[estephan500]

Sorry, I\'m surfing around and finding too much theorizing about BCS and the rose bowl, and too many short statements about how "Next week looks tougher than we thought."

What I want to know is: How the hell do we whomp Kal soundly?

1-- What are the rumors (or information) about Owusu playing?? I am clueless.

2-- What are the bookmakers saying?

3-- Pretend you have no opinion about Stanford, and if you guess the right outcome you get $10,000.  What is your call about the outcome? Stanford by a heart-stopping 3?  Cal by an infuriating 4?

4-- How good is stanford when crowd noise is horrible?

[estephan500]

Sorry, I\'m surfing around and finding too much theorizing about BCS and the rose bowl, and too many short statements about how "Next week looks tougher than we thought."

What I want to know is: How the hell do we whomp Kal soundly?

1-- What are the rumors (or information) about Owusu playing?? I am clueless.

2-- What are the bookmakers saying?

3-- Pretend you have no opinion about Stanford, and if you guess the right outcome you get $10,000.  What is your call about the outcome? Stanford by a heart-stopping 3?  Cal by an infuriating 4?

4-- How good is stanford when crowd noise is horrible?

[fullmetal]

1.  Owusu suffered an undisclosed injury in practice late last week.  That\'s as much as I\'ve been able to sleuth out.  There are many more knowledgeable people out there.  I presume he will play for Big Game.

2.  I think the bookmakers underestimate kal.  That\'s all I\'m going to say about that.

3.  Pessimistically, I have to give kal that intangible home field advantage they\'ve had all season long.  Looking at W-L records though, it\'s awfully hard to bet against Stanford.  Let\'s hope there are no more boneheaded offensive playcalling decisions...such as running it on 3rd-1 when they\'ve got the box stacked.  

kal\'s DL looked pretty monstrous against Oregon, and that says a lot when Stanford managed no sacks that I can recall and very few QB hurries.  It\'ll be up to the TWU to show their mettle.  Or maybe they just figured they\'d abuse the wide splits of Oregon\'s OL and have their linebackers play a very smart contain game...

4.  I have to consider the Oregon game as \'the most\' noise they\'ve faced all season long.  That wasn\'t a great game for Stanford.  Who knows?

[fullmetal]

1.  Owusu suffered an undisclosed injury in practice late last week.  That\'s as much as I\'ve been able to sleuth out.  There are many more knowledgeable people out there.  I presume he will play for Big Game.

2.  I think the bookmakers underestimate kal.  That\'s all I\'m going to say about that.

3.  Pessimistically, I have to give kal that intangible home field advantage they\'ve had all season long.  Looking at W-L records though, it\'s awfully hard to bet against Stanford.  Let\'s hope there are no more boneheaded offensive playcalling decisions...such as running it on 3rd-1 when they\'ve got the box stacked.  

kal\'s DL looked pretty monstrous against Oregon, and that says a lot when Stanford managed no sacks that I can recall and very few QB hurries.  It\'ll be up to the TWU to show their mettle.  Or maybe they just figured they\'d abuse the wide splits of Oregon\'s OL and have their linebackers play a very smart contain game...

4.  I have to consider the Oregon game as \'the most\' noise they\'ve faced all season long.  That wasn\'t a great game for Stanford.  Who knows?

[Spiny_Norman]

LaMichael James said that C.al had the best front 7 that Oregon had faced all year (including ASU).  C.al pushed Stanford around on both sides of the ball last year.  If it happens again the same way on Saturday, it will be another long Big Game for Stanford fans.  Major pressure on TWU as well as Masifilo, Fua and Bulcke.

Stanford is an 8 point favorite.  Still this is the Big Game.  You expect that the game will come down to the last possession as was the case last year.

[Spiny_Norman]

LaMichael James said that C.al had the best front 7 that Oregon had faced all year (including ASU).  C.al pushed Stanford around on both sides of the ball last year.  If it happens again the same way on Saturday, it will be another long Big Game for Stanford fans.  Major pressure on TWU as well as Masifilo, Fua and Bulcke.

Stanford is an 8 point favorite.  Still this is the Big Game.  You expect that the game will come down to the last possession as was the case last year.

[Farm93]

I have come to realize that Saturday\'s games were probably good for Stanford.

Stanford players now understand that a serious defensive front 7 can present major problems.  Stanford players also likely are not taking C.a.l lightly since they held tough with Oregon.

Meanwhile, C.a.l showed almost everything they have on D in an effort to slow Oregon.  And because they were close to winning, they showed everything Mansion can do on offense too.

So that C.a.l game was probably better than if they just packed it up after 10 game minutes.

1) JH was quoted as saying he thought Owusu was going to play against ASU, but that it was a game time decision to not play him.  Based on that, I would be shocked if he did not play at C.a.l.

2) I think bookmakers underestimate the magic of Memorial stadium in 2010.  If this game is at a neutral venue I would take Stanford and give 14 points.  At Memorial Stadium, I think 3 or 4 is probably right to my eyes.  It should be pointed out that excluding the Eugene trip, Stanford has played better on the road.  Stanford beat teams in venues that have been very tough for Stanford for the last 10-40 years.

3) I would bet the money on Stanford to win.  Stanford has more to play for at this point.  That is why my money would go to Stanford if I was a neutral type.  I would make that bet, but would not be happy that I have to bet $10,000 on the game.  I would be more willing to bet on the under because C.a.l is too one dimensional now, and Stanford will happily consume the clock on long drives.  If forced to bet on the spread, I think I would really ask for a pass.

[Farm93]

I have come to realize that Saturday\'s games were probably good for Stanford.

Stanford players now understand that a serious defensive front 7 can present major problems.  Stanford players also likely are not taking C.a.l lightly since they held tough with Oregon.

Meanwhile, C.a.l showed almost everything they have on D in an effort to slow Oregon.  And because they were close to winning, they showed everything Mansion can do on offense too.

So that C.a.l game was probably better than if they just packed it up after 10 game minutes.

1) JH was quoted as saying he thought Owusu was going to play against ASU, but that it was a game time decision to not play him.  Based on that, I would be shocked if he did not play at C.a.l.

2) I think bookmakers underestimate the magic of Memorial stadium in 2010.  If this game is at a neutral venue I would take Stanford and give 14 points.  At Memorial Stadium, I think 3 or 4 is probably right to my eyes.  It should be pointed out that excluding the Eugene trip, Stanford has played better on the road.  Stanford beat teams in venues that have been very tough for Stanford for the last 10-40 years.

3) I would bet the money on Stanford to win.  Stanford has more to play for at this point.  That is why my money would go to Stanford if I was a neutral type.  I would make that bet, but would not be happy that I have to bet $10,000 on the game.  I would be more willing to bet on the under because C.a.l is too one dimensional now, and Stanford will happily consume the clock on long drives.  If forced to bet on the spread, I think I would really ask for a pass.

[fullmetal]

I\'d need to see the actual game film, but I hopeful that the success kal had against Oregon\'s OL was a schematic thing.  Oregon plays with very wide OL splits, which is pretty specific to speed-oriented offenses like the spread and the spread.  Maybe kal won\'t handle the traditional OL as easily...I wonder if Nevada\'s OL uses wide splits in their Pistol.  

Speaking of which, I know Stanford has used Pistol-like formations at least once this season--it was a scoring play too, I think.

[fullmetal]

I\'d need to see the actual game film, but I hopeful that the success kal had against Oregon\'s OL was a schematic thing.  Oregon plays with very wide OL splits, which is pretty specific to speed-oriented offenses like the spread and the spread.  Maybe kal won\'t handle the traditional OL as easily...I wonder if Nevada\'s OL uses wide splits in their Pistol.  

Speaking of which, I know Stanford has used Pistol-like formations at least once this season--it was a scoring play too, I think.

[washingtonismoney]

We\'ve used a Pistol formation at least once every game, if memory serves. It\'s a great formation to take advantage of Luck\'s varied talents.

[washingtonismoney]

We\'ve used a Pistol formation at least once every game, if memory serves. It\'s a great formation to take advantage of Luck\'s varied talents.

[estephan500]

I too have been thinking that it is good that the game prior to the big game forced stanford to worry and have deep respect for the opponent, rather than complacency.

This one is a triple whammy.  it\'s a big game, which is always enough to knock your head out of normality. it\'s when C.a.l is peaking and coming off of their admirable Oregon game, possibly leaving them thirsty follow through on what they could not last week. It\'s at Memorial stadium in a year when that seems, to all observers, to be a giant boost.

So, the answer is to get your head down and deliver your best. In my opinion, any Stanford fan should care much more about this Big Game than getting to, or winning, a bowl game.

I want to quote what a C.a.l. linebacker said about their approach to Oregon. It sounds like what we need:

"It was basically ... beat the man in front of you, take care of your responsibilities and play with heart," linebacker Mychal Kendricks said. "We played our hearts out. Oregon knows what\'s up."

[estephan500]

I too have been thinking that it is good that the game prior to the big game forced stanford to worry and have deep respect for the opponent, rather than complacency.

This one is a triple whammy.  it\'s a big game, which is always enough to knock your head out of normality. it\'s when C.a.l is peaking and coming off of their admirable Oregon game, possibly leaving them thirsty follow through on what they could not last week. It\'s at Memorial stadium in a year when that seems, to all observers, to be a giant boost.

So, the answer is to get your head down and deliver your best. In my opinion, any Stanford fan should care much more about this Big Game than getting to, or winning, a bowl game.

I want to quote what a C.a.l. linebacker said about their approach to Oregon. It sounds like what we need:

"It was basically ... beat the man in front of you, take care of your responsibilities and play with heart," linebacker Mychal Kendricks said. "We played our hearts out. Oregon knows what\'s up."