12-27-2017, 02:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-27-2017, 02:45 PM by Duck Tears.)
Barring bad luck, we should win tomorrow.
History shows some fluky obstacles -- steroids, injuries, colossaly bad coaching decisions -- getting in Stanford's way come bowl season.
How many of these bowl losses could been easily prevented? I mean, what if...
1. John Zenter and Tony Leiker don't get busted for steroids, or John Paye stays healthy (1986 Gator Bowl)?
2. THREE all-time greats AND the starting long-snapper (2000 Rose Bowl) don't get hurt? Troy Walters and Willie Howard weren't nearly the same. Mike McLaughlin lasted one series.
3. George O'Leary didn't fudge his resume (2001 Seattle Bowl)? That way, Ty Willingham actually prepares his team instead of lobbying for the Notre Dame job.
4. Luck plays in the 2009 Sun Bowl? Surely his absence was worth more than six points.
5. JW just makes the kick (2011 Fiesta)? Or Shaw just pushes a few yards deeper into OK State territory before trying it?
6. The defender (whose name escapes me) doesn't drop that interception late in the first half of the 2014 Rose Bowl? Or what if Ty Montgomery doesn't miss most of the 4Q (again, injury)? What if someone besides Ryan Hewitt gets the ball on 4th-and-ball game (or Ricky Seale, two plays earlier)?
History shows some fluky obstacles -- steroids, injuries, colossaly bad coaching decisions -- getting in Stanford's way come bowl season.
How many of these bowl losses could been easily prevented? I mean, what if...
1. John Zenter and Tony Leiker don't get busted for steroids, or John Paye stays healthy (1986 Gator Bowl)?
2. THREE all-time greats AND the starting long-snapper (2000 Rose Bowl) don't get hurt? Troy Walters and Willie Howard weren't nearly the same. Mike McLaughlin lasted one series.
3. George O'Leary didn't fudge his resume (2001 Seattle Bowl)? That way, Ty Willingham actually prepares his team instead of lobbying for the Notre Dame job.
4. Luck plays in the 2009 Sun Bowl? Surely his absence was worth more than six points.
5. JW just makes the kick (2011 Fiesta)? Or Shaw just pushes a few yards deeper into OK State territory before trying it?
6. The defender (whose name escapes me) doesn't drop that interception late in the first half of the 2014 Rose Bowl? Or what if Ty Montgomery doesn't miss most of the 4Q (again, injury)? What if someone besides Ryan Hewitt gets the ball on 4th-and-ball game (or Ricky Seale, two plays earlier)?
Khalil Wilkes' fumble recovery against Oregon in 2012 is the greatest Stanford play nobody talks about.