Not that I'm going to hold this particular pick against him since most media outlets are leaning USC this weekend anyhow. But it does seem to reaffirm a suspicion I've held for quite some time- does Neuheisel have something against Stanford? Going back to his days with the Pac-12 Networks, it seemed like Slick Rick always sided with our opponent whenever we found ourselves in a primetime matchup. Which is pretty uncanny because if you listen to any of his interviews, he's typically the first one to compliment our football program but the last one to ever pick us.
In the lead up to the 2013 season, when opinions were split over Stanford or Oregon being the Pac-12 favorite that year, I distinctly remember Neuheisel saying Stanford would not win the conference because we didn't have enough talent at the skill positions and would not be able to keep up with Oregon. The following year (2014), he picked USC to beat us. And the following year after that (2015), as a guest commentator for college sports talk radio, he predicted "things could get ugly" for the Stanford down at the Coliseum.
Since then, he has bounced around with number of different networks but his take on Stanford remains largely the same. Disciplined, tough, smash mouth football team... until it comes time to make his selection, at which point he has no confidence in us. How many times do we need to beat the USCs or Oregons of the world for him to finally buy in? At this point, I don't think any of that really matters. I think this is a guy who's perception of Stanford remains firmly locked in the Buddy Teevens/Walt Harris era and no matter how high we climb in the college football ranks, it's not going to stop him from picking against us any chance he gets.
In the lead up to the 2013 season, when opinions were split over Stanford or Oregon being the Pac-12 favorite that year, I distinctly remember Neuheisel saying Stanford would not win the conference because we didn't have enough talent at the skill positions and would not be able to keep up with Oregon. The following year (2014), he picked USC to beat us. And the following year after that (2015), as a guest commentator for college sports talk radio, he predicted "things could get ugly" for the Stanford down at the Coliseum.
Since then, he has bounced around with number of different networks but his take on Stanford remains largely the same. Disciplined, tough, smash mouth football team... until it comes time to make his selection, at which point he has no confidence in us. How many times do we need to beat the USCs or Oregons of the world for him to finally buy in? At this point, I don't think any of that really matters. I think this is a guy who's perception of Stanford remains firmly locked in the Buddy Teevens/Walt Harris era and no matter how high we climb in the college football ranks, it's not going to stop him from picking against us any chance he gets.
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