[fullmetal]

I started watching in the 2H.  Davis Mills looked like a D1 qb tonight, fitting throws into tight windows and making good, quick decisions.  I don't know if he had to make a lot of sophisticated reads, but he showed good touch on crossing routes and slants, which has been a fundamental weak spot for some time.  Scarlett did his best Gerhart/Gaffney impression with Gaffney on the sideline, grinding out first down after first down in the waning minutes to salt the game away.  Scarlett carried a small pile of humans multiple times for crucial YAC to bleed clock and gain yards.  Let's not forget the OL, who protected Mills in the first half and then began to assert their will in the second half, grinding out the UW DL to enable Scarlett in the 4Q.

Time of possession was won handily by Stanford, enabling the defense to rest up between appearances.  Multiple playmakers stepped up for the defense, but imo none as important as everyone rushing the passer.  I feel like the 25% of all pressures/sacks/knockdowns were due to good coverage, and the rest of the credit goes to the rushers and creative rushing schemes.  I'm not sure how the defense was able to party in the backfield as they did, but that was a throwback performance (afterparty in the backfield!).

Speaking of throwback performances, when was the last time Stanford was able to use the run effectively to put the game away?  Nine plays, 29 yards, ~5 minutes of clock...all runs.  Shaw eventually punted on 4th and 2, but there were only 54 sec left on the clock by then, and UW had no remaining timeouts.  Cam Scarlett carried a pile of tacklers yard after yard and really gutted out those first downs.  You might say the legend of Cam Scarlett can be summed up by that drive...he just carried the team there (again, enabled by OL).

But Mills was injured, Hattis is out for a significant amount of time, and we're looking at starting three true frosh on the OL and maybe the third string QB (it's Westworld now).  The future is murky.  But tonight, and for the bye week to come, this Stanford team became who they thought they could be.

[fullmetal]

I started watching in the 2H.  Davis Mills looked like a D1 qb tonight, fitting throws into tight windows and making good, quick decisions.  I don't know if he had to make a lot of sophisticated reads, but he showed good touch on crossing routes and slants, which has been a fundamental weak spot for some time.  Scarlett did his best Gerhart/Gaffney impression with Gaffney on the sideline, grinding out first down after first down in the waning minutes to salt the game away.  Scarlett carried a small pile of humans multiple times for crucial YAC to bleed clock and gain yards.  Let's not forget the OL, who protected Mills in the first half and then began to assert their will in the second half, grinding out the UW DL to enable Scarlett in the 4Q.

Time of possession was won handily by Stanford, enabling the defense to rest up between appearances.  Multiple playmakers stepped up for the defense, but imo none as important as everyone rushing the passer.  I feel like the 25% of all pressures/sacks/knockdowns were due to good coverage, and the rest of the credit goes to the rushers and creative rushing schemes.  I'm not sure how the defense was able to party in the backfield as they did, but that was a throwback performance (afterparty in the backfield!).

Speaking of throwback performances, when was the last time Stanford was able to use the run effectively to put the game away?  Nine plays, 29 yards, ~5 minutes of clock...all runs.  Shaw eventually punted on 4th and 2, but there were only 54 sec left on the clock by then, and UW had no remaining timeouts.  Cam Scarlett carried a pile of tacklers yard after yard and really gutted out those first downs.  You might say the legend of Cam Scarlett can be summed up by that drive...he just carried the team there (again, enabled by OL).

But Mills was injured, Hattis is out for a significant amount of time, and we're looking at starting three true frosh on the OL and maybe the third string QB (it's Westworld now).  The future is murky.  But tonight, and for the bye week to come, this Stanford team became who they thought they could be.