Jim Harbaugh was asked at his introductory news conference about the seemingly long odds he faces.

Dennis Erickson. Steve Spurrier. Butch Davis. Nick Saban. Bobby Petrino.

What were the former Stanford head coach's thoughts on the laundry list of college geniuses who have lost IQ points - and their jobs - in the NFL?

"I don't really ever make any comparisons between myself and other coaches ... but I hope to be very underestimated," Harbaugh said. "I've always found that to be a wonderful competitive advantage and try to cling to that advantage as long as (I) can."

Eight months later, the 49ers' first-year head coach is having no problem finding fuel to stoke his competitive fire.

Sports Illustrated predicts Harbaugh's team will finish last in the NFC West, a division whose four teams had a 6-26 road record last year.

One online betting site lists the Niners' odds of winning the Super Bowl at 60-1, a sign that that they have been bypassed by the perpetually putrid Lions (30-1) in terms of respectability.

The sense, obviously, is that the franchise with eight straight non-playoff seasons won't be suddenly pulling rabbits out of a hat because its $25 million man, Captain Comeback, is in charge.

True, Harbaugh worked wonders at Stanford. But even his patsy-to-power resurrection of that program took time: The Cardinal went 4-8 and 5-7 in his first two seasons.

And then there is the example of the last Stanford head coach to make San Francisco his first NFL head-coaching job: Bill Walsh had an 8-24 record after his first two years with the 49ers.

Fast forward three decades and there are legitimate reasons to believe Harbaugh, like his legendary predecessor, won't experience overnight success.

Most notably, there is the quarterback depth chart, which features starter Alex Smith, who has a 51-53 career touchdown-to-interception ratio, and two rookies in reserve in Colin Kaepernick and Scott Tolzien. There is the unresolved matter of San Francisco's offensive line, which appeared inept in two of the four preseason games.

And then there is the secondary, which has been remade, but it remains to be seen whether it has been upgraded after opposing quarterbacks completed 65.1 percent of their passes for 25 touchdowns and 3,941 yards last season.

This brings us back to Harbaugh's introductory news conference, when he uttered a line that has become his mantra over the past eight months:

"All obstacles can and must be overcome."

Perhaps.

But there's no guarantee they'll be conquered overnight.

49ers roster # Name Pos Ht Wt Age College 2 David Akers K 5-10 200 36 Louisville 3 Scott Tolzien QB 6-3 205 24 Wisconsin 4 Andy Lee P 6-2 180 29 Pittsburgh 7 Colin Kaepernick QB 6-4 230 23 Nevada-Reno 10 Kyle Williams WR 5-10 186 22 Arizona State 11 Alex Smith QB 6-4 217 27 Utah 15 Michael Crabtree WR 6-1 214 23 Texas Tech 17 Braylon Edwards WR 6-3 214 28 Michigan 19 Ted Ginn WR 5-11 180 26 Ohio State 20 Madieu Williams DB 6-1 203 29 Maryland 21 Frank Gore RB 5-9 217 28 Miami (Fla.) 22 Carlos Rogers DB 6-0 189 30 Auburn 24 Anthony Dixon RB 6-1 233 23 Mississippi State 25 Tarell Brown DB 5-10 193 26 Texas 26 Tramaine Brock DB 5-10 197 23 Belhaven College 27 C.J. Spillman DB 6-0 199 25 Marshall 29 Chris Culliver DB 6-0 199 23 South Carolina 30 Reggie Smith DB 6-1 200 25 Oklahoma 31 Donte Whitner DB 5-10 208 26 Ohio State 32 Kendall Hunter RB 5-7 199 22 Oklahoma State 36 Shawntae Spencer DB 6-1 190 29 Pittsburgh 38 Dashon Goldson DB 6-2 200 26 Washington 43 Colin Jones DB 6-0 208 23 Texas Christian 44 Moran Norris RB 6-1 250 33 Kansas 46 Delanie Walker TE 6-0 242 27 Central Missouri State 49 Bruce Miller RB 6-2 248 24 Central Florida 51 Blake Costanzo LB 6-1 235 27 Lafayette 52 Patrick Willis LB 6-1 240 26 Mississippi 53 NaVorro Bowman LB 6-0 242 23 Penn State 54 Larry Grant LB 6-1 251 26 Ohio State 55 Ahmad Brooks LB 6-3 259 27 Virginia 56 Tavares Gooden LB 6-1 242 26 Miami (Fla.) 59 Jonathan Goodwin OL 6-3 318 32 Michigan 62 Chilo Rachal OL 6-5 323 25 USC 67 Daniel Kilgore OL 6-3 308 23 Appalachian State 68 Adam Snyder OL 6-6 325 29 Oregon 74 Joe Staley OL 6-5 315 27 Central Michigan 75 Alex Boone OL 6-8 300 24 Ohio State 76 Anthony Davis OL 6-5 323 21 Rutgers 77 Mike Iupati OL 6-5 331 24 Idaho 78 Mike Person OL 6-4 299 23 Montana State 84 Josh Morgan WR 6-1 215 26 Virginia Tech 85 Vernon Davis TE 6-3 250 27 Maryland 86 Brian Jennings LS 6-5 242 34 Arizona State 90 Isaac Sopoaga DL 6-2 330 30 Hawaii 91 Ray McDonald DL 6-3 290 27 Florida 92 Will Tukuafu DL 6-3 293 27 Oregon 93 Ian Williams DL 6-1 305 22 Notre Dame 94 Justin Smith DL 6-4 285 31 Missouri 95 Ricky Jean Francois DL 6-3 295 24 LSU 96 Demarcus Dobbs DL 6-2 275 23 Georgia 98 Parys Haralson LB 6-0 255 27 Tennessee 99 Aldon Smith LB 6-4 258 21 Missouri

2010 stat leaders Passing Name Comp-Att Pct Yds TD-Int Rating Alex Smith 204-342 59.6 2,370 14-10 82.1 Troy Smith 73-145 52.3 1,176 5-4 77.8 Rushing Name Car Yds Avg. TD Frank Gore 203 853 4.2 3 Brian Westbrook 77 340 4.4 4 Anthony Dixon 70 237 3.4 2 Receiving Name Rec Yds Avg. TD Vernon Davis 56 914 16.3 7 Michael Crabtree 55 741 13.5 6 Frank Gore 46 452 9.8 2 Josh Morgan 44 698 15.9 2 Defense Tackles: Patrick Willis 128, Takeo Spikes 109, Nate Clements 82, Dashon Goldson 80 Sacks: Justin Smith 8.5, Patrick Willis 6.0, Ahmad Brooks 5.0, Travis LaBoy 5.0 Interceptions: Nate Clements 3, Takeo Spikes 3, Shawntae Spencer 3