[washingtonismoney]

FWIW, not all statistical systems out there -- and I'll pause for CTCard's throat-clearing groan...and he's done -- provide as clean a prediction as ESPN's, but both sides of the debate will find comfort in their numbers.

ESPN estimates that Stanford has a 31% of winning the conference -- second behind SC's 35%. That's probably due to ESPN believing the South is more rugged than the North. And the other statistical ranking systems have similar views in terms of their personal rankings.

So I would say there's very good reason for optimism, but a lot of pessimism. (Not least: have you seen the injury report for Stanford?)

[washingtonismoney]

FWIW, not all statistical systems out there -- and I'll pause for CTCard's throat-clearing groan...and he's done -- provide as clean a prediction as ESPN's, but both sides of the debate will find comfort in their numbers.

ESPN estimates that Stanford has a 31% of winning the conference -- second behind SC's 35%. That's probably due to ESPN believing the South is more rugged than the North. And the other statistical ranking systems have similar views in terms of their personal rankings.

So I would say there's very good reason for optimism, but a lot of pessimism. (Not least: have you seen the injury report for Stanford?)