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Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - Printable Version

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Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - TrumpCard - 09-13-2015

Since you put it front and center, Bailey looked great on those two tackles. He's a big time athlete, not just a kicker, and it showed tonight. I hope he doesn't have to show it often and that kickoff coverage improves, but I will feel better with him as the last defense against U$C's return men next week.  Some thought kicker an punter were question marks, but I think Stanford is in fine shape there.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - 81alum - 09-13-2015

First, a word about the atmosphere.  The temperature was in the mid 70s and it was overcast--surprisingly humid for Palo Alto.  Comfortable all evening without ever becoming cool.  At kick off I estimated that only 1/3 of the seats were occupied, but by the second quarter it looked to me as if over 2/3 were full.  Just as others speculated, at halftime large numbers of people began to go home with their kids.  By the middle of the 3rd quarter the stadium was half full, by the middle of the 4th quarter it was less than 1/4 full, by the end of the game probably 1/10th full.  Those people who were there were not particularly loud.  One positive--the Red Zone seemed to nearly fill up in the second quarter.  Not sure where all the students come from--my guess is mostly grad students and recent alums who can pass for students!  A mini-band was there--it could barely make itself heard but it was better than no band at all.  Its half time show was a spoof on the Republican debates.

Now about the game. 
Positives:
1) We won. 
2) The emergence of Bryce Love.
3) A very stout defense for a second week.
4) Shaw was somewhat less predictable; flea flicker--going on 4th down once, etc.
Negatives:
1) Offense still looked very undisciplined, with numerous penalties.
2) The power run still is not working that well--McCaffrey averaged 3 ypc.
3) Hogan is very streaky.  He was terrible in the first quarter and excellent later in the game.
4) The crowd booed Shaw's decision to punt inside the 40, and booed vociferously when the team failed to prevent the touch back.  As much as I have been critical of Shaw's play calling, our players do not deserve to be subjected to boos in their own stadium.
5) UCF is a very bad team; hard to know where we are based on this win. .

I wish I could say that our good performance tonight convinced me that we will beat SC easily.  It doesn't. 

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - ThePassionOfTheChryst - 09-13-2015

Hogan started the game 5/12, finished at <60% comp, and roughly 40% of his yardage came from Bryce Love RAC.  He looked better tonight, but he's still way too inconsistent for a 4th-year starter.

In other news, I believe some love for Ukropina is in order.  That was a big time field goal.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - JohnR34231 - 09-13-2015

Bailey was an excellent DB in HS as well as a kicker, so his tackling prowess shouldn't come as a big surprise.

Our play last night was an improvement over NW (one could argue it only had one way to go, especially on offense); whether it's good enough to possibly emerge from LaLa land next week with a victory is questionable. Let's just hope Hogan has one of his very good days and Cody Kessler a bad one. It would be nice to have a couple more games to get ready for the Condoms.

One thing is clear after last night, we need to make sure Bryce Love gets at least a few touches when we play.



Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - CornFed - 09-13-2015

The OL seemed to be pretty lame last night.  Run blocking was sporadic and pass blocking seemed pretty poor.  Not to even mention the spate of penalties.  Hogan seemed off from the get-go, but he was getting a lot of pressure, which made his troubles worse.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - winflop - 09-13-2015

Hank I just want to know who locked Shaw & Bloomgren in a closet at halftime :P

After the first 20 minutes, I started wondering if this team could even win five games this season.  After 60 mins I'm back to thinking that 9-3 is achievable but I still see more downside than upside to that prediction.

The biggest thing for me is that I now believe that this team CAN beat the Toejams, but it's going to take 60 minutes of playing (and coaching!) like they did from 20 mins in to 10 mins to go (when they started rotating in guys who normally don't play much if at all).

Still a bit to clean up on the penalties front.  A couple of those were seriously bad calls, but anything north of 5 penalties is a problem.  But maybe - JUST MAYBE - Shaw & Bloomgren jave realized that with the personnel they have on offense, opening things up, moving the pocket, letting Hogan run a few times, and getting skill players into space is the path to success.  If so, I'll be glad it only took five quarters this year instead of ten games.  #LetHoganBeHogan - IT WORKS!

My game balls go to Solomon Thomas & Brennan Scarlett.  They played just about every snap of the last three quarters and both were absolute beast mode.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - washingtonismoney - 09-13-2015

I think the Chryst/Burns switch was due to their having different "packages," if you will. Note that Burns immediately ran on his play, while Chryst handled snaps under center and actually got to pass.

And for what it's worth, after the booing the offense actually went for it on three fourth downs. Perhaps some negative reinforcement was useful...

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - pcgoode - 09-13-2015

I suspect that Shaw is keeping a few wrinkles under wraps for USC.  I think the gloves will come off for the tight ends on Saturday.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - washingtonismoney - 09-13-2015

Also disturbed by the run game, which mustered around three yards per carry. Some of that may have been due to UCF's defensive strategy, but still.

(Less disturbed, schematically speaking, by the pass pro -- it looked like UCF brought the house a number of times.)

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - DC - 09-13-2015

It is hard for his assistants to tell Shaw he is too predictable, and even harder for him to realize it himself, so maybe the fans have to do it.

Power running and throwing mainly to the TEs was a strategy Harbaugh used to fit his personnel, as we had the power backs and bad WRs and a physical OL. Now that we have smaller shiftier backs who are best in space, a soft OL that gets little push but pass blocks better than it run blocks, and good WRs, it is time to call plays that play to their strengths.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - 81alum - 09-13-2015

Anyone know if the game is available somewhere online for replay the way it would be if it had been on ESPN?  I really want to see the broadcast version.  From the stands there were a number of calls I did not understand. 

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - CowboyIndian - 09-13-2015

I'm concerned about Shittu's ejection. Not last night but in the first half next week.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - ChicagoCard - 09-13-2015

Part of the explanation for the officiating has to be cultural... East Coast crew comes west, shows the locals how it's done...

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - ChicagoCard - 09-13-2015

(09-13-2015, 08:12 AM)CowboyIndian link Wrote:I'm concerned about Shittu's ejection. Not last night but in the first half next week.

Oh no, he's out for the first half next week?

Edit: Wilner says he's eligible for next week.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - CowboyIndian - 09-13-2015

OK...I just saw this explained on the Bootleg. By rule, since he was ejected in the first half, he can play next week. Had he been ejected in the second half, he would have had to sit out the first half of next week's game. Hope that's right.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - winflop - 09-13-2015

(09-13-2015, 08:16 AM)CowboyIndian link Wrote:OK...I just saw this explained on the Bootleg. By rule, since he was ejected in the first half, he can play next week. Had he been ejected in the second half, he would have had to sit out the first half of next week's game. Hope that's right.
That's my understanding as well.  PHEW!  Gonna need him for all 60.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - stupac2 - 09-13-2015

(09-13-2015, 08:16 AM)CowboyIndian link Wrote:OK...I just saw this explained on the Bootleg. By rule, since he was ejected in the first half, he can play next week. Had he been ejected in the second half, he would have had to sit out the first half of next week's game. Hope that's right.

That's correct, Shittu will be on the field next week.

I'm definitely curious about thoughts on the officiating from those who watched on TV, from the stands it looked like the worst-called game I've ever seen, but the new replay board was really hit-or-miss about showing the important part of the penalty. That chop block looked like complete and total bullshit to me, but it's hard to tell. Either way, for part of the 4th quarter we had more penalty yards than UCF had total yards, which is both a testament to our defense and some shockingly sloppy play.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - ChicagoCard - 09-13-2015

A couple years ago Reynolds was ejected in the 2nd half of the regular season ASU game. He then missed the 1st half of the following WSU game.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - gocard14 - 09-13-2015

Granted, UCF may not be the toughest of foes, especially when down a QB or two, but I found a lot to like about this game.

(1) Excellent gameplan. We are hard on Shaw a lot for playcalling, but I thought he did an excellent job in this game. With the exception of the opening reverse, I thought the play calling, balance between run and pass, inside/outside, power/spread was excellent. There were some terrible penalties and stone hands on our recievers, but people were open and the opportunities were clearly there. I even liked the wildcat, as the Bryce love fly-sweep adds a whole new dimension for defenses to fear. The only play calls I really didnt like were the punts from the 35 (get to that later)

(2) Defense.  Our D-line got penetration, even after we lost Shittu, and Martinez was all over the field. More importantly, I was particularly impressed with our young DBs, all of whom played tight and physical coverage, and were quite unfortunate to get slapped with a few soft PI calls. I don't doubt that USCs recievers or Oregon's running game/pace will strain our young DBs and thin D-line, but they looked excellent yesterday.

(3) Team Speed.  I loved seeing the McLovin combo out on the edges, it gave our offense an explosiveness that we just haven't had from our skill players for as long as I can remember.

(4) Kicking: Both our punting and kicking game look much better then last year

Dislikes:

(1) Waaaay to many stupid mistakes.  The refs made a few bogus calls, but there were a lot of boneheaded penalties, most notably the block in the back on the punt return and a few offensive holdings away from the play.

(2) Catch the ball!!  Hogan started out with a few bad throws but looked fantastic after the first quarter, but I lost count of the number of balls that were on the money and bounced off People's hands.

(3) Punting on the 35.  It's a simple matter of expected value.  I'll be generous and assume our average punt gives them the ball on the 10 yardline. The expected value of 1st and 10 on the 10 is essentially 0 points, while 1st and 10 on the 35 has an expected value of ~1 point. If we say Ukropina will kick 50% from that length, then a field goal attempt has a +0.5 point expected value (.5 * 3 -.5 * 1).  If we assume a 1/3 chance of converting a 4th and 5-7, A fresh set of downs (1st and 10 on the 30) has a roughly 3.5 point expected value, so we can estimate a net ~+.6 point value from going for it (.33 * 3.5 -.66*1).

On the whole, I thought it was an excellent team performance that was marred by some undisciplined penalties and bad hands on the recievers. I'm still not overly confident about next week, but I feel a lot better then I did one week ago.

Re: Final: Stanford 31, UCF 7 - Hansenjohn - 09-13-2015

Bailey's kick just inside the pylon after the second quarter field goal also resulted in UCF being pinned against their own end zone.  Too bad we had burned our timeouts so could not get the back back perhaps at mid-field.

Another Bailey kick at the pylon was ruled out of bounds, although it looked like it must have been barely outside the pylon by inches.