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Stadium Notes .... - Printable Version

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Stadium Notes .... - Leftcoast - 09-04-2011

Some observations from the stadium .......

*  Fan Fest was CROWDED - And full of people wearing bright new Stanford gear. 
Heck, I think I saw a couple of shirts with the price tags still hanging out of the collar.    We've got a lot of new fans - which is a very good thing.  The AD must have expected this since there was more of everything.  More inflatable toys for the kids, more photo booths (get your Kids picture in a set of Stanford shoulderpads with a stadium backdrop) and more freebies.  One change - there's a new Foodie trend of "gourmet food" trucks in the bay area and Stanford invited 10 or so to show up at Fan Fest.  The wait was nearly a half hour to order food at most. 

*  Saw a medium sized UofA tailgater in the parking lot.    I think I've seen these guys before but this time there were  more of 'em.  Perhaps checking out next week's competition?

*  Great weather for September football - Must have been around 80 degrees and sunny at kick-off.  We've had some scorchers in September but this wasn't one of them.

*  San Jose fanbase has given up.
This was the smallest San Jose crowd in the 30 years I've followed Stanford football.  They BARELY covered their section of the visitor's corner.  There were almost no fans wearing blue in the rest of the stadium.  What fans I saw had no hope - and none of the chip-on-the-shoulder bravado of years past.  This rivalry is getting tired.

*  If you did tape the game skip the embarrassing National Anthem
The solo trumpet was flat on many notes and totally missed a couple of others - including the long note during "Land of the FREEEEEE".  I know school isn't in session and this was an alumni band but there were five guys on my high school band who would have embarrassed us less.  Fans around me were either laughing or groaning.  Maybe he'd been drinking?  Let's hope.

*  Wow - we have a lot of students in town
We sat in the Red Zone during the first half thinking it would be a great place to meet friends with GA tickets and were quickly surrounded by students.  Whooops ... we only wanted to stand for the big plays and of course the students will accept nothing less than 60 minutes of gametime standing to show their dedication or young legs (and my wife only wanted me to admire the first half of that).  Great vibe but we moved to our normal seats at half.

*  Attendance
By mid-way through the first quarter (yup, late arriving crowd) the sunnyside was 2/3rds full and the shadyside was 90%+ full.  Even the sunnyside bleachers looked respectable.  We still have folks standing 3 deep watching the game from the mezzanine on the shady side.  Much, much better than last year.

*  Gametime!
>  Owusu looked very good on kick-off returns.  We also looked good on punts.

>  Stats aren't of extremely large proportions but Luck was in control throughout the game and made great decisions.  In one first half broken play he directed his receiver by pointing to where he was going to throw the ball, ran toward the line of scrimmage to make the safety commit and then threw milliseconds before crossing the line.  Also liked the 1 yd TD run.

>  As others noted, O-Line was OK on pass protection but so-so on run blocking.  We got nothing up the middle (and very little push) and only did well on the outsides due to speed mismatches allowing our RB's to turn the corner.  This has to improve against the big boys.

>  D-backs looked rusty .... and had problems tackling.  I'm sure you all saw the big pass play where the receiver absorbed the hit and our DB didn't wrap up.  I'd hate to be THAT GUY when the coaches review tape.

>  Our TE's are of extremely large proportions - and talented.  At one TD play (when he didn't get the ball) Toilolo was "covered" by a 5-2 DB and looked like Godzilla being taken on by a hyper-active ant.  Hah - We'll see him a lot on endzone plays.

>  Is it just me or were there an inordinate number of dropped passes yesterday?

>  It was good to see our new coach making half-time adjustments.  Many were effective.

>  Willie Shaw was at the game.  I thought I saw him in front of our section and my suspicion was confirmed when he was interviewed by a sideline reporter in the second half.  Not bad to have Dad helping out his son on defense.  The old coach was VERY into the game.

>  So is our QB depth chart going to remain Luck, Nottingham, Picazo?  I don't have a problem with that.  I didn't see Nunes yesterday but the other two back-ups looked more than competent in the 4th quarter.



Re: Stadium Notes .... - washingtonismoney - 09-04-2011

(09-04-2011, 09:38 AM)Leftcoast link Wrote:>  Is it just me or were there an inordinant number of dropped passes yesterday?

I heard three. Pretty high but not incredibly so.

Re: Stadium Notes .... - Hank 91 - 09-04-2011

Leftcoast, thanks for the lengthy report. It's great to get a feel for the atmosphere.

Re: Stadium Notes .... - JeffInCorvallis - 09-04-2011

Great update.  Let's give these people a good show so that they want to come back in a 7-5 season (and avoid the 2-10 seasons for quite a while).

Re: Stadium Notes .... - CowboyIndian - 09-04-2011

(09-04-2011, 09:38 AM)Leftcoast link Wrote:  I didn't see Nunes yesterday but the other two back-ups looked more than competent in the 4th quarter.

On TV I saw Nunes on the sideline, dressed.

Re: Stadium Notes .... - terry - 09-04-2011

(09-04-2011, 02:04 PM)CowboyIndian link Wrote:[quote author=Leftcoast link=topic=4431.msg31325#msg31325 date=1315154291]
  I didn't see Nunes yesterday but the other two back-ups looked more than competent in the 4th quarter.

On TV I saw Nunes on the sideline, dressed.
[/quote]

Nunes had a foot or ankle injury a couple of weeks ago, and he lost his # 2 role. I don't know whether he has recovered fully. But while he was gone, Nottingham took advantage and moved up the depth chart.