12-10-2015, 10:28 PM
By PFF ratings, they also had us as the 4th best team in college football this year: https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/20...ff-grades/
Interesting to see Kalambayi rated higher than Martinez. They had Clemson and Michigan State ranked below us, and Bama, Oklahoma, and Ohio State above us.Â
"4. Stanford Cardinal
The Cardinal ruined their playoff hopes by laying an egg in the season opener on the road at Northwestern, and by failing to maintain control of the game against a dangerous Oregon team. However, the Cardinal proved themselves to be the class of a Pac-12 conference full of talented but flawed teams.
Sophomore RB Christian McCaffrey was the star for Stanford, as his +43.4 overall grade was the best in the nation among backs. McCaffrey did it all for Stanford rushing, receiving, returning and even passing breaking the NCAA all-purpose yardage record set by the great Barry Sanders. Veteran QB Kevin Hogan flourished alongside McCaffrey, earning a +25.0 overall grade and enjoying the best season of his college career.
It helped that McCaffrey was rushing behind an outstanding offensive line, as four of the five starters on that line finished the season with overall grades of +16.5 or greater. FB Daniel Marx also did his part for the run game, with a +12.1 run-blocking grade.
The starting defensive line of Solomon Thomas (+26.4), Aziz Shittu (+13.7) and Brennan Scarlett (+13.1) was good, but they had little depth. Behind the line LBs Peter Kalambayi (+8.3), Blake Martinez (+7.3) and CB Ronnie Harris (+8.1) all had solid seasons, but this unit was not of the same vintage as other recent Stanford defenses."
Interesting to see Kalambayi rated higher than Martinez. They had Clemson and Michigan State ranked below us, and Bama, Oklahoma, and Ohio State above us.Â
"4. Stanford Cardinal
The Cardinal ruined their playoff hopes by laying an egg in the season opener on the road at Northwestern, and by failing to maintain control of the game against a dangerous Oregon team. However, the Cardinal proved themselves to be the class of a Pac-12 conference full of talented but flawed teams.
Sophomore RB Christian McCaffrey was the star for Stanford, as his +43.4 overall grade was the best in the nation among backs. McCaffrey did it all for Stanford rushing, receiving, returning and even passing breaking the NCAA all-purpose yardage record set by the great Barry Sanders. Veteran QB Kevin Hogan flourished alongside McCaffrey, earning a +25.0 overall grade and enjoying the best season of his college career.
It helped that McCaffrey was rushing behind an outstanding offensive line, as four of the five starters on that line finished the season with overall grades of +16.5 or greater. FB Daniel Marx also did his part for the run game, with a +12.1 run-blocking grade.
The starting defensive line of Solomon Thomas (+26.4), Aziz Shittu (+13.7) and Brennan Scarlett (+13.1) was good, but they had little depth. Behind the line LBs Peter Kalambayi (+8.3), Blake Martinez (+7.3) and CB Ronnie Harris (+8.1) all had solid seasons, but this unit was not of the same vintage as other recent Stanford defenses."