Stanford vs TCU Prediction 8-30-24 College Football Picks

The TCU Horned Frogs and the Stanford Cardinal meet in week 1 college football action from Stanford Stadium on Friday night. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Stanford vs TCU Prediction.

TCU Team Preview

The TCU Horned Frogs come into the 2024 season looking to shake off a somewhat disappointing 2023 campaign finishing the year 5-7 overall including a 3-6 mark in Big 12 conference play in the shadows of their national championship game appearance from the year prior. Chandler Morris is gone at QB but Josh Hoover is back and likely gets the first crack at the starting QB gig after throwing for 2,206 yards, 15 touchdowns and 9 INTs last season. Ken Seals transfers in from Vanderbilt and is waiting in the wings, but they’ll have options whoever is QB with Savion Williams and JP Richardson back in TCU’s receiving group as well as Eric McAlister, who transfers in from Boise State.

Emani Bailey is gone from TCU’s backfield, but Cam Cook returns and the Horned Frogs have Alabama transfer Trey Sanders in the fold after rushing for 6 TDs last year. On defense, the front three remains intact with Tymon Mitchell, Caleb Fox and Paul Oyewale back. The strength is likely at linebacker with Namdi Obiozor flanked by transfers like Kaleb Elarms-Orr and Devean Deal who come in from Cal and Tulane respectively. Bud Clark leads TCU’s secondary and Richard Toney transfers in from Nevada to add depth at the back end.

Why the TCU Horned Frogs will win

• TCU has won each of its last 10 road openers.
• Stanford has lost each of its last nine games at Stanford Stadium.
• TCU has covered the spread in each of its last eight road openers.
• Stanford has failed to cover the spread in each of its last six home games against non-conference opponents.
• Stanford has lost the first half in five of its last six home games against non-conference opponents.

Stanford Team Preview

The Stanford Cardinal will try to improve on year one of the Troy Taylor era with a new conference, transferring to the ACC after going 3-9 overall last year including 2-7 in Pac-12 conference play. Ashton Daniels is back at QB after coming on strong in the second half of the season last year, and his main target is also back in Elic Ayomanor, who made their mark as a combo in the come-from-behind effort against Colorado. Daniels and Sedrick Irvin will likely be tasked with leading the ground attack in Troy Taylor’s offense, but there’s a lot of upside for this young team.

It’ll just be about fulfilling those expectations. On defense, the linebacking group is the jewel of this unit with Gaethan Bernadel and Tristan Sinclair back as well as David Bailey who led the Cardinal with 6 sacks. Tevarua Tafiti is back up front as is Tobin Phillips and Anthony Franklin. The secondary has to be better after getting torched often last year, but there’s at least continuity with a lot of the pieces from last year returning.

Why the Stanford Cardinal will win

• TCU has lost each of its last four road games.
• The home team has won six of TCU’s last seven games.
• The home team has covered the spread in each of TCU’s last seven games.
• TCU has failed to cover the spread in each of its last four road games.
• Stanford has won the first quarter in five of its last six games against non-conference opponents.

Stanford vs TCU Prediction

I’m on the over in this one. I just don’t know what to really expect from either team in week one. I think TCU is the more talented team overall by a fair margin, but this line still feels a bit light against a Stanford team that does bring back a lot of talent, but it’s talent from a 3-win team that had 3 wins AGAIN.

That being said, Stanford had some solid offensive showings and pushed the pace a fair bit under Troy Taylor last year, and I think this is going to be a fast-paced game with lots of possessions and even if there’s a blowout, I think we cash the over.