(08-16-2015, 03:12 PM)ferrari link Wrote:Name two Stanford football from the past 30 years you would rather have than Shaw. Just curious.
For me, it isn't so much about Shaw as it is about NFL-level coordinators. Shaw's great, but I think Stanford will go only as far as its assistants and in particular its coordinators. One of Stanford's big advantages -- maybe the biggest advantage -- is a team with players who have very high IQs, much higher than average.Â
Same was true 75 years ago. I read an interesting article that Clark Shaughnessey didn't invent the T-formation, rather he dusted it off from literally the latter part of the 19th century and added a lot of misdirection, given the small size of his team. And if you go back and read the game articles, that's basically what happened. When Pop Warner heard that Schwartz was going to run the T formation, he said "He won't win a game." Thornhill had gone 1-7-1 in 1939, but returned Frankie Albert, Pete Kmetovic, Norm Standlee and Hugh Gallarneau, four players that Schwartz called the best that Stanford ever had, with the caveat that he was referencing their abilities in the T formation. Shaughnessey had assistant coaches Phil Bengston (longtime NFL assistant who succeeded Vince Lombardi), Marchmont Schwartz and Bernie Masterson, who had just retired from a seven year NFL career with the 59-19 Chicago Bears to mentor Albert.
Buoyed by the coaching staff, they made numerous innovations. The old T formation (Amos Alonzo Stagg) used power blocking, the new T used misdirection, and "brush" blocking, delaying rushers for a second or two. Albert took the snap from under center, the better to hide the ball. Supposedly, he drew inspiration from the panzer tactics of wehrmacht general Heinz Guderian.
That team, everyone knows, went 10-0 and beat Nebraska in the Rose Bowl, 21-13. What you may not know is that Stanford's first five opponents were undefeated when they played Stanford, then Stanford beat UCLA, #11 Washington State, #19 Oregon State and C.al. That's some strength of schedule right there. Gallarneau, Albert, Shaughnessey and guard Chuck Taylor from that team made the College Football Hall of Fame. Kmetovic was the Rose Bowl players of the game and played in the NFL for two years when he left the Army. Standlee was drafted by the CHicago Bears and was fourth in the league in rushing before he went to WWII.
Another interesting piece...prior to the Rose Bowl, Shaughnessey traveled to Chicago to help Halas and Sid Luckman prepare the Bears for the national championship against the Washington team. Shaughnessey noted that Washington shifted their linebackers in the direction of the man in motion, so he devised a series of counter plays. Final score, Bears win 73-0.
By 1944, more than half the country's college teams were using the T formation. By 1949, the only NFL team not using it was the Steelers. Derivatives of that T formation include the power I, pro set, veer, wishbone, split T, wing T, and West Coast offense.
