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Joined: Dec 1969
Some more observations from Stanford Stadium:
1. Wow, that was FUN! I came away with similar feelings as the Hawaii game: that looked like "real football." This is the type of game that gives us hope we can become a legitimate P4 team, and will hopefully get some butts back in the seats. Nothing contrived to try to get around a glaring OL weakness. As far as I remember, nearly all runs were between the tackles, and we were pushing the NC State DL back consistently. Would love to know when the last time was we had that many 10+ yard runs in a game. Anyone have that stat?
2. Davis Warren looked awesome. Yes, we generally protected him well, but there were also some key throws he made under pressure (like the back shoulder TD to High). There were several plays where I saw a blindside sack coming, and he took a couple steps in the pocket to avoid and either throw it away or make something out of it.
3. So great to give Micah Ford an opportunity to shine. Super important for recruiting as well. Our RBs generally seem to fall forward, with Champ Hampton making a few yards out of nothing a couple times too. This was a staple of Stanford RBs in the 2010s that seemed to be lost until Micah came around. 2nd and 7 is a lot better than 2nd and 10.
4. TV gives a better impression here, but from my seat it seemed like we made a ton of shoestring tackles that stopped would-be first downs or breakout runs. I kept being pleasantly surprised. Maybe NC State is just a half step slower than Miami, Wake, and Duke.
5. Attendance, yikes. More games like this will help, and I hope we can figure out some way to engage the broader community. SMU will probably be better just because they bring more fans. I don't know if NC State had more than 150 fans there. Just shows what a farce this whole system is. That said, the team did a great job creating their own sideline energy, and the people running the stadium lights and sounds did a good job pumping in some artificial energy to make it feel like a real game.
6. As a few of us have noted, we have looked decent against bad/mediocre teams and horrible against very good teams this year. This was a big test for us, with NC State falling in the mediocre/average bucket depending on the day. We more than looked like we belonged on the field. I still struggle to understand what this all means. Is there a level of athleticism that simply overwhelms our players and scheme and puts us in a blender? Louisville feels like a big step up (despite their away NC State loss), somewhere between Duke and Wake Forest. A win is unlikely, but can we avoid another away game where everything gets away from us at the start?
Overall just a really pleasant experience. More of this, please!!