[Ohiocard]

7. Much less good things to say about the offense. 4.75 yards per play is just over half a yard worse than Notre Dame's average and just over a yard worse than our average on offense. Yes, we were playing with some line shuffles, but Notre Dame was playing without its best corner and one of its top defensive linemen. Our run game has gone frigid. 2.31 yards per carry is the worst anybody has done against them in 16 games. This is the third time in four games we've been held under 100 yards rushing as a team and fourth straight game with less than four yards a carry. I am fond of the way Filkins knifes and squirts for extra yards to get first downs [Moving the chains (first downs) leader board: Filkins (8), Wilson (4), Higgins (4), Yurosek (3), Tremayne (3)] but his lack of ball security would be unplayable if we had an alternative (the same statement applied to Smith before his injury, which reflects very poorly on Gould). The passing game was better but mediocre, right around Notre Dame's average allowed in yards per attempt and passer rating and we were the first team this year not to have a passing touchdown on them. McKee did do a nice job spreading the ball around for a second week, with five targets who all had 3+ catches and 38+ yards. I really hope that isn't the last time I see Wilson play for Stanford.

8. Halfway into the season we need to admit we have a problem on offense. There are myriad ways I could represent this statistically but let's keep it simple: we are 81st in scoring at 26.8 points per game. That's hard to fathom for an offense with the players we have. We haven't broken 30 points against an FBS opponent since last year's Wazzu game. To put that into perspective, the average points per game in college football in recent years is always around 29 in recent years. We haven't scored an average amount for an FBS team a single time in our last ten games. This offense stinks. Most veteran offense in America and they're not even average. There's no salvaging Shawfense.

9. We've become a kicker team. Karty was one of the featured players at Tuesday's press conference and then last night got to lead the C-House chant in the locker room. He's awfully good. His made field goals of 45, 43, and 43 make him one of nine kickers nationally with at least seven attempts and no misses. As Shaw said, Karty is a weapon. That's true on kickoffs too: we are #1 in kick returns allowed on average and our incredible mark (8.71) may put us in contention for all-time records for all I know. The best mark in the last 14 years was 2021 Michigan at 12.14. We give up 10.2 kick return yards per game. Karty a big advantage for us. Sanborn is not the same kind of advantage but is above average. Aside from the blocked punt, he had net punts of 41 (to the 35), 43 (to the 40), 41 (to the 16), and 28 (to the 10). Roush had a nice tackle in punt coverage, which was nice because he has had a rough go of it so far at tight end. I favored benching Farrell for Barrow but at least so far the mediocrity with kick returns continues.

10. In-game decisions interest me less than they interest many fans as I always feel like many of the most controversial decisions are 60/40 kind of judgment calls, hindsight is 20/20, and there's a fog of war those of us on our couches can't appreciate. But there is one call I want to comment on. I think Shaw made the right call on Sanborn's last punt and all of my text chain buddies agreed, so I was flabbergasted to see how much vitriol that call engendered on the message boards. Much of the criticism strikes me as a bit hypocritical insofar as we're always bashing Shaw for not understanding how easy it is to score on Stanford's defense, and in this case Shaw made the decision one would make if you thought holding an opponent to a field goal would be unlikely. If we kicked the field goal and then gave up a game-losing touchdown drive, many fans would have asked what good a five point lead does. But more to the point, there's no guarantee we make that field goal. Yes, Karty is great, but 57 yards is really long. He's made a 53 yarder, but 57 is a very big ask. There's also far from a guarantee we convert 4th and 8. This was not a hard decision at all. It would have been risky for Shaw to do anything other than punt and those criticizing him for it make themselves look silly.

11. Game balls: Nugent, Herron, Karty, Anderson

12. Can we build on this win? In the sense of getting more wins this season, the answer is clearly yes. As far as in-season narratives go, this was a massive win to go on the road and beat a team computers still think is borderline top 25. According to those computers, the win took our expected win total from 3.29 to 4.57, a massive one week swing at this point in the season. Far more important than computers, though, is the sense of momentum we could be on the verge of developing. It's notable that two weeks in a row we've had our best game in a calendar year and now go directly into the easiest remaining game on the schedule. Given the remaining schedule it is not outrageous for the team and its fans to hold out hope for a bowl game to salvage the season. Alas, in my view snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against Oregon State likely closes off that possibility. We'll have to run the table in a slew of tossup games and/or pull off another big upset. I don't see it and think it's overwhelmingly likely we end the year with 3-5 wins. That raises the imperative of keeping in perspective the larger picture if the in-season narrative ends up in lipstick on a pig territory. Let's see how the team does with a dramatically softer second half of the season schedule. Maybe Shaw shocks me and ends up with 6-8 wins. I won't root against that but don't expect it and think anything less than that must keep those who care acknowledging that David Shaw must go.

Good write up on the win, but I would say the thing I was most surprised by was the pass protection from our depleted offensive line. Credit to those kids who started the year down the depth chart, coming in and fighting their tails off. ND has some talented D-Linemen and other than a few plays it was a good performance by the players & coaches under the circumstances. 

Also, the rush numbers were hurt by a few of Stanford's most explosive "running" plays being the shovel pass & shovel draw. I know they are technically pass plays, but they are blocked as runs and when we talk about the run game those should be factored in.

Also, Tanner McKee may be the slowest QB in College Football. He pulled the ball once and I thought it was an easy 1st down and he got tackled for about 3 yards.

[Ohiocard]

7. Much less good things to say about the offense. 4.75 yards per play is just over half a yard worse than Notre Dame's average and just over a yard worse than our average on offense. Yes, we were playing with some line shuffles, but Notre Dame was playing without its best corner and one of its top defensive linemen. Our run game has gone frigid. 2.31 yards per carry is the worst anybody has done against them in 16 games. This is the third time in four games we've been held under 100 yards rushing as a team and fourth straight game with less than four yards a carry. I am fond of the way Filkins knifes and squirts for extra yards to get first downs [Moving the chains (first downs) leader board: Filkins (8), Wilson (4), Higgins (4), Yurosek (3), Tremayne (3)] but his lack of ball security would be unplayable if we had an alternative (the same statement applied to Smith before his injury, which reflects very poorly on Gould). The passing game was better but mediocre, right around Notre Dame's average allowed in yards per attempt and passer rating and we were the first team this year not to have a passing touchdown on them. McKee did do a nice job spreading the ball around for a second week, with five targets who all had 3+ catches and 38+ yards. I really hope that isn't the last time I see Wilson play for Stanford.

8. Halfway into the season we need to admit we have a problem on offense. There are myriad ways I could represent this statistically but let's keep it simple: we are 81st in scoring at 26.8 points per game. That's hard to fathom for an offense with the players we have. We haven't broken 30 points against an FBS opponent since last year's Wazzu game. To put that into perspective, the average points per game in college football in recent years is always around 29 in recent years. We haven't scored an average amount for an FBS team a single time in our last ten games. This offense stinks. Most veteran offense in America and they're not even average. There's no salvaging Shawfense.

9. We've become a kicker team. Karty was one of the featured players at Tuesday's press conference and then last night got to lead the C-House chant in the locker room. He's awfully good. His made field goals of 45, 43, and 43 make him one of nine kickers nationally with at least seven attempts and no misses. As Shaw said, Karty is a weapon. That's true on kickoffs too: we are #1 in kick returns allowed on average and our incredible mark (8.71) may put us in contention for all-time records for all I know. The best mark in the last 14 years was 2021 Michigan at 12.14. We give up 10.2 kick return yards per game. Karty a big advantage for us. Sanborn is not the same kind of advantage but is above average. Aside from the blocked punt, he had net punts of 41 (to the 35), 43 (to the 40), 41 (to the 16), and 28 (to the 10). Roush had a nice tackle in punt coverage, which was nice because he has had a rough go of it so far at tight end. I favored benching Farrell for Barrow but at least so far the mediocrity with kick returns continues.

10. In-game decisions interest me less than they interest many fans as I always feel like many of the most controversial decisions are 60/40 kind of judgment calls, hindsight is 20/20, and there's a fog of war those of us on our couches can't appreciate. But there is one call I want to comment on. I think Shaw made the right call on Sanborn's last punt and all of my text chain buddies agreed, so I was flabbergasted to see how much vitriol that call engendered on the message boards. Much of the criticism strikes me as a bit hypocritical insofar as we're always bashing Shaw for not understanding how easy it is to score on Stanford's defense, and in this case Shaw made the decision one would make if you thought holding an opponent to a field goal would be unlikely. If we kicked the field goal and then gave up a game-losing touchdown drive, many fans would have asked what good a five point lead does. But more to the point, there's no guarantee we make that field goal. Yes, Karty is great, but 57 yards is really long. He's made a 53 yarder, but 57 is a very big ask. There's also far from a guarantee we convert 4th and 8. This was not a hard decision at all. It would have been risky for Shaw to do anything other than punt and those criticizing him for it make themselves look silly.

11. Game balls: Nugent, Herron, Karty, Anderson

12. Can we build on this win? In the sense of getting more wins this season, the answer is clearly yes. As far as in-season narratives go, this was a massive win to go on the road and beat a team computers still think is borderline top 25. According to those computers, the win took our expected win total from 3.29 to 4.57, a massive one week swing at this point in the season. Far more important than computers, though, is the sense of momentum we could be on the verge of developing. It's notable that two weeks in a row we've had our best game in a calendar year and now go directly into the easiest remaining game on the schedule. Given the remaining schedule it is not outrageous for the team and its fans to hold out hope for a bowl game to salvage the season. Alas, in my view snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against Oregon State likely closes off that possibility. We'll have to run the table in a slew of tossup games and/or pull off another big upset. I don't see it and think it's overwhelmingly likely we end the year with 3-5 wins. That raises the imperative of keeping in perspective the larger picture if the in-season narrative ends up in lipstick on a pig territory. Let's see how the team does with a dramatically softer second half of the season schedule. Maybe Shaw shocks me and ends up with 6-8 wins. I won't root against that but don't expect it and think anything less than that must keep those who care acknowledging that David Shaw must go.

Good write up on the win, but I would say the thing I was most surprised by was the pass protection from our depleted offensive line. Credit to those kids who started the year down the depth chart, coming in and fighting their tails off. ND has some talented D-Linemen and other than a few plays it was a good performance by the players & coaches under the circumstances. 

Also, the rush numbers were hurt by a few of Stanford's most explosive "running" plays being the shovel pass & shovel draw. I know they are technically pass plays, but they are blocked as runs and when we talk about the run game those should be factored in.

Also, Tanner McKee may be the slowest QB in College Football. He pulled the ball once and I thought it was an easy 1st down and he got tackled for about 3 yards.