10-05-2015, 05:52 AM
Well, in case you're wondering what the weenies think of us, there's a brief discussion at BI: http://bearinsider.com/forums/showthread...-about-the school I wish I had gotten into
They appear to be split as to whether Stanford is a real contender or not. Even those begrudgingly admitting that Stanford may be a good team this year are loathe to admit that Shaw is a good coach or that Hogan is a good QB. Three themes that most amuse me:
* Stanford has a favorable schedule. Yes, this is the year we get the tough teams at home, but we still played NW and 'SC on the road and have games against UCLA, ND, Oregon and C'al coming up. I don't think anyone would say that we had a light schedule. Sure, we miss UT and ASU, but we have both UCLA and 'SC. If we win the Pac12 North, we will clearly have earned it
* Our awesome OLine is covering up deficiencies in our skill position players. As though Goff's WR's aren't making some exceptional catches that improve his numbers (and vice versa). Last I checked it's a team game and being exceptional in one area doesn't denigrate the others. But anyone watching our team who hasn't been impressed by the QB, WR and RB play the past 3.5 games doesn't know football.
* Shaw is not a good coach and his players, especially his offensive line, are covering up for that. It's as though he has no responsibility for identifying, recruiting, hiring coaches to coach them up, and providing his own instruction to make them into the unit they are. As if stellar OLine play just fell into his lap and he's just serendipitously enjoying the rewards.
Anyway, there's clearly a long history between both fan bases of downplaying (or is that down playing, ;-) ) any progress or achievements.
They're clearly improved, but I'll be interested to see as they go through the meat of their schedule.
They appear to be split as to whether Stanford is a real contender or not. Even those begrudgingly admitting that Stanford may be a good team this year are loathe to admit that Shaw is a good coach or that Hogan is a good QB. Three themes that most amuse me:
* Stanford has a favorable schedule. Yes, this is the year we get the tough teams at home, but we still played NW and 'SC on the road and have games against UCLA, ND, Oregon and C'al coming up. I don't think anyone would say that we had a light schedule. Sure, we miss UT and ASU, but we have both UCLA and 'SC. If we win the Pac12 North, we will clearly have earned it
* Our awesome OLine is covering up deficiencies in our skill position players. As though Goff's WR's aren't making some exceptional catches that improve his numbers (and vice versa). Last I checked it's a team game and being exceptional in one area doesn't denigrate the others. But anyone watching our team who hasn't been impressed by the QB, WR and RB play the past 3.5 games doesn't know football.
* Shaw is not a good coach and his players, especially his offensive line, are covering up for that. It's as though he has no responsibility for identifying, recruiting, hiring coaches to coach them up, and providing his own instruction to make them into the unit they are. As if stellar OLine play just fell into his lap and he's just serendipitously enjoying the rewards.
Anyway, there's clearly a long history between both fan bases of downplaying (or is that down playing, ;-) ) any progress or achievements.
They're clearly improved, but I'll be interested to see as they go through the meat of their schedule.