But that’s just at a theoretical level. The point of stats is to be an indicator of future performance. Does it guarantee it? No. Can it be a reasonable indicator? Yes… IF it’s a meaningful stat.

And don’t under estimate previous years performances as an indicator. So much of college football is about the coaching staffs. Staffs do a good job of preparing their teams for some games and not so well for others. Certain aspects of how they prepare affect their success against other teams or at other locations. Cal has a soft spot for WSU, particularly in Washington. ASU has a soft spot for Cal.

Oh, and while I was hopeful for Tenn., I was also nervous. I’m nervous about Oregon and USC. Heck, I’m nervous about OSU and particularly WSU on the road. No nerves about ASU.

However, just to be clear, stats like “Koetter is 0-10 in California” don’t mean anything. What’s past is prologue. It doesn’t matter if he’s 0-1million in CA, he can still win this game. That’s like saying just because you flipped 10 heads, the next flip will guarantee heads. That’s not true. The odds of flipping tails is still 50%. The stats that matter are the ones that apply to these teams, this year. I see a team whose strength is the pass playing a team whose weakness is defending the pass. Will their strength, in absolute terms, be better than our weakness? We’ll see. I think we completely dominate them in the skill positions, but in QB I dunno. I’m not quite ready to accept Longshore as an awesome QB. I miss our 2004 offensive line. In fact, if I could put together a dream team, I think a good O-line is the most important thing. We have played the tougher teams, that is true. Our humble pie at Tennessee has improved us definitely, a humbling that so far ASU hasn’t had to endure.

Your “keys to victory” are very accurate. No stupid penalties, no turnovers. Marshawn, for all his amazing strengths, loves to fumble the ball. And DJax sometimes forgets how to catch. If those two play at 100% Saturday, then surely we will win, and probaly win big.

I want us to win. I think we definitely can win. Will I put my reputation on the line by guaranteeing we WILL win? No. I have memories of too many fans on the Cal boards predicting a blowout win against Tennessee, and we all know how that ended up. I don’t like eating crow. I’m gonna respect ASU and say it’s anyone’s game until the fat lady sings.

Now Stanford…Stanford we should beat.