[TrumpCard]

Stanford had incredible luck with starting QBs and RBs avoiding injury from 2009 through November 2016. Other than Luck missing the Sun Bowl in 2019 did any starter miss a game during that almost 8 season long run of luck?

Things obviously went south starting with Christ’s injury in the Sun Bowl in 2016. In my view, Chryst, Costello, and Mills ALL were good QBs who failed to reach their potential at Stanford in significant part due to the injury bug. That’s not an excuse, but an explanation. I think the mere fact that all of them suffered significant injuries reflects the declining performance of the OL, which is partially attributable to coaching. But I don’t think QB development was bad. I actually thought that Chryst looked really good in late 2016 and Costello looked really good in late 2018 prior to their injury woes. Mills obviously was injured from Day 1 and almost never seemed to be fully healthy. Again, this doesn’t exonerate the program, but I think OL development has been a bigger problem than QB development.

Edit:  In an alternate universe hypothetical, I have to wonder what would have happened to Stanford football if Bloomgren had a better 2017.  He bungled recruiting for the 2018 class beyond belief, chased Casey Tucker into a voluntary redshirt year, and couldn't keep his troops healthy or working in sync.  Was he pushed out after that year, or did he prefer the Rice head coaching gig?  I have trouble believing he wanted to go out on that note instead of looking for a P5 coaching gig.  If he had performed a little better in 2017 or just stayed a couple more years to turn things back around, would he have been able to do better than Carberry and Heffernan at OL and better than Tavita at OC?  I have to think that's a resounding yes.

[TrumpCard]

Stanford had incredible luck with starting QBs and RBs avoiding injury from 2009 through November 2016. Other than Luck missing the Sun Bowl in 2019 did any starter miss a game during that almost 8 season long run of luck?

Things obviously went south starting with Christ’s injury in the Sun Bowl in 2016. In my view, Chryst, Costello, and Mills ALL were good QBs who failed to reach their potential at Stanford in significant part due to the injury bug. That’s not an excuse, but an explanation. I think the mere fact that all of them suffered significant injuries reflects the declining performance of the OL, which is partially attributable to coaching. But I don’t think QB development was bad. I actually thought that Chryst looked really good in late 2016 and Costello looked really good in late 2018 prior to their injury woes. Mills obviously was injured from Day 1 and almost never seemed to be fully healthy. Again, this doesn’t exonerate the program, but I think OL development has been a bigger problem than QB development.

Edit:  In an alternate universe hypothetical, I have to wonder what would have happened to Stanford football if Bloomgren had a better 2017.  He bungled recruiting for the 2018 class beyond belief, chased Casey Tucker into a voluntary redshirt year, and couldn't keep his troops healthy or working in sync.  Was he pushed out after that year, or did he prefer the Rice head coaching gig?  I have trouble believing he wanted to go out on that note instead of looking for a P5 coaching gig.  If he had performed a little better in 2017 or just stayed a couple more years to turn things back around, would he have been able to do better than Carberry and Heffernan at OL and better than Tavita at OC?  I have to think that's a resounding yes.