Stewart Mandel - ugh

[Nomo]

blah....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/stewart_mandel/08/10/mailbag/1.html

What I love most about college football (other than Notre Dame losing) is an upset victory by an unranked team over a ranked team. Now that we have our first "official" preseason poll, if you had to choose the most likely Top 25 team to be upset by a non-ranked team in its first game of the season, who would it be? Of course, I've got South Florida upsetting Notre Dame.
-- Michael Kurtz, Roseburg, Ore.


Put this one in pencil for now, because I don't like making game picks until the week of the game, but the best bet might be Baylor over TCU.

It requires a bit of a leap of faith, since Robert Griffin and the Bears were rendered mortal last season seemingly whenever they faced an above-average defense (and TCU tends to field way-above-average defenses). But the Horned Frogs will be breaking in a whole lot of new faces that Friday night in Waco, including a quarterback (sophomore Casey Pachall) making his first career start on the road. If you remember, last year, an Oregon State team that ended up going 5-7 was able to find some seams and make some big plays against the Horned Frogs' vaunted defense, mistakes they quickly wiped out within a few weeks. If this game were in October, I'd give Baylor almost no shot, but on the first Friday of the season, at home ... why not?

 

[davejerg1221]

He sounds really confident about it too....I'd say it's pretty shaky out on that limb.

I'm fine with it. Corso picked us to lose to Oregon State by 3 TD's. And, well, that turned out alright for us.

 

[Delmonico]

He isn't PICKING them, he's just saying the game is the best chance for the kind of upset described.


And, looking at the schedule, he ain't wrong. Most of the opening games for the Top 25 are much more spare.

 

[Big Frog II]

Also, Oregon State was not the same team after one of the Rodgers brothers went down in the Arizona game.

 

[HFrog1999]

Really not bad for an upset pick. This game will be Baylor's Super Bowl.

 

[jake102]

Oregon State had a rough schedule last year... they got TCU, Boise, USC, Stanford, Oregon, and a good Arizona team.

They were pretty beat up by mid-season.

 

[713frog]

stupid pick. it's the first game of the season...Gary and team Purple will be ready.

 

[DannyAdelante]

Look at the schedule. There's nothing to pick from in Week 1. The only possibilities, IMO, are South Florida at Notre Dame, SMU at Texas A&M and TCU at Baylor. I don't think any of them will lose, but if you had to pick one, it's not the craziest pick in the world.

 

[fanforlife]

Look at the schedule. There's nothing to pick from in Week 1. The only possibilities, IMO, are South Florida at Notre Dame, SMU at Texas A&M and TCU at Baylor. I don't think any of them will lose, but if you had to pick one, it's not the craziest pick in the world.

SMU over aTm isn't a bad pick at all ...

 

[tcumaniac]

Oh boy would I have some fun if a&m lost their opener to SMU. Hahaha.

 

[Gunner]

Stewart usually gives us kudo's. He's looking for an upset and made a stretch.

Baylor hasn't begun to forget the whipping they got in FW last year. We scored on the first 5 possessions, that is how bad it was.

 

[BaldingBear]

Stewart obviously didn't see Aggie Angst's last post.

 

[sous vide]

Really not bad for an upset pick. This game will be Baylor's Super Bowl.

This is a classic sort of game for first game disasters. Not likely--disasters are always unlikely!--but a couple of bad breaks early could set a young team back on its haunches without enough time to find a way to overcome things.

 

[SnoopFrogs11]

Wait until he eats his words after the win.

 

[tcujsauce]

Stewart obviously didn't see Aggie Angst's last post.

Guaranteed that AA promptly sent an email to Stewie after reading that. And it probably looked something like...

BLAH BLAH BLAH BAYLOR SUCKS BLAH!!! BLAH BLAH I'M AWESOME AND HERE'S SOME BLAH STATS BLAH!!!!!!!!

 

[Deep Purple]

Well if it happens, it'll break a TCU string of season-open wins both at home and on the road stretching back nearly a decade. Our last opening loss was in 2002 at Cincinnati.

 

[maximilian]

Some of you guys are getting way too offended over this.

TCU absolutely could lose this game. Not likely, but a 4/5 new OL + new QB does make me nervous. Remember that Texas fans would NEVER admit to Mack Brown winning less than 10 games a season. Until he won 5. It can happen to anyone.

 

[stevenewilson]

Some of you guys are getting way too offended over this.

TCU absolutely could lose this game. Not likely, but a 4/5 new OL + new QB does make me nervous. Remember that Texas fans would NEVER admit to Mack Brown winning less than 10 games a season. Until he won 5. It can happen to anyone.

Yea except that Mack Brown can't carry HCGP's jock strap.

 

[Limp Lizard]

I found it interesting the way Mandel got so riled up over the prediction of a Notre Dame upset. Love to see that happen, though.

But not as much as SMU over a$m. I think that is a real possibility. Still don't see why all the hype about the aggies. A team that has gone 7-6, 4-8, 6-7, and 9-4 the last 4 years, losing a superior defensive player, and getting destroyed in their bowl game are now a top-10 team?

 

[full house frog]

I'm being a homer but I think we win fairly easily.