[Mick]

I'm ambivalent about all things Stanford Football now. There is no indication anything is getting better and how can Jones transferring make anything worse?

McCaffrey 'bowl opting' was the skillshot for Stanford football

And the nail in the coffin was the moment the portal became a thing.

College football is nothing but glorified minor league football. For Stanford It's too difficult to get in and too easy to get out. We could have the greatest coaches in the universe and it wouldn't make a bit of difference

Having better coaches would ABSOLUTELY make a difference. Even if the W-L column wouldn't change (which it still would), there's a massive difference between actually being competitive in every game and getting completely bullied off the field with the team clearly quitting on the coaches.

Hmmm, willing to suggest which coaches should be changed out?

Maybe we can get them to enter the portal...

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I like the Ivy League scenario. Picture it:

Beautiful Fall day at the stadium. Paper tickets, no scholies, no Red Coats, only hot dogs and soda, BYOB. Small band basketball style. No insidious twenty year old band announcers, plenty of room to relax, take a nap. Problem is finding opponents.

I went to one of those games.  Once. First play was a pass to the flat.  WR does a one step juke, sprints hard for the sidelines.  QB throws the ball into the ground five yards in front of the receiver on a very short throw.  Easier to watch Paly vs. Los Gatos...

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Here's a clunky way to look at it, but at least it's data-driven. It's the delta between the number of stars that transfer in versus out. So if you lose a 3-star but gain a 4-star, you have a +1 margin. Of course it doesn't take into account things like playing time, position of need and years of eligibility, but someone else can attempt that exercise if they have the time.

Utah: 0
Arizona State: -6
Oregon State: -11
Cal: -14
Oregon: -22
Stanford: -22
Washington State: -23
USC: -26
UCLA: -28
Arizona: -31
Washington: -32
Colorado: -51 (!)

To this point, not a single team in the conference has a net gain of recruiting stars. Stanford's transfer results are somewhere in the middle of the Pac-12. We'll see how things shake out in the next few months.

Looks like a Pac-12 problem vs. a Stanford problem.  And certainly a Colorado problem...

[Mick]

I'm ambivalent about all things Stanford Football now. There is no indication anything is getting better and how can Jones transferring make anything worse?

McCaffrey 'bowl opting' was the skillshot for Stanford football

And the nail in the coffin was the moment the portal became a thing.

College football is nothing but glorified minor league football. For Stanford It's too difficult to get in and too easy to get out. We could have the greatest coaches in the universe and it wouldn't make a bit of difference

Having better coaches would ABSOLUTELY make a difference. Even if the W-L column wouldn't change (which it still would), there's a massive difference between actually being competitive in every game and getting completely bullied off the field with the team clearly quitting on the coaches.

Hmmm, willing to suggest which coaches should be changed out?

Maybe we can get them to enter the portal...

---

I like the Ivy League scenario. Picture it:

Beautiful Fall day at the stadium. Paper tickets, no scholies, no Red Coats, only hot dogs and soda, BYOB. Small band basketball style. No insidious twenty year old band announcers, plenty of room to relax, take a nap. Problem is finding opponents.

I went to one of those games.  Once. First play was a pass to the flat.  WR does a one step juke, sprints hard for the sidelines.  QB throws the ball into the ground five yards in front of the receiver on a very short throw.  Easier to watch Paly vs. Los Gatos...

---

Here's a clunky way to look at it, but at least it's data-driven. It's the delta between the number of stars that transfer in versus out. So if you lose a 3-star but gain a 4-star, you have a +1 margin. Of course it doesn't take into account things like playing time, position of need and years of eligibility, but someone else can attempt that exercise if they have the time.

Utah: 0
Arizona State: -6
Oregon State: -11
Cal: -14
Oregon: -22
Stanford: -22
Washington State: -23
USC: -26
UCLA: -28
Arizona: -31
Washington: -32
Colorado: -51 (!)

To this point, not a single team in the conference has a net gain of recruiting stars. Stanford's transfer results are somewhere in the middle of the Pac-12. We'll see how things shake out in the next few months.

Looks like a Pac-12 problem vs. a Stanford problem.  And certainly a Colorado problem...