Legal Commentary

Sun Bowl : Oklahoma vs. Stanford : YPPSYS NCAA FBS College Football Bowl Game Predictions 2009 / 2010 Season

By Andis Kaulins

17. Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas, Oklahoma vs. Stanford, 2:00 pm

As a law school alumnus of Stanford, my allegiance in this game is of course with the Cardinal team, head coach Jim Harbaugh, Heisman 2nd-placed Toby Gerhart, and rising QB star Andrew Luck, whose recent surgery on his throwing hand makes his start in the Sun Bowl doubtful. It is conceivable that Tavita Pritchard may have to lead the team against the Sooners.

Stanford has all the makings of being a future Pac-10 football powerhouse, but the question must be asked whether they are far enough along to beat Oklahoma, a team loaded with talent, albeit greatly suffering this year from heartbreaking losses in close games as well as the injury-based loss of their Heisman-winning quarterback, Sam Bradford. In view of the Sooners 27-0 lacing of Oklahoma State in their last game, Oklahoma has apparently recovered enough to again be a formidable opponent to any team, holding the high-powered offense of the then 11th-ranked Cowboys to 6 first downs.

Our call: Oklahoma is favored over Stanford by 7 points. YPPSYS ranks Oklahoma 16th with a rating of 0.2 and Stanford 34th with a rating of -0.6, a difference of 0.8 x 9 = 7.2 points. The schedule-adjusted margin of victory puts Oklahoma 6th in the nation at 15.8 points as compared to Stanford's 8.2 points, 21st in the nation, a difference of 7.6 points. The YPPSYS stats thus fully support the oddsmakers' 7-point spread. The key stat may be the fact that Oklahoma ranks 5th in the nation in allowing only 2.7 yards per rushing attempt. If Stanford has to play without the adeptly passing Luck at QB, then Oklahoma will be able to concentrate on Gerhart's rushing.
We call it 31-21 for the Sooners, although we might have gone with Stanford if Luck were healthy.

Full post as published by LawPundit on December 28, 2009 (boomark / email).