While other off-season predictions will rely on silly things like roster talent, strength of schedule, and computer simulations, I’ve decided to go deep into some numerology and ridiculousness to determine why the Oakland Raiders will make it to the Super Bowl.

First of all, the Raiders franchise has made it to the big game an average of every 6.25 years, with appearances never more than 9 years apart. Since it’s been 8 years since their last berth, they are certainly due. Also, 3 out of 5 of their Super Bowl appearances were on even days in odd years (this year’s game will be on the 6th in 2011) and 2 of those 3 even-day games followed odd-day games from the previous year (last year was on the 7th).

The next Super Bowl will be in the new Cowboys Stadium, and the Raiders have played 3 out of their 5 Super Bowls in venues that were hosting their first SB. Last year saw New Orleans win the game in Miami; 4 out of 5 of the Raiders appearances were in (or followed SB’s in) New Orleans or Miami.

Not convinced? Well, 4 out of 5 of the Raiders’ SB trips followed years when a team with black and/or gold were part of the previous winning team’s uniforms. The reigning-champ Saints wear both black and gold.

All of the Raiders SB appearances followed a Super Bowl where a total of 37-50 points were scored; last year’s total was 48. This year is an odd-numbered Super Bowl (XLV, 45); 3 out of 5 of the Raiders’ big games were in odd-numbered SB’s.

As for jersey numbers, 4 out of 5 of the SB-starting QB’s jerseys were even numbers, including 4 in a row and all 3 victories. Jason Campbell will wear #8 this year. In fact, 16% of SB-starting QB’s have worn #8.

Now for the clincher. If you add up the number of letters in the names of all the head coaches and starting QB’s for the Silver & Black who made it to the big game and divided that by all 5 Raider SB appearances, the average coach-QB name total is 21 letters. Now add up T-O-M-C-A-B-L-E + J-A-S-O-N-C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L = 21