09-21-2024, 11:15 AM
6. The bright spot of the offensive play last night was unquestionably the skill position guys. Ayomanor is of course the straw who stirs our drink and he had another very good game, with the biggest offensive plays of the game (what a touchdown catch, how clutch on the decisive 4th down, and some others....though how braindead is Syracuse to single cover Ayomanor on a must-pass down with the game on the line?!?!). Cisse is a recruit I underestimated and he made a very big impact. Even Roush (I'm not a fan) contributed. [Do we need to start talking about Bachmeier? He has gone from second in targets to sixth (six times in three games) and he is edging out Leyrer for the worst season grade on our team. Pretty clear liability. He had some fun moments last year (and of course the punt return against Cal Poly) but even then he didn't grade well. I think we would be well-served to miraculously get Mosley healthy.] I really like Ford and Davis and would give an arm to get to see them run behind a good offensive line. [Moving the chains (first down) leaderboard: Ayomanor (4), Ford (4), Cisse (3), Daniels (3), Davis, Roush, Reuben, Lamson, Irvin]
7. I think the most dispiriting thing going on in Stanford football is that there is no reason, in my judgment, to have much optimism that we are on a trajectory to ever give those young backs a good line to run behind. Something needs to change with OL. By the way, this was the first time in the last 12 games and the first time against a power conference team ever in the Taylor era that RBs had more carries than QBs (17 to 15). I am not sure I will predict that going forward against competent run defenses; it still seems somewhat likely that our run blocking is so putrid that RB is not a real part of our offense. Really hope we can change that, as I do think Agnew has the horses. The OL silver lining in this game was possible progress in pass blocking. It remains to be seen how good Syracuse's pass rush is going to end up being this season, but I will take one sack allowed any week of the season, and as I recall Daniels had a lot of time on the one he did take. It seems like we are going to have a lot better pass blocking than run blocking this season, currently #65 in pass blocking according to PFF and #116 in run blocking. The other encouraging thing in this game for the OL is that House took a big step forward compared to his debut. Very encouraging that he did better than Baklenko has in any FBS game the last two seasons. I realize there is arguably a coherent developmental philosophy with our OL shuffling and youth movement, but I am struggling with the idea McLaughlin is being benched for a true freshman and a true sophomore, neither of whom has ever had a single game at McLaughlin's normal level of performance. We are sacrificing current line play for developmental opportunity. Reasonable minds can debate if that makes sense with where our offense is (I myself am finding myself more conflicted) but I don't think there's a doubt it's happening. Speaking of the developmental youth movement, Pale and Baklenko are slumping (as is the more veteran Leyrer). Evidence continues to mount that our OL coaching blows, though maybe the picture will complicate if pass blocking progress can be sustained.
8. Reversion to the mean on penalties but even still it was in the middle-ish range for what teams nationally typically commit in a game and no more damaging than Syracuse's own penalties. Because the offense is so flawed and has to little margin for error, the OL penalties are very frustrating. But by and large, I would say the penalties are not that big of a story. The one exception is Leyrer's very bad game. I'm glad he was benched for Maikkula and I think there is a good chance Maikkula starts against Clemson. After all, it wouldn't be a Talamaivao/Netter football game without yet another starting lineup for this bad offensive line.
9. It was great to see some partying in the backfield, the second most tackles for loss and tied for the most sacks we've had against a power opponent under April, and it was even better to see multiple turnovers with the two big interceptions (and Bailey's forced fumble was equally turnover-conducive, just can't predict the bounce of a fumble). Nothing like a pick six for momentum and excitement. The amount we dropped Bailey or Tafiti back mercifully decreased, though Tafiti still did it a lot. With the nice things I've said about how the defense is trending I will soften my criticism of Tafiti's usage as long as we let Bailey hunt. And hunt he did. He was a terror, though he continues to be on the field a lot less than Aybar and Tafiti. But he wasn't actually the defender with the most positive plays in the box score. That would be - to my shock - Green. Heck of a game for him, far and away a career day even going back to his two (bad) years at Washington. He tackled in run defense and pass defense and of course had the interception. I also really appreciated Franklin's effort. We again had high single digits of players show up multiple times to me in significantly contributing ways in the box score (Green, Franklin, Sinclair, Tafiti, Bailey, Leigber, Bernadel, Edwards). Looking to the future, Staples and Rowell continue to show some potential at DL.
10. Another game, another round of special teams contributions. Have to start with Kenney and his makes of 38, 51, 35, and the game-winner from 39. He now is atop the kicker heap nationally, the most made field goals of any kicker who has yet to miss this season, as well as the most made field goals per game of any kicker in the nation (a massive 2.7 per game, higher than any kicker has had in years, which I'm sure will come down to earth). He has three from 40+ and now the one from 50+, which compares to Karty last year having 11 40+ and four 50+ on the season, so Kenney is exactly on that stellar pace. What a complete shock, at least to me and judging from Taylor's tone him as well, to not have missed a beat with a kicker who never attempted a field goal in three years and whose only real memory for Stanford fans was one of the most surprising and incompetent injuries in Stanford history. After the game, Taylor emotionally called Kenney the best kicker in the country, gave him the game ball, and gave him the honor of leading the C-House chant. Who could possibly disagree with any of that at this point. What. A. Story. Elsewhere on special teams, Flintoft contributed nicely to field position with net punts of 47 to the 17, 45 to the 30, 47 to the 32, and 40 to the 40. Bachmeier had a quiet day with punt returns for 1, 7, and 0, with the most notable thing being muffing a punt (could have been disastrous). Morris had an uncharacteristic missed tackle on kick coverage but Bailey quickly cleaned it up.
11. Game balls: Ayomanor, Bailey, Kenney, April
12. This win is the difference between a 3-4 win expectation for the season and a 4-5 win expectation. That is brobdingnagian for three reasons. First, for a program on a three year streak of three win seasons, a four win season would feel inordinately relieving. Second, five wins would feel and look a lot different in terms of selling the program's momentum to recruits, fans, and within the program, especially since we are on a five year streak of not winning more than four games. Third, this puts us one more surprise win away from a bowl being a legitimate aspiration. One can't overstate how much that level of over-achieving would mean for the rebuild. All of a sudden it feels like we're really playing for something. I haven't seen enough to make me think beating Clemson is a real possibility but, hey, we know the team battles and we are on our first winning streak in 23 months, so it's going to be a lot more fun going into Death Valley than we anticipated.
7. I think the most dispiriting thing going on in Stanford football is that there is no reason, in my judgment, to have much optimism that we are on a trajectory to ever give those young backs a good line to run behind. Something needs to change with OL. By the way, this was the first time in the last 12 games and the first time against a power conference team ever in the Taylor era that RBs had more carries than QBs (17 to 15). I am not sure I will predict that going forward against competent run defenses; it still seems somewhat likely that our run blocking is so putrid that RB is not a real part of our offense. Really hope we can change that, as I do think Agnew has the horses. The OL silver lining in this game was possible progress in pass blocking. It remains to be seen how good Syracuse's pass rush is going to end up being this season, but I will take one sack allowed any week of the season, and as I recall Daniels had a lot of time on the one he did take. It seems like we are going to have a lot better pass blocking than run blocking this season, currently #65 in pass blocking according to PFF and #116 in run blocking. The other encouraging thing in this game for the OL is that House took a big step forward compared to his debut. Very encouraging that he did better than Baklenko has in any FBS game the last two seasons. I realize there is arguably a coherent developmental philosophy with our OL shuffling and youth movement, but I am struggling with the idea McLaughlin is being benched for a true freshman and a true sophomore, neither of whom has ever had a single game at McLaughlin's normal level of performance. We are sacrificing current line play for developmental opportunity. Reasonable minds can debate if that makes sense with where our offense is (I myself am finding myself more conflicted) but I don't think there's a doubt it's happening. Speaking of the developmental youth movement, Pale and Baklenko are slumping (as is the more veteran Leyrer). Evidence continues to mount that our OL coaching blows, though maybe the picture will complicate if pass blocking progress can be sustained.
8. Reversion to the mean on penalties but even still it was in the middle-ish range for what teams nationally typically commit in a game and no more damaging than Syracuse's own penalties. Because the offense is so flawed and has to little margin for error, the OL penalties are very frustrating. But by and large, I would say the penalties are not that big of a story. The one exception is Leyrer's very bad game. I'm glad he was benched for Maikkula and I think there is a good chance Maikkula starts against Clemson. After all, it wouldn't be a Talamaivao/Netter football game without yet another starting lineup for this bad offensive line.
9. It was great to see some partying in the backfield, the second most tackles for loss and tied for the most sacks we've had against a power opponent under April, and it was even better to see multiple turnovers with the two big interceptions (and Bailey's forced fumble was equally turnover-conducive, just can't predict the bounce of a fumble). Nothing like a pick six for momentum and excitement. The amount we dropped Bailey or Tafiti back mercifully decreased, though Tafiti still did it a lot. With the nice things I've said about how the defense is trending I will soften my criticism of Tafiti's usage as long as we let Bailey hunt. And hunt he did. He was a terror, though he continues to be on the field a lot less than Aybar and Tafiti. But he wasn't actually the defender with the most positive plays in the box score. That would be - to my shock - Green. Heck of a game for him, far and away a career day even going back to his two (bad) years at Washington. He tackled in run defense and pass defense and of course had the interception. I also really appreciated Franklin's effort. We again had high single digits of players show up multiple times to me in significantly contributing ways in the box score (Green, Franklin, Sinclair, Tafiti, Bailey, Leigber, Bernadel, Edwards). Looking to the future, Staples and Rowell continue to show some potential at DL.
10. Another game, another round of special teams contributions. Have to start with Kenney and his makes of 38, 51, 35, and the game-winner from 39. He now is atop the kicker heap nationally, the most made field goals of any kicker who has yet to miss this season, as well as the most made field goals per game of any kicker in the nation (a massive 2.7 per game, higher than any kicker has had in years, which I'm sure will come down to earth). He has three from 40+ and now the one from 50+, which compares to Karty last year having 11 40+ and four 50+ on the season, so Kenney is exactly on that stellar pace. What a complete shock, at least to me and judging from Taylor's tone him as well, to not have missed a beat with a kicker who never attempted a field goal in three years and whose only real memory for Stanford fans was one of the most surprising and incompetent injuries in Stanford history. After the game, Taylor emotionally called Kenney the best kicker in the country, gave him the game ball, and gave him the honor of leading the C-House chant. Who could possibly disagree with any of that at this point. What. A. Story. Elsewhere on special teams, Flintoft contributed nicely to field position with net punts of 47 to the 17, 45 to the 30, 47 to the 32, and 40 to the 40. Bachmeier had a quiet day with punt returns for 1, 7, and 0, with the most notable thing being muffing a punt (could have been disastrous). Morris had an uncharacteristic missed tackle on kick coverage but Bailey quickly cleaned it up.
11. Game balls: Ayomanor, Bailey, Kenney, April
12. This win is the difference between a 3-4 win expectation for the season and a 4-5 win expectation. That is brobdingnagian for three reasons. First, for a program on a three year streak of three win seasons, a four win season would feel inordinately relieving. Second, five wins would feel and look a lot different in terms of selling the program's momentum to recruits, fans, and within the program, especially since we are on a five year streak of not winning more than four games. Third, this puts us one more surprise win away from a bowl being a legitimate aspiration. One can't overstate how much that level of over-achieving would mean for the rebuild. All of a sudden it feels like we're really playing for something. I haven't seen enough to make me think beating Clemson is a real possibility but, hey, we know the team battles and we are on our first winning streak in 23 months, so it's going to be a lot more fun going into Death Valley than we anticipated.