Thursday, November 4, 2010

Arizona Stanford Prediction...

Awesome title, am I right?

But in the battle for the Holiday Bowl, this week will give you the team that's most likely to face Oklahoma in the Holiday Bowl. It's either a rematch of the Sun Bowl. Whimsy right there. Or it would be a Stoops Civil War. Which would have been hilarious.

Stanford's major strength is the fact that Stepfan Taylor has found a way to fill the hole of Toby Gerhart. Andrew Luck's just been his level of core competence, but if there was going to be success for the Cardinal? They were going to have to run the ball.

The line does deserve massive propers as well. They've allowed 3 sacks all year and generated the 12th ranked rush offense in the nation and 13th in runs per attempt. You want to know the reason why the Cardinal have 50 red zone attempts and are 2nd in the nation on 3rd down conversions? They've got an offensive line of genius power.

And if Arizona is going to win? Their defense is going to have to beat the offensive line. Not to say that their front seven isn't mighty. 6th against the run, 7th in terms of scoring defense. 3rd in sacks, 11th in tackles for loss, and 4th in yardage the defense has gained in their tackles for loss. Ricky Elmore is playing his ass off right now. And Jonathan Martin draws the assignment.

And don't forget that Brooks Reed is a solid second defensive lineman who can generate pressure in regards to the pass rush. Arizona is going to attack. And they're going to need to get to Andrew Luck. Because as the great American Ricky Stanzi showed, when you have time to throw, Arizona is beatable.

All in all? Neither team is going to score a copious amount of points. Arizona is going to get points whether or not Nick Foles can play. But Andrew Luck's going to have a fine game in response. They're going to play a solid, disciplined game overall, and they'll get a win. By like four.

Stanford 28, Arizona 24.

No comments: