Little over a week away. FanDuel as well as DraftKings has:
Miami -23.5 spread
48.5 total points
(I do not bet but seems like a logical place to start.)
As far as I can tell all the positions are settled. A little jockeying for backups. And the o-line is what it is, plug here or there and play.
This seems to be as much as what I know about Stanford. https://www.puntandrally.com/teamprofile.php?team=Stanford Maybe the Hawaii game will reveal more. A Stanford win would make the Miami game more interesting and add to all that strength of schedule stuff, etc.
My general sense is that if the first half goes well then the offense just plays vanilla the rest of the way. Don’t tip any hands. Run left, right up the middle, run right. Dink and dunk off play action. Thus I don’t see a Miami blowout. Just a comfortable win.
Does anyone entertain the chance of an upset or do I just not know how bad Stanford is? I mean, opening game for us, a Friday night game on the road that’s three time zones from ours? Or are they just not good enough to pull it off? Plus they get the Hawaii opener to shake the rust off and we get no such game.
I suppose any time there is a new coach – as with Stanford – it brings a measure of hope. It does not appear the new coach inherited a horde of diamonds in the rough. Not enough recruiting classes of his own to “make his mark” on the team. So have to assume they will cash out as bottom half of the ACC. A lot there depends on if, for any reason, other teams suck worse.
If Mario coaches and has his players playing like they did on that amazing run through the playoffs then we will be fine…if…but college football is always full of intrique and a night game away on the west coast is no cake walk.
Stanford is not a good football program right now. They are in total rebuild. They struggled to beat a Hawaii team last week that was not very good. If Miami shows up and does what is needed this is a 38-13 type game. Miami could easily score over 40-50. Miami will probably run the ball a lot, shorten the game and have less possessions. If Stanford turns the ball over that is how the score gets out of hand even worse.
Stanford should honestly drop down to the IVY leagues or go back to the newly created PAC 10. Their biggest issue is academically they are more on par with the IVY Leagues - Rice is in the same boat. They don’t take juco’s even if academically qualified out of high school. They take very few if any transfers. Their academics for high school kids in this era of college football is stupid. Even ND, Wake, Northwestern, UVA, Vandy have all lowered their standards to at least compete.
Stanford is honestly not serious about football.
Sedrick Irvin Jr - Son of Sedrick Irvin Senior who played at Southridge with the Darren and Troy Davis. One of the best backfields ever in South Florida HS history. Irvin ended up at Miami High before playing for I believe Nick Saban at Michigan Sttae.
Micah Ford is their lead back - he rushed for 99 yards on 25 carries. Not a great average but he gives their offense something.
Their leading receiver last week was Jonathan Hall who is a freshman 2 receptions for 81 yards.
Florida Players recruited since 2022
CJ Hawkins - - Berkeley Prep 2022)TE -Transferred out to Rhode Island.
Sedrick Irvin Jr - Miami Columbus (2023) RB -2nd leading rusher in week 1.
Cole Tabb - Choctawhatchee HS (2024) RB - is from Bikki neck of the woods. He is a kid who rushed for 445 yards last year as a RFR. He transferred to Cincinnati this off-season.
Dylan Stepehnson -Miami Columbus (2024) DE -Played last year as a freshman, did not record any stats last week.
Ben Blackburn - Miami Columbus (2025) TE - 5 Receptions for 49 yards vs. Hawaii
JonAnthony Hall is from my area in central Indiana. Watched him a lot in high school. Very good athlete that started on the state championship basketball team. He can jump through the roof. He was also 23 ft long jump kid in track. Good kid from all accounts.
He definitely gives them a vertical dimension if the QB can deliver the ball.
I’ll be on a plane to France during the game. But my fully uneducated guess is 35-13 in Miami’s favor. Miami gets into the end zone, no field goals then goes conservative. Stanford gets a couple field goals while it’s close, scores a TD against the second team defense. At some point they will have to go for it and not settle for field goals which will kill their drives deeper into the game.
Old Miami fashion is to start slow in 1st quarter, pick it up a tad in 2nd and then go full blown in 3rd-4th…we will see…NOTHING is guaranteed in college football.