2005 Stanford Cardinals Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

In head coach Tyrone Willingham’s final season of 2001, the Stanford Cardinal went 9-2 straight up and 7-5 against the odds culminating in a Seattle Bowl berth. It must be noted, however, that Stanford dropped four of their final six games that year, which proved to be quite indicative of what was to come in the future under Buddy Teevens, Willingham’s replacement. In Teevens’ first season of 2002, Stanford beat the sports betting odds in just four out of eleven games, giving them just six wins in seventeen games dating back to the second half of 2001. A sports handicapping market correction took place at the start of 2003 as Stanford beat the sports betting line in six of their first eight games, before dropping their final three games against the pointspread. Thus, entering 2004, Teevens’ third season, most sports betting bloggers weren’t sure how to evaluate the Cardinal or what to expect. As many other Pac 10 Conference teams were either more highly thought of, or getting more attention, Stanford slipped under the sports betting radar screen and proved to be a good value at the start of 2004.

Stanford got off to an encouraging start to 2004 with three straight up wins in their first four games, getting the cash for sports bettors in all four of those contests. Now, all of a sudden, the Cardinal was receiving some attention at the online sports betting blog sites in which they were labeled a “sleeper” and “value” team. The fourth game on this string, a 27-13 home win over Washington as 13.5-point chalks, sucked in many sports bettors who were previously skeptics. The successful and surprising start, and the extra attention that came with it, was to end up taking away Stanford’s sports betting value, however.

In their next game on national television at Notre Dame against their former coach Willingham and his inconsistent and struggling Irish, Stanford was bet down to a 5.5-point dog. Notre Dame proved to be a sports betting bargain for one of the few times in 2004 and prevailed 23-15. With attention off of them and hosting a weak Washington State team in their next game, Stanford was ignored by most sports betting bloggers and appeared on few lists of football picks. Stanford prevailed 23-17 as 1.5-home dogs, which proved to be quite a bargain. But that was the last bargain Stanford would offer sports bettors as they ended up blowing four of their final five games against the odds and Teevens was shown the door at season’s end.