[gailtate]

I swear I was going to predict SC to win, something like 55-21 until I re-watched the Stanford-Colgate game (Stanford looks a lot  better on a second viewing) and the USC-Rice game.

Hats off to Mike Bloomgren and his team. I think they had a great game plan, and they came out and played hard and, I would argue, they pounded USC. They were fearless, played fast (or as fast as they could), blocked physically, ran hard, and flew to their tackles. Also a big thank you to Rice for banging USC up during what was supposed to be an “easy” warm-up game.

The big question to me is, what is the over-under for this game. Either Shaw says “we can’t stop the Air Raid, even more so with Williams and the USC receiving corps,” so let’s try to win a shootout 56-55. Or, do you say, “we can’t stop the Air Raid, even more so with Williams and USC receiving corps,” so let’s try to make each of our drives take 8 minutes, dominate the clock, and hope USC makes mistakes on a few drives (maybe an Austin Jones fumble?), and try to win 34-31.

I think Stanford can run on USC. I think Stanford can fix its mistakes and be more efficient than USC. And I think Stanford fixes its special teams woes, and, even if Stanford loses offense against offense, it racks up enough return yardage that they can find a way to win 34-31, even though Stanford cannot stop a USC Air Raid (or any Air Raid, for that matter).

Incidentally, what is the Trojan QB, Caleb Williams, thinking, lowering his shoulder play after play against Rice. RICE. If he is going to lower his shoulder 15 times a game, there is no way he makes it through the season, and so at some point this season, SC, a team which could be a playoff contender, falls apart after losing their QB.

EJ and the Trees 34
Austin Jones and the Transfers 31

"EJ and The Trees", :Austin Jones and The The Transfers".  Sound like musical headliners at BottleRock Napa Valley.

[gailtate]

I swear I was going to predict SC to win, something like 55-21 until I re-watched the Stanford-Colgate game (Stanford looks a lot  better on a second viewing) and the USC-Rice game.

Hats off to Mike Bloomgren and his team. I think they had a great game plan, and they came out and played hard and, I would argue, they pounded USC. They were fearless, played fast (or as fast as they could), blocked physically, ran hard, and flew to their tackles. Also a big thank you to Rice for banging USC up during what was supposed to be an “easy” warm-up game.

The big question to me is, what is the over-under for this game. Either Shaw says “we can’t stop the Air Raid, even more so with Williams and the USC receiving corps,” so let’s try to win a shootout 56-55. Or, do you say, “we can’t stop the Air Raid, even more so with Williams and USC receiving corps,” so let’s try to make each of our drives take 8 minutes, dominate the clock, and hope USC makes mistakes on a few drives (maybe an Austin Jones fumble?), and try to win 34-31.

I think Stanford can run on USC. I think Stanford can fix its mistakes and be more efficient than USC. And I think Stanford fixes its special teams woes, and, even if Stanford loses offense against offense, it racks up enough return yardage that they can find a way to win 34-31, even though Stanford cannot stop a USC Air Raid (or any Air Raid, for that matter).

Incidentally, what is the Trojan QB, Caleb Williams, thinking, lowering his shoulder play after play against Rice. RICE. If he is going to lower his shoulder 15 times a game, there is no way he makes it through the season, and so at some point this season, SC, a team which could be a playoff contender, falls apart after losing their QB.

EJ and the Trees 34
Austin Jones and the Transfers 31

"EJ and The Trees", :Austin Jones and The The Transfers".  Sound like musical headliners at BottleRock Napa Valley.