borrow an old phrase, "You never say never!"

I think it comes across much better when you say "I believe we have no chance to beating them." The mistake is to express that sentiment as indisputable fact--even though history has many examples that would state otherwise.

In any event, I hoped we would win, but because our offense had been struggling and we were playing a #13 ranked team (not #24) in the country, I thought we would most likely lose this one..