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Back to the future - Rally - 10-19-2014

Many of us have been here before.  A few great players wasted.  Dispirited confusion on the field and in the stands.  Highly touted recruits who don't meet expectations.  Moments of glory arising from the morass, only to sink back.  Is that where we are going?  Are we already there?  Has Camelot fallen?

Re: Back to the future - JohnR34231 - 10-19-2014

The season does have a little bit of a retro feel to it, particularly the way we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against U$C and ND, and our desultory, uninspired play against ASU. Who are our great players, though? Montgomery? Carter? They sure didn't play like it last night.

Re: Back to the future - PrinceLightfoot - 10-19-2014

This season is on the offensive coaches. For the past few years we have survived by simply out-muscling our opponents telegraphing exactly what we were going to do and it seems to not work at all when the power rushing attack is stopped. We are not achieving much push off the line on our run plays and our RBs aren't the fall forward types. Our receiver routes are pedestrian and our QB stares down his target before passing it to him.

I attended an ND VIP pre-game breakfast/presentation (friend of a friend is the VIP and invited us to tag along) where retired coaches explained everything there was to know about our offense and defense. They were spot-on when they explained our offense down to the personnel and how they were going to be utilized. One of the coaches described our offense as "simple" and Hogan would stare down his intended target.

An ASU recruit was on the sidelines for last night's game and said that they knew everything we were going to run.

This is all quite maddening.

We were living off close wins and it finally caught up to us starting with the USC loss last year. We are out of the national discussion after the loss to ND but not out of the PAC12 championship race. Thanks to Oregon's loss to Arizona, we are still in that hunt in the PAC12 North. With injuries on the DL and a stalled offense I wouldn't be surprised if we dropped at least two more games.

Re: Back to the future - StanFan88 - 10-19-2014

Actually I think Carter had a pretty good game.  I think Strong caught one ball while Carter was on him - most of his catches were when Stanford was in zone or when Lyons or (gulp) Hoffpauir were on him.  No knock on Zach, but he's a safety and asking him to cover a first-round draft pick is a bit much.

The biggest challenge on defense was not getting pressure on ASU.  Largely a function of not having Shittu but also not having Parry in the second half.  I really hope Parry is OK.  That would kill this season right there to lose both of those guys in one week.

On offense it's just a complete mess.  An average QB who is made to look worse than that by an unimaginative gameplan that fails to take advantage of his strengths & mask his weaknesses.  The brain trust on that side of the ball needs some fresh perspective(s).

Reminds me of when Tiger Woods won the Open Championship at St Andrews.  Bunker play was his weak link at that point, so instead of firing at pins and risking getting into them, he hit away from them.  He didn't find a single bunker for four rounds and won.

Re: Back to the future - Rally - 10-19-2014

No Shaw post game presser?  Usually by this time the transcript is on GoCardinal.com but not this morning yet.  I hope it is just delayed, not hidden.  Might as well man up.

Re: Back to the future - yvonne - 10-19-2014

I, too, have that feeling of foreboding, but I'm especially disappointed that this year's line isn't meeting expectations. Do we have too many highly touted players and not enough workers?

I agree with the folks who say we need a new offensive coordinator, but I don't think that's coming until after the season. This year's wasted, and I hope it's just a one-year blip, and not a return to the "cycle of suckage."

Re: Back to the future - stupac2 - 10-19-2014

I would be pretty surprised if we returned to being a consistently mediocre team.

First, our defense is still great and it has been for the past 3 seasons, despite losing plenty of key personnel. That says to me that we'll likely continue to be very good on that side of the ball. And teams with very good or great defenses are always going to have a chance to have great seasons.

Second, we're still recruiting well. Maybe this down year will have some effect on that, but I kinda doubt it. I guess that remains to be seen, but we've still had the pivotal "academics are an asset not a hindrance" revelation, which seems pretty key to me.

Third, as I posted in a different thread this offense can work, we're just not using our personnel optimally. I'm hopeful that after posting the worst record in 5 years Shaw will figure out that it's not working and bring in some new blood this offseason. There will be plenty of good candidates available. I don't know how he'd work that out with Bloomgren, but it's completely clear that Shaw needs to step aside and put someone else in charge of the offense. Either that or he needs to expand his worldview beyond what we're currently doing and become significantly more flexible with our offensive given our personnel.

Re: Back to the future - yvonne - 10-19-2014

(10-19-2014, 08:28 AM)stupac2 link Wrote:I'm hopeful that after posting the worst record in 5 years Shaw will figure out that it's not working and bring in some new blood this offseason.

That's one thing I've questioned for the past three years. It seems that when we lose coaches, we don't replace them. We promote up, or have coaches share a role, in the case of Bloomgren, doubling up on roles. That has meant fewer minds, no new "blood," lower experience levels at each position, and a diffusion of effort among more tasks.

Re: Back to the future - yvonne - 10-19-2014

Quote:I would be pretty surprised if we returned to being a consistently mediocre team.

That's just it. Stanford hasn't been a consistently mediocre team. It's had short periods of good to excellent play followed by several years of awful play. This could be the return to awful.

Re: Back to the future - stupac2 - 10-19-2014

(10-19-2014, 08:48 AM)Yvonne link Wrote:That's one thing I've questions for the past three years. It seems that when we lose coaches, we don't replace them. We promote up, or have coaches share a role, in the case of Bloomgren, doubling up on roles. That has meant fewer minds, no new "blood," lower experience levels at each position, and a diffusion of effort among more tasks.

But before this year it was hard to argue with the results. Sure, it did seem like we were under-performing on offense, but we always did well enough. This year we're not, so it makes the case for bringing someone in all the more obvious.

I keep thinking about Kyle Wittingham at Utah. He has switched up his offensive staff every year since joining the PAC, because he's had to. I hope Shaw realizes that he has to now.

Re: Back to the future - 71Bear - 10-19-2014

Ferrari...

A life lesson I learned watching the 49ers during the Montana era and the aftermath....

No one wins forever; no one loses forever.  Anytime your favorite team is on a roll, enjoy it.  Live in the moment.  Don't worry about next season....

P.S.  Go Giants - on a run like I have not seen in my lifetime.  We know it will end some day but right now, it's a ball......



Re: Back to the future - rudruff - 10-19-2014

I feel like this is fixable long term because our historical weakness has been defense.

Something needs to change though.



Re: Back to the future - Rally - 10-19-2014

(10-19-2014, 10:53 AM)71Bear link Wrote:Ferrari...

A life lesson I learned watching the 49ers during the Montana era and the aftermath....

No one wins forever; no one loses forever.  Anytime your favorite team is on a roll, enjoy it.  Live in the moment.  Don't worry about next season....

P.S.  Go Giants - on a run like I have not seen in my lifetime.  We know it will end some day but right now, it's a ball......

Oh, Honorable Heathen, I agree completely, which I how I have stayed a loyal fan since 1965.