Throwdowns > Closed

OM: 2010 Champs said 01/11, 02:38 AM
"They are way better than Stanford"

Glad to see you've backed off from your original claim. Unfortunately, you started your argument with the classic pity plea.

Anyways, Stanford is the only team in the nation to have shutout 3 AP-conference teams. 2 of those games being on the road, 1 of them, to a bowl team that beat Nebraska.

Scoring 70 points on the likes of Austin Peay, Indiana, and a Northwestern team without their best player, doesn't prove much to me. If shutting out 3 AP teams doesn't impress you, than putting up 70 on a FCS team and 2 AP teams doesn't impress me.

Stanford's best wins came vs USC and Arizona, and against VT in the Orange Bowl. 2 of those, were thorough BEAT DOWNS.

Wisconsin's best wins came vs Ohio State and, if you insist, @ Iowa. The Iowa game, by 1 point.

Stanford's only loss? @ Oregon, arguably the most difficult team to beat on the road in the country.

Wisconsin's 2 losses? @ Michigan State and vs TCU in the Rose Bowl.

If you ask me, Stanford's quality wins are more impressive and their single loss, less "demeaning" than Wisconsin's 2 losses.

I'll get to the Stanford vs Wisconsin on-field matchups in the next argument.

OM: 2010 Champs said 01/11, 08:17 PM
It is possible. But Stanford proved without question they were a different team going undefeated from that point on winning all but one game by double digits. Wisconsin lost a game, albeit to a great TCU team.

Anyways, lets examine this:

Wisconsin's best weapon on either side of the ball, is their 3-headed monster run game. They ranked 12th in the nation in rushing yards. Virginia Tech ranked 17th in the nation in rushing yards. Pretty comparable IMO. In the Orange Bowl, Stanford held VT to 66 rushing yards. I think it's pretty reasonable to say that Stanford's D would be able to hold Wisconsin to similarly low numbers rushing.

Wisconsin's defense, ranked 72nd in the nation with 23 sacks. Stanford's O-line, ranked 2nd in the nation in sacks allowed with only 6. Do you have any idea what would happen to the Wisconsin secondary if Luck were given that much time?

Meanwhile, Stanford was tied for 10th in sacks with 36. Wisconsin, allowed 14 sacks on just 276 passing attempts. And let's keep in mind, Wisconsin's O-line hasn't had to face a Defensive unit with more than 27 sacks this year. Tolzien, would be on his back all day, especially with the run game likely struggling

OM: 2010 Champs said 01/11, 09:00 PM
I agree that Wisconsin faced tougher D's than VT did, but saying the Big 11 is 2nd or 3rd toughest is false, but that's a different discussion.

Tolzien's a good QB. But you cannot expect him to peform as usual going up against by far the best pass rush he will have faced all year.

Additionally, you are severly underrating the Stanford secondary. They got beaten up once, big whoop. And it should be noted, the team still won that game. Anyways, Stanford ranks 19th in the nation with 18 INTs and 15th with 50 pass deflections. A mediocre secondary doesn't do that. In fact, statistically speaking, Stanford's secondary would be the 3rd best that Wisconsin has faced all year.

Stanford's offense is better than Wisconsin's regardless of 3 70 point performances on crap teams.

While I would give the edge in rushing to Wisconsin, Stanford's run game is no slouch. 7 different players scored rushing TDs, and 4 had over 400 rush yards. They ranked 18th in rushing.

Pass offense, big edge Cardinal. Not sure how much I have to explain this, but Cardinal passing numbers dwarf Wisconsin's. Not to mention that the O-line allowed 8 fewer sacks on over 100 more passing attempts.