Stanford, a 40-point underdog to USC, beat the Trojans on their home field Saturday night, 24-23. Does this get Michigan off the hot seat as biggest choker of the season? Kudos to Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. NCAA Football - Stanford Cardinal/USC Trojans Recap Saturday October 6, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports
I think there can be some debate. UM was overrated in the polls to begin with at No. 5. USC is far and away a better team than Michigan. But is Stanford far and away a better team than App. State? App. State would be more than 40 point underdogs, yes, but I think App. State could be some other Division I teams. Would love to see a Stanford-UM game right now. I think Harbaugh could beat his old coach.
actually he played for Bo himself, and if he hadn't made some of the remarks about the Michigan program earlier this year a win like this would have him in the running for a job alot of us are thinking will be open come Jan.
Agree that this one is huge upset, but it would have been even bigger one if the Trojans would have been undefeated a few weeks down the road and the Irish had beaten them. Speaking of which>> about 20 miles north of the coliseum another upset occurred as the fighting Irish took out the Bruins at the Rose bowl. I remember hearing talk radio this week where the Trojans were in the "what me worry mode" and the Bruins who have a bye next week were treating this as a bye week playing Notre Dame Not to be out done in SoCal teams not showing up to play, both the Kings and the defending Cup Ducks lose tonight too, so needless to say it is black saturday here in Los Angeles. (look for the Angels to get beaten by the Bosox tomorrow to complete the LA weekend sweep). As far as upset of the year?? Well that is what they are calling Stanford's win around here. 38 straight home wins by the Trojans before this upset> As ggazoo said M was overated so what appeared as an upset at the time has softened over time....
Labelling a tean either division 2 or division 1 is for organizational purposes only. There will always be some overlap, and the Apple State program has been the best division 2 program over the last 10 seasons. What this game proves is that Jim Harbaugh is ready for a major college coaching program, and that Lloyd should make the room............
I think this is absolutely a bigger upset than App. St. over Michigan. This one wasn't the first game of the year. Michigan's subsequent huge loss to Oregon at home made it all the more clear that they were way overrated to start the season. But USC has been #1 for almost the whole season so far, and Stanford has been AWFUL. They had lost all three of their previous Pac-10 games this season by an average of about 30 points, including a 41-3 butt-whipping by Arizona St. just last week! The 40-point spread for this game wasn't just based on reputation, it was based on results.
I really think who ever created that 40-point spread has a hole in their screen door. Harbaugh has done a great job in his first year at Stanford, even before yesterday, though it may not have shown in the early record. In addition, after the way USC played the week before I wouldn't have made them more than 17 point favorites. So while this was an upset, it wasn't that big of one. Stanford has beaten USC in the past.
Even given these results from Stanford's 3 previous Pac-10 games this season? UCLA 45-17 Oregon 55-31 ASU 41-3 Obviously, in retrospect, we can say that the spread was way off. But given how badly Stanford had been getting their butts kicked by other conference opponents, how could they have been made anything less than about a 35 point underdog, seeing as how they were going on the road against the #1 ranked team in the country?
The point spreads are opinions of whom? Some Las Vegas bookie? I agree that after the Trojans narrow escape last week, they should have reduced the point spread. Michigan was favored by 35+ over apple state before the had even played a game???? They were favored over EMU by 30+ and midway thru the 3rd qtr was hanging on to a 2 point lead, before pulling away and winning by 11.
A point spread isn't so much an actual prediction as it is an attempt to cover the house's assets, by getting the overall betting to come down roughly even on both teams.
No retrospect here on a 17 point spread rather than a 40 point spread. USC stunk last week and they stunk again this week and UCLA stunk worse this week.
As a Michigan fan, yes; I watch every game expecting a loss. As a Stanford alum, yes (But why do we even pay for a ridiculous extravagance like a semipro-league football team?). As an independet observer, no. Division II trumps D-I any day of the week.
