[OutsiderFan]

Here is the problem.  Everything Stanford does is slow.  Whether it's getting kids into school, the length of time it takes for players to "learn the system," how long it takes to get a play called, how slow-developing plays are, to how long it takes to make in-game adjustments, to how long it takes to change philosophies to overall approach and evolve to the standards of modern football, there isn't anything Stanford football does fast.  Not a thing. 

Literally, I feel like putting on the Stanford uniform makes a guy lose a step.  If not purely physically, certainly mentally.  The players are so bogged down in making the game way more complex than it needs to be that they can't just concentrate on making plays. 

If the results were there by doing everything excruciatingly slowly, being slow would be just fine.  However, the results aren't there.
We hear about how Hogan has mastered the offense, knows it backwards and forwards, is calm, nothing fazes him.  OK, great, but where is the production?  He has the worst game of his career after three years as a starter?  Maybe if the weapons like Bryce Love, Trent Irwin, and Dalton Schultz were put in positions to succeed and make plays, Hogan and Stanford would not have had such a stinker of a game? 

Just watching a bit of the Texas-ND game, the commentators said Texas is moving to a less complicated offensive approach specifically so they can get the best players they recruit on the field faster.  If Stanford has to wait two years to get production from the best players they recruit, A) Stanford is going to be underutilizing the talent it has at its disposal and B) seeing a drop-off in the talent willing to come to Stanford.  It stands to reason that if the other teams are getting their most talented players on the field faster, Stanford is going to be at a large disadvantage over the long haul.  Stanford ran 62 offensive plays against Northwestern while NU ran 76 against Stanford.  The (supposedly) more talented team should be running more plays because the more plays the better team runs, the greater the odds are of winning the game.

To be clear, I'm not saying you can't win by being slow and deliberate.  It's possible, so long as the execution is flawless.  But when you have such complexity it makes precise execution much more difficult, especially in college football when there isn't that much formal practice time.  The good news is Stanford's defense is way far ahead of its offense in terms of keeping pace with the evolution of college football.  The offense is painfully behind the times and needs to show some sense of urgency to catch up.  Otherwise, Stanford's program will just be a microcosm of the Northwestern game.

Even Wisconsin, USC, and Alabama have simplified their offensive approaches and are playing at a faster pace.

[OutsiderFan]

Here is the problem.  Everything Stanford does is slow.  Whether it's getting kids into school, the length of time it takes for players to "learn the system," how long it takes to get a play called, how slow-developing plays are, to how long it takes to make in-game adjustments, to how long it takes to change philosophies to overall approach and evolve to the standards of modern football, there isn't anything Stanford football does fast.  Not a thing. 

Literally, I feel like putting on the Stanford uniform makes a guy lose a step.  If not purely physically, certainly mentally.  The players are so bogged down in making the game way more complex than it needs to be that they can't just concentrate on making plays. 

If the results were there by doing everything excruciatingly slowly, being slow would be just fine.  However, the results aren't there.
We hear about how Hogan has mastered the offense, knows it backwards and forwards, is calm, nothing fazes him.  OK, great, but where is the production?  He has the worst game of his career after three years as a starter?  Maybe if the weapons like Bryce Love, Trent Irwin, and Dalton Schultz were put in positions to succeed and make plays, Hogan and Stanford would not have had such a stinker of a game? 

Just watching a bit of the Texas-ND game, the commentators said Texas is moving to a less complicated offensive approach specifically so they can get the best players they recruit on the field faster.  If Stanford has to wait two years to get production from the best players they recruit, A) Stanford is going to be underutilizing the talent it has at its disposal and B) seeing a drop-off in the talent willing to come to Stanford.  It stands to reason that if the other teams are getting their most talented players on the field faster, Stanford is going to be at a large disadvantage over the long haul.  Stanford ran 62 offensive plays against Northwestern while NU ran 76 against Stanford.  The (supposedly) more talented team should be running more plays because the more plays the better team runs, the greater the odds are of winning the game.

To be clear, I'm not saying you can't win by being slow and deliberate.  It's possible, so long as the execution is flawless.  But when you have such complexity it makes precise execution much more difficult, especially in college football when there isn't that much formal practice time.  The good news is Stanford's defense is way far ahead of its offense in terms of keeping pace with the evolution of college football.  The offense is painfully behind the times and needs to show some sense of urgency to catch up.  Otherwise, Stanford's program will just be a microcosm of the Northwestern game.

Even Wisconsin, USC, and Alabama have simplified their offensive approaches and are playing at a faster pace.