Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog"?

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74_75_78_79_
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Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog"?

Post by 74_75_78_79_ »

Yes, that's what's being said about this week's game of theirs hosting 6-3 Dallas. I'm not going to delve into why that would be after they beat Buffalo at Rich as Dallas blew it at GB last week. What I'm going to do instead, is go to PFR and explore those very Week #10 match-ups of that Bicentennial Year.

Three 8-1 teams going into that week, I see. All playing at home.

First, you got the 8-1 Colts hosting the 6-3 Pats. Baltimore minus-11! I would imagine that being too big a line, but not the underdog so onto the next 8-1...the Champs-to-be, Madden's Raiders, were 8-1 hosting 2-7 KC and, of course, they weren't underdogs! They were a 14-pt fave! And finally you got Big D who was also hosting a 2-7 team, Buffalo. Bills only lost by 7, but Dallas was a 14.5-pt favorite.

So I don't know where this info is coming from. Just the fact that the 8-1 ’76 team wasn’t mentioned on any of these news articles stating this should have made me know better.

Now the following year, Week #10, 8-1 Dallas was a 2-pt underdog. But it was on the road, at Pittsburgh (yes, the game already mentioned on another ongoing thread).
lastcat3
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by lastcat3 »

Well looks like they should have been an underdog as they just lost 40-3. That raises a new question. Has an 8-1 team (or better than 8-1) ever been beaten that badly before?
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by Bryan »

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Yes, that's what's being said about this week's game of theirs hosting 6-3 Dallas. I'm not going to delve into why that would be after they beat Buffalo at Rich as Dallas blew it at GB last week. What I'm going to do instead, is go to PFR and explore those very Week #10 match-ups of that Bicentennial Year.

Three 8-1 teams going into that week, I see. All playing at home.

First, you got the 8-1 Colts hosting the 6-3 Pats. Baltimore minus-11! I would imagine that being too big a line, but not the underdog so onto the next 8-1...the Champs-to-be, Madden's Raiders, were 8-1 hosting 2-7 KC and, of course, they weren't underdogs! They were a 14-pt fave! And finally you got Big D who was also hosting a 2-7 team, Buffalo. Bills only lost by 7, but Dallas was a 14.5-pt favorite.

So I don't know where this info is coming from. Just the fact that the 8-1 ’76 team wasn’t mentioned on any of these news articles stating this should have made me know better.

Now the following year, Week #10, 8-1 Dallas was a 2-pt underdog. But it was on the road, at Pittsburgh (yes, the game already mentioned on another ongoing thread).
Good catch. I've noticed the same thing on other ESPN 'research' items...they'll pick some arbitrary year as a cut off point and you assume that it is significant, but it's really just when the schmuck at ESPN decided to stop going back into history. So I assume that the ESPN guy just got bored and quit after looking at the 1976 season.

The 69 Rams were 11-0 and were home underdogs.

Somewhat related on the college level, I remember back in the 90's the University of Texas was ranked #3 and played unranked UCLA and lost 66-3. Makes you wonder about the accuracy of polls.
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by Sonny9 »

I believe the1972 Dolphins were a 3 point underdog to Washington in the Super Bowl
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by GameBeforeTheMoney »

"Somewhat related on the college level, I remember back in the 90's the University of Texas was ranked #3 and played unranked UCLA and lost 66-3. Makes you wonder about the accuracy of polls."

Oh my, I was at that game! I had only lived in Austin a little bit and to think I was super excited to go to that game. It was blistering hot that day also.

Great thread. I kind of wondered about that stat also because they never identified the team.

72 Dolphins an underdog in SB 7? Wow. Looking back, I guess that was Shula's first win after losing a couple SBs and the 64 Championship. I wonder if they were underdogs in any other games that year then -- esp the AFC Championship since it was a road game for them.

Who were the 69 Rams up against with an 11-0 record?
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by Bryan »

GameBeforeTheMoney wrote:"Somewhat related on the college level, I remember back in the 90's the University of Texas was ranked #3 and played unranked UCLA and lost 66-3. Makes you wonder about the accuracy of polls."

Oh my, I was at that game! I had only lived in Austin a little bit and to think I was super excited to go to that game. It was blistering hot that day also.

Great thread. I kind of wondered about that stat also because they never identified the team.

72 Dolphins an underdog in SB 7? Wow. Looking back, I guess that was Shula's first win after losing a couple SBs and the 64 Championship. I wonder if they were underdogs in any other games that year then -- esp the AFC Championship since it was a road game for them.

Who were the 69 Rams up against with an 11-0 record?
I remember the Texas QB was a guy named Peter Gardere...I think I had the same size and athletic ability as Gardere, yet he was a 4-year starter. Whenever I saw Gardere play, he was terrible.

The 69 Rams were underdogs to the 10-1 Vikings (and lost the game 20-13).
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by 74_75_78_79_ »

Bryan wrote:
GameBeforeTheMoney wrote:"Somewhat related on the college level, I remember back in the 90's the University of Texas was ranked #3 and played unranked UCLA and lost 66-3. Makes you wonder about the accuracy of polls."

Oh my, I was at that game! I had only lived in Austin a little bit and to think I was super excited to go to that game. It was blistering hot that day also.

Great thread. I kind of wondered about that stat also because they never identified the team.

72 Dolphins an underdog in SB 7? Wow. Looking back, I guess that was Shula's first win after losing a couple SBs and the 64 Championship. I wonder if they were underdogs in any other games that year then -- esp the AFC Championship since it was a road game for them.

Who were the 69 Rams up against with an 11-0 record?
I remember the Texas QB was a guy named Peter Gardere...I think I had the same size and athletic ability as Gardere, yet he was a 4-year starter. Whenever I saw Gardere play, he was terrible.

The 69 Rams were underdogs to the 10-1 Vikings (and lost the game 20-13).
Pretty surprising in that Rams were a big regular-season team the past few years as Minnesota was brand-new to it all. They were just 8-6 the year before.

As for Miami being dogs in SBVII (or "just" a one-point-favorite as PFR actually does say)? It's been said here already that it was the AFL still being looked down upon that may have played a part. Washington destroying Dallas in the NFCCG definitely had to add to things. In each NFC playoff game, that "Over the Hill Gang' allowed just a FG-apiece! Plus, yes, Shula still having not won the big one. But look at George Allen's playoff resume going into '72? Sure enough that finale 'play-in' game five years earlier between both coaches may have served as a decider (Allen prevents Shula from going undefeated again).

Hmm, just saw that Vikings for this Thursday Night are 2.5 favorites at home over Belichick's Pats! And in that very battle-of-7-3s for the previous game, Big D a heavy 9.5 favorite! Let's see.
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by Jay Z »

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Pretty surprising in that Rams were a big regular-season team the past few years as Minnesota was brand-new to it all. They were just 8-6 the year before.

As for Miami being dogs in SBVII (or "just" a one-point-favorite as PFR actually does say)? It's been said here already that it was the AFL still being looked down upon that may have played a part. Washington destroying Dallas in the NFCCG definitely had to add to things. In each NFC playoff game, that "Over the Hill Gang' allowed just a FG-apiece! Plus, yes, Shula still having not won the big one. But look at George Allen's playoff resume going into '72? Sure enough that finale 'play-in' game five years earlier between both coaches may have served as a decider (Allen prevents Shula from going undefeated again).

Hmm, just saw that Vikings for this Thursday Night are 2.5 favorites at home over Belichick's Pats! And in that very battle-of-7-3s for the previous game, Big D a heavy 9.5 favorite! Let's see.
Vikings were better than Rams in 1969, had a better pass defense. I never loved defenses where the front end was better than the back end, they tended to get burned in the playoffs, and it happened with the Rams in 1969. Even before the injuries, too many touchdowns. I think the 11-0 overstated the 1969 Rams anyway, from reading Gabriel's book it was viewed that way at the time.
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by sluggermatt15 »

Bryan wrote:
74_75_78_79_ wrote:Yes, that's what's being said about this week's game of theirs hosting 6-3 Dallas. I'm not going to delve into why that would be after they beat Buffalo at Rich as Dallas blew it at GB last week. What I'm going to do instead, is go to PFR and explore those very Week #10 match-ups of that Bicentennial Year.

Three 8-1 teams going into that week, I see. All playing at home.

First, you got the 8-1 Colts hosting the 6-3 Pats. Baltimore minus-11! I would imagine that being too big a line, but not the underdog so onto the next 8-1...the Champs-to-be, Madden's Raiders, were 8-1 hosting 2-7 KC and, of course, they weren't underdogs! They were a 14-pt fave! And finally you got Big D who was also hosting a 2-7 team, Buffalo. Bills only lost by 7, but Dallas was a 14.5-pt favorite.

So I don't know where this info is coming from. Just the fact that the 8-1 ’76 team wasn’t mentioned on any of these news articles stating this should have made me know better.

Now the following year, Week #10, 8-1 Dallas was a 2-pt underdog. But it was on the road, at Pittsburgh (yes, the game already mentioned on another ongoing thread).
Good catch. I've noticed the same thing on other ESPN 'research' items...they'll pick some arbitrary year as a cut off point and you assume that it is significant, but it's really just when the schmuck at ESPN decided to stop going back into history. So I assume that the ESPN guy just got bored and quit after looking at the 1976 season.

The 69 Rams were 11-0 and were home underdogs.

Somewhat related on the college level, I remember back in the 90's the University of Texas was ranked #3 and played unranked UCLA and lost 66-3. Makes you wonder about the accuracy of polls.
Texas was ranked #11, not #3.

Last week when South Carolina beat Tennessee 63-38, that was the most points a top 5 team ever yielded to an unranked team.
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Re: Vikings "first 8-1 home-team since '76 to be an underdog

Post by JWL »

lastcat3 wrote:Well looks like they should have been an underdog as they just lost 40-3. That raises a new question. Has an 8-1 team (or better than 8-1) ever been beaten that badly before?
The 10-1 Jets lost to the Dolphins 3-45 on 11/24/86.
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