A Surprising Point Spread?

mccaffrey-usc-2016With the emergence of Sam Darnold, I was curious what the point spread would be for the USC-Stanford game if it were played this week in Palo Alto. I thought USC might be favored. So I asked Scott Cooley of Bookmaker.eu. Cooley told me the Cardinal would still be a 3-point favorite.

50 thoughts on “A Surprising Point Spread?

  1. Bit of an “oops!” on that one, huh Scottie? Blows your narrative out of the water….

  2. Every time I think I have too much time on my hands and no actual life as evidenced by the time I spend on this blog, I am reminded it could be much worse. I could be the moderator, who never ceases to come up with unadulterated drivel. Now he is getting odds on a hypothetical game that will never happen. Good gosh. And before someone tells me to go elsewhere if I don’t like it, I will say this. I come here to see what Sam Bam, Marvgoux, Fred Sampson , Jack B & others have to say. I don’t always agree with what I read, but it is often interesting.

    • I don’t know if I will be able to recover from watching this abomination by Saturday. Bowling For Dollars sounds better than this.

      • One of the worst college games I’ve ever seen.

        MacIntyre said his team is in for quite a day tomorrow. He was very upset. I liked his honesty. Gomer would have probably just said we won and that’s all that counts.

  3. I always wondered what would’ve happened in the ’86 Aloha Bowl if Rodney Peete hadn’t blown out his achilles. Maybe Wolf can get a line for me.

  4. USC will never beat a team that’s physical, because they play finesse football. David Shaw understands you win football games at the line of scrimmage, Clay Helton doesn’t. That’s why Stanford would still be favored today.

    • Didn’t he say when he got the job that he wanted to emphasize smash-mouth football? In college football, it usually takes at least 2-3 years of recruiting to get the personnel you want to play your type of game. Since the game was at Stanford, a 3 point spread means the casinos think the teams are equal. That’s pretty reasonable. Then again, did the original poster go to a European site for the line? That sure seems odd to me.

      • Adding to an already large core of receivers, when you have more then you need, isn’t an indication that your recruiting for smash mouth football. Clay Helton made that statement to appease alumni, and it worked. And as long as Helton is head coach, he will run the spread offense, because that’s all he’s been a assistant coach under.

    • USC would beat STAN now. Who cares who’s favored. SC’s a lot more dangerous with Darnold. The entire team plays differently, not just offense.

      • The team plays differently now, because everyone they have played since is horrible. So of course it seems different. Let’s see how different they play when an opponent actually plays defense, and punches them in the mouth.

        • So, you’re actually sold on STAN? Wow.

          STAN isn’t capable of punching out people any more and UW and WSU are still laughing at STAN’s OL. USC was psyched out by STAN because of Gomer’s coaching. UW, WSU and CU blew their cover.

          You obviously think USC hasn’t improved because of Darnold. That’s interesting. I think Darnold has made all the difference in our team. Browne would not have won four games in a row and would probably not beat ORE. No way.

          • I think Sam Darnold is the best quarterback in the Pac 12, just as I think Justin Davis is the best running back. But I don’t think we’ll ever see the best of them under Clay Helton.

  5. no pants November doesn’t bring road graders inc …to mind for me, shorts are more for tennis ,etc…SC has a ways to go…but I do think Wash St and/or Utah will take colordo,since SC ‘buffalo’ed’ them

    • They are hanging in there so far in spite of the dumb turnovers. This could be a low scoring game which favors the underdog.

      • ucla has plenty of talent and is the king of the “close loss” teams. It’s just horrible coaching that has them not going to a bowl.

        • Colorado looks flat and they probably had trouble getting motivated this week against a losing team. Things are looking up!

          • I’m not one of those who is rooting for a little gutty win. I hope CU regains its footing and starts taking it to the Chimp Boys.

          • I know. I can’t ever root for them, even that year when we needed WSU to beat them I couldn’t force myself to do it. I’d love for their program to return to the Neuheisel days.

          • Over the last 10 years, CU might actually rank as the nation’s worst team. You think they could actually come out flat?

            ucla’s DBs are just killing CU, which has horrible QB problems. This is not the nation’s #15 team, that’s for sure.

  6. That’s BS. Cooley might stupidly set the line at 3 but it would quickly move to USC’s favor. It’s the betting public that counts, not Cooley.

  7. Can anyone explain why the overall quality of Pac 12 football is down this year when we supposedily have good coaches overall and we are in a recruiting hot bed?

      • ucla takes the cake. They stink. Jamabo runs the stretch play like he’s in slow motion waiting for the Red Sea to part.

          • They absolutely can’t run the ball and can barely pass it because their WRs drop so many balls. Horrible bruin OL. Some good defensive players, especially on the DL, but undisciplined and always crack. It’s wonderful.

          • At the end their WRs dropped two touchdown passes that could have got it back to a 3 point game. Our WRs make those catches.

        • ucla’s obviously been more disappointing than the rest. The 3-6 baby bruins won’t even make a bad bowl and were ranked by the AP at #16 in the pre-season. What a laugh on the completely woeful little gutties and Coach Chimp.

        • That’s not what I asked.
          Do you, as a fan of the conference, think any one team has been more of a disappointment than 3-6 UCLA?

  8. Seriously, how many flags in this game. UCLA absolutley sucks. When this years ober Mora survives using the Rosen injury excuse but thats not sufficient based on how they play overall

    • I’m pretty sure his excuse is that nasty divorce he is going through. His head just isn’t into it this year. The real fear for UCLA and he’s equally disengaged from recruiting thanks to the divorce.

Comments are closed.