[ColoradoTree]

Shaw has suggested before this year that Stanford is going to have to be on top for a long time before the perception of the program changes enough for it to get the benefit of the doubt of the humans who vote to put teams in national playoffs.

That may be true, but you also have to beat teams like Michigan State and Iowa in the Rose Bowl and not lose to Utah and Northwestern in the regular season.  My feeling is that Stanford has in fact earned the respect nationally that its record since 2009 warrants, but to get over that hump, you have to win one more game in a season in some of those years.  While it may be true that Stanford's schedule is tougher than many others who have gotten those national title opportunities, Stanford must have an 11 win regular season and win the tie-breaker with Oregon, in addition to winning the Pac-12, at least in the current system.

All fair enough, and I think that this definitely holds true for our perception among some national media types, but I think the folks in the room in Grapevine, Texas had plenty of respect for Stanford.  Yeah, we didn't get in, but we were the highest-ranked two-loss team, and were ranked higher than the 1-loss defending national champion.  If we'd finished the season ranked lower than we were, I might be more inclined to agree.  But if we'd beaten Oregon, I think we're in the playoff right now.  If we'd beaten Northwestern, I think we're in the playoff right now.  That's enough respect for me. 

[ColoradoTree]

Shaw has suggested before this year that Stanford is going to have to be on top for a long time before the perception of the program changes enough for it to get the benefit of the doubt of the humans who vote to put teams in national playoffs.

That may be true, but you also have to beat teams like Michigan State and Iowa in the Rose Bowl and not lose to Utah and Northwestern in the regular season.  My feeling is that Stanford has in fact earned the respect nationally that its record since 2009 warrants, but to get over that hump, you have to win one more game in a season in some of those years.  While it may be true that Stanford's schedule is tougher than many others who have gotten those national title opportunities, Stanford must have an 11 win regular season and win the tie-breaker with Oregon, in addition to winning the Pac-12, at least in the current system.

All fair enough, and I think that this definitely holds true for our perception among some national media types, but I think the folks in the room in Grapevine, Texas had plenty of respect for Stanford.  Yeah, we didn't get in, but we were the highest-ranked two-loss team, and were ranked higher than the 1-loss defending national champion.  If we'd finished the season ranked lower than we were, I might be more inclined to agree.  But if we'd beaten Oregon, I think we're in the playoff right now.  If we'd beaten Northwestern, I think we're in the playoff right now.  That's enough respect for me.