[msqueri]

Yes, indeed. At the beginning of that season Ostrander got sacked four times by UCLA, once by San Jose State, three times by Oregon, SEVEN times by Arizona State, and then the seizure in between that beating and USC. In the Greatest Upset Ever Pritchard got sacked four times. We went a long time without being able to keep a QB clean. Then in 2008 the Tunnel Workers Union started to show up and we got sacked 1.75 times per game. In 2009 we had arrived. In Luck's first year starting: eight sacks in 13 games. The worst team at protecting the QB in America from 2004-2007 had become #2 (#1 in Power Five) behind only Boise State.

2008 was far from a "clean" year though. Against TCU Pritchard carried the ball 9 times for -21 yards. Possibly one of those was a planned run, the others were not. He did gain 14 yards on one run. Sacks are one statistic, but running for your life is another. On top of that, the number of times he got hit while throwing were non-trivial. Undoubtedly this one game contributed mightily to the 1.75 sacks/game. One of his passes literally went straight up in the air. Having a Toby Gerhart and an improving line was a great synergy. Gerhart's running ability made a big contribution to the small number of sacks in 2009.

TCU was a great defense in 2008. They were #2 in the nation in sacks and #8 in tackles for loss. By and large, 2008 was a clean year for us. We were #49 in sacks allowed even though we played four of the top 11 sack demon defenses in America (TCU, Oregon, Oregon State, and San Jose State). We were #48 in tackles for loss allowed. Sure we faced some challenges, but compared to how other teams did against these defenses we were blocking well by 2008. And you make it sound like Gerhart wasn't around to help in 2008, but he rushed for 95 yards per game that year and was the #3 back in the Pac-10 after Jahvid Best and Jacquizz Rodgers. I think you're right about the synergies but 2008 is when it arrived. It wasn't as spectacular as it would become, but Stanford's line play was good in 2008 once you adjust for playing TCU, Oregon, Oregon State, and San Jose State. What held us back that year was our defense and, to a slightly lesser extent, Pritchard.

To be blunt, 2008 was still in an era of Stanford football in which our DBs were not anywhere close to Power Five level. We were starting Wopamo Osaisai, Kris Evans, Sean Wiser, and Bo McNally. That is what was not clean about our team. Harbaugh had the rest of it shaping up nicely by 2008.

[msqueri]

Yes, indeed. At the beginning of that season Ostrander got sacked four times by UCLA, once by San Jose State, three times by Oregon, SEVEN times by Arizona State, and then the seizure in between that beating and USC. In the Greatest Upset Ever Pritchard got sacked four times. We went a long time without being able to keep a QB clean. Then in 2008 the Tunnel Workers Union started to show up and we got sacked 1.75 times per game. In 2009 we had arrived. In Luck's first year starting: eight sacks in 13 games. The worst team at protecting the QB in America from 2004-2007 had become #2 (#1 in Power Five) behind only Boise State.

2008 was far from a "clean" year though. Against TCU Pritchard carried the ball 9 times for -21 yards. Possibly one of those was a planned run, the others were not. He did gain 14 yards on one run. Sacks are one statistic, but running for your life is another. On top of that, the number of times he got hit while throwing were non-trivial. Undoubtedly this one game contributed mightily to the 1.75 sacks/game. One of his passes literally went straight up in the air. Having a Toby Gerhart and an improving line was a great synergy. Gerhart's running ability made a big contribution to the small number of sacks in 2009.

TCU was a great defense in 2008. They were #2 in the nation in sacks and #8 in tackles for loss. By and large, 2008 was a clean year for us. We were #49 in sacks allowed even though we played four of the top 11 sack demon defenses in America (TCU, Oregon, Oregon State, and San Jose State). We were #48 in tackles for loss allowed. Sure we faced some challenges, but compared to how other teams did against these defenses we were blocking well by 2008. And you make it sound like Gerhart wasn't around to help in 2008, but he rushed for 95 yards per game that year and was the #3 back in the Pac-10 after Jahvid Best and Jacquizz Rodgers. I think you're right about the synergies but 2008 is when it arrived. It wasn't as spectacular as it would become, but Stanford's line play was good in 2008 once you adjust for playing TCU, Oregon, Oregon State, and San Jose State. What held us back that year was our defense and, to a slightly lesser extent, Pritchard.

To be blunt, 2008 was still in an era of Stanford football in which our DBs were not anywhere close to Power Five level. We were starting Wopamo Osaisai, Kris Evans, Sean Wiser, and Bo McNally. That is what was not clean about our team. Harbaugh had the rest of it shaping up nicely by 2008.