[CTcard]

The reason the D gets more of a break is that the recruiting on that side of the ball has been markedly below that on the O side of the ball, especially under Shaw.  


...

This puts a premium on Stanford's O being great - which has never been Shaw's strength.  Never.

That’s an odd statement to make, given that under Shaw, we have had the third best (2011) and fourth best (2015) offense in the country. 

It appears BC is referring to the latter of the two statements above.

I find the first statement odder. First, because recruiting adequate players is quite clearly the coaching staff's, and ultimately the head coach's, responsibility. Secondly, while its quite difficult to separate talent from performance (particularly if not watching behind the scenes), I don't think the defensive talent has been that bad over the past five years. It has lagged the offense, but by measures such as recruiting rankings has outpaced the very good defenses of 2010-2013.

I worry that neither side of the ball has any particular identity or year on year consistency right now; and that could make it harder to recruit and harder to develop.

[CTcard]

The reason the D gets more of a break is that the recruiting on that side of the ball has been markedly below that on the O side of the ball, especially under Shaw.  


...

This puts a premium on Stanford's O being great - which has never been Shaw's strength.  Never.

That’s an odd statement to make, given that under Shaw, we have had the third best (2011) and fourth best (2015) offense in the country. 

It appears BC is referring to the latter of the two statements above.

I find the first statement odder. First, because recruiting adequate players is quite clearly the coaching staff's, and ultimately the head coach's, responsibility. Secondly, while its quite difficult to separate talent from performance (particularly if not watching behind the scenes), I don't think the defensive talent has been that bad over the past five years. It has lagged the offense, but by measures such as recruiting rankings has outpaced the very good defenses of 2010-2013.

I worry that neither side of the ball has any particular identity or year on year consistency right now; and that could make it harder to recruit and harder to develop.