU is the trendy pick for the conference overall, but they haven't really shown much yet. And everybody is coming off a weird, pretend season that probably isn't very predictive.

lex24 - lex24 - 06-03-2021

(06-03-2021, 06:12 AM)slide Wrote: pretty consistent from the Merky News. I think they had us 4th in the North last year and we lost a good bit of top talent from last year's team.

separately Athlon ran a piece on Pac-12 QB talent with Stanford coming in at #11.

lots of room to surprise on upside.

Can’t get past paywall. What is over/under 6? (I’m talking all games not just conference)

RE: lex24 - 82lsju - 06-03-2021

(06-03-2021, 07:31 AM)lex24 Wrote:
(06-03-2021, 06:12 AM)slide Wrote: pretty consistent from the Merky News. I think they had us 4th in the North last year and we lost a good bit of top talent from last year's team.

separately Athlon ran a piece on Pac-12 QB talent with Stanford coming in at #11.

lots of room to surprise on upside.

Can’t get past paywall. What is over/under 6? (I’m talking all games not just conference)

Quote:Stanford

Over/Under: 3.5 wins
Our pick: Over
Comment: A stunning number for one of the most successful programs in the Pac-12 over the past dozen years … until your attention shifts to the lack of clarity at quarterback and the hellacious schedule: Stanford is the only team in the country that plays 12 Power Five opponents. (Now that win total starts to make some sense.) We don’t have high expectations, but the Cardinal should get to four.

RE: lex24 - BostonCard - 06-03-2021

(06-03-2021, 07:31 AM)lex24 Wrote: Can’t get past paywall. What is over/under 6? (I’m talking all games not just conference)

Over/under is 3.5; Wilner picked the over (as mentioned, unenthusiastically). I would also pick the over, but I hardly think the O/U is ludicrous.

BC

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - Papa John - 06-03-2021

Was that the entire Wilner quote? If Stanford doesn't get 4 wins, it's because of the defense. A 2019 injury onslaught would also do the trick.

RE: lex24 - Snorlax94 - 06-03-2021

(06-03-2021, 07:37 AM)BostonCard Wrote:
(06-03-2021, 07:31 AM)lex24 Wrote: Can’t get past paywall. What is over/under 6? (I’m talking all games not just conference)

Over/under is 3.5; Wilner picked the over (as mentioned, unenthusiastically). I would also pick the over, but I hardly think the O/U is ludicrous.

BC

Wow! An over-under of 3.5! That is really one of the easiest bets I’ve seen. If I knew someone going to Vegas I’d definitely take those odds.

I am not saying the under is 0%, but to be given even money on something that I think is 90%+ likely is something I rarely see.

Can I really go to Vegas and get those odds at most sports books? Unfortunately for me no conferences this year.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - BostonCard - 06-03-2021

(06-03-2021, 08:35 PM)Papa John Wrote: Was that the entire Wilner quote? If Stanford doesn't get 4 wins, it's because of the defense. A 2019 injury onslaught would also do the trick.

No, that's not the entire Wilner quote. In fact the defense is not mentioned, which is a major oversight. Wilner instead focused on the "lack of clarity at quarterback" and our strength of schedule. He noted that we are the only team in the country that plays 12 Power Five opponents. I think the SoS is a legitimate concern, especially with Notre Dame being one of our three non-conference opponents, and playing K-State in Texas. I think the QB situation is somewhat less of a concern in that it is no worse than any other team without an incumbent starting QB.

BC

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - fullmetal - 06-03-2021

Definitely bulletin board material if I ever saw it. The team has to get to work before fall.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - JustAnotherFan - 06-04-2021

If we hit our win total from last year that's pretty darn good. And we have twice as many chances to get there.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - JohnR34231 - 06-04-2021

(06-04-2021, 04:26 AM)JustAnotherFan Wrote: If we hit our win total from last year that's pretty darn good. And we have twice as many chances to get there.

Well, if we are 4-8 this season so be it. Life will go on.
However, I will certainly not be one person who thinks that is pretty darn good.
I hope no one directly associated with the program feels that way, also.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - martyup - 06-04-2021

Quote:If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think that you dare not, you don’t
If you’d like to win, but you think you can’t,
It’s almost certain you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost
For out in the world you’ll find
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.
~ Arnold Palmer

[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2Fimoviequotes.com%2Fwp-co...f=1&nofb=1]

We are expected to only win 3.5 games out of 12, which is a perfect set up for success. We need to make them fear the tree again. Work hard, play hard, kick ass.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - gailtate - 06-04-2021

(06-04-2021, 07:55 AM)martyup Wrote:
Quote:If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think that you dare not, you don’t
If you’d like to win, but you think you can’t,
It’s almost certain you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost
For out in the world you’ll find
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.
~ Arnold Palmer

We are expected to only win 3.5 games out of 12, which is a perfect set up for success. We need to make them fear the tree again. Work hard, play hard, kick ass.

The battle doesn't always go to the strongest; nor the race to the swiftest. But to extent of their speed and strength in a 12-game season, especially on D, the fastest, strongest teams will win more than they lose. This does not look like a Stanford year of abundant wins.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - Spiny_Norman - 06-04-2021

(06-04-2021, 07:55 AM)martyup Wrote:
Quote:If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think that you dare not, you don’t
If you’d like to win, but you think you can’t,
It’s almost certain you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost
For out in the world you’ll find
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.
~ Arnold Palmer

When I attended junior golf camp at Oklahoma State years ago, Labron Harris shared this poem with us to emphasize the importance of the mental side of the game. I still can quote most of it. But it was not written by Arnold Palmer. It is attributed to a mostly unknown poet named Walter Wintle.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - Phogge - 06-04-2021

Marty is right, play hard, work hard give it all you have. If they can do that the record does not matter. I think Gene Hackman said it long ago.

That said... 5-7 but a fired up team can beat Cal, so 6-6. Perhaps a better team at the end of the year like 1990.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - Maple Leaf - 06-04-2021

(06-04-2021, 09:23 AM)Phogge Wrote: Marty is right, play hard, work hard give it all you have. If they can do that the record does not matter. I think Gene Hackman said it long ago.

That said... 5-7 but a fired up team can beat Cal, so 6-6. Perhaps a better team at the end of the year like 1990.

Stanford's 71 and 72 Rose Bowl teams beat teams that had more talent, and it was just not Ohio State and Michigan that had more talent. Those Stanford teams played harder than their opponents most of the time with few exceptions (SJS, Cal, WSU, Duke, Air Force). This year's team just may have enough talent coupled with enough drive to win both the North and sweep both usc and ucla during the regular season.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - Papa John - 06-04-2021

In 1970, Stanford had Jim Plunkett at QB and the following players on defense who made it to the NFL: Benny Barnes, Dave Tipton, Greg Samon, Pete Lazetich, Jeff Siemon and Ron Kadziel. Stanford led the Pac-8 in scoring defense at 17.1 ppg and was third in scoring offense at 28.6 ppg.

In 1971, Stanford had Don Bunce at QB and the following future NFL players on defense: Barnes, Lazetich, Sampson, Siemon and Randy Poltl. Stanford led the Pac-8 in scoring defense at 11.1 (!) ppg and was fourth in scoring offense at 21.8 ppg.

I think that the 2021 Stanford offense is pretty talented throughout, but I would be extremely--and pleasantly--surprised if the 2021 Stanford defense has 6 future NFL players.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - Phogge - 06-04-2021

Both teams also had two guys who played with their hair on fire, Larry Butler and Mike Simone and plenty of depth. The DL in particular, the Thunderchickens, Pierre Perrault, Jody Graves, Bill Alexander and Hollywood Roger Cowan. This year's DL has zero depth.

RE: Mercury News Pac-12 football predictions - SamuelMcF - 06-04-2021

(06-04-2021, 11:28 AM)Phogge Wrote: Both teams also had two guys who played with their hair on fire, Larry Butler and Mike Simone and plenty of depth. The DL in particular, the Thunderchickens, Pierre Perrault, Jody Graves, Bill Alexander and Hollywood Roger Cowan. This year's DL has zero depth.

Again, the whole "recruit 3 straight classes with just 1 true DL each" strategy was not a smart one.