Go Mighty Card

Stanford 20, San Jose State 17

It isn't about adjusting expectations as much as it understanding the new reality. This team is different, like it or not.

Forecasting Stanford Football in 2012, One Game at a Time

Remember in Back to the Future II when Biff stole Marty's copy of Grays Sports Almanac and used the DeLorean to give it to his 1955 self so that he could win every sports bet for the next fifty years? Well, here's the next best thing.

We here at Go Mighty Card have never condoned gambling, but we noticed something recently that caught our attention. Sure, it might be fun to put down some cash on an individual game, then bite your nails to the nubs for three hours before hopefully claiming your winnings, but we've always been more intrigued by the long-term bet, especially because it always looks so easy to make a fistful of money.

One of the earliest reports from Las Vegas has the over/under for the 2012 Stanford Cardinal set at 7.5 wins. On the surface, eight wins seems like a gimme, so I thought I'd take a look at things game by game, putting each match-up into one of three categories: Guaranteed Lock, Toss Up, or Likely Loss.

This is hardly scientific, and by no means a recommendation on how to spend your hard-earned money, but it gives us an excuse to analyze the schedule a bit. As always, feel free to agree or disagree in the comments section. Could it be possible that Stanford could win only seven games this fall? Let's take a look...

Stanford 57, San Jose State 3

We last saw the Stanford Cardinal almost eight months ago as they were running roughshod over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl on January 3rd. Since then a quarterback decided to stay, a coach chose to leave, two new schools joined the conference, and a Heisman campaign kicked into high gear. Even after all that change, things mostly stayed the same for the Cardinal -- at least according to the scoreboard -- in a 57-3 shellacking of San Jose State.