[ironiamarisa]

I think the arrangement of the home and aways and the byes is a little bit improved schedule compared to last year, as far as travel considerations.
However, the expected overall quality of the opponents is quite daunting.  Seems tougher overall than last year.
Not advocating at this point for retaining Coach TT or not, but simply looking at this schedule, to repeat a 3 win season would be a modest accomplishment for any coach given our roster.  And winning 4 or more would be a real achievement.
This also without factoring in any known benefit yet from the hiring of AL as GM.

Now that the roster is mostly overhauled and the vast majority of Covid-year-super-super-seniors are gone across the country, repeating a 3-win season in year 3 should not be viewed as "a modest accomplishment." It should be viewed as failure to launch.

Saturday, Aug. 23 at Hawai'i Honolulu, Hawaii  WIN
Saturday, Sept. 6 at BYU Provo, Utah                   loss
Saturday, Sept. 13 Boston College* Stanford, Calif.   WIN
Saturday, Sept. 20 at Virginia* Charlottesville, Va.  WIN
Saturday, Sept. 27 San Jose State Stanford, Calif.  WIN
Saturday, Oct. 11 at SMU* Dallas, Texas              loss
Saturday, Oct. 18 Florida State* (Reunion Homecoming) Stanford, Calif.    WIN
Saturday, Oct. 25 at Miami* Miami Gardens, Fla.  loss 
Saturday, Nov. 1 Pittsburgh* Stanford, Calif.           WIN
Saturday, Nov. 8 at North Carolina* Chapel Hill, N.C.    loss  
Saturday, Nov. 22 California* (128th Big Game) Stanford, Calif.  WIN
Saturday, Nov. 29 Notre Dame Stanford, Calif.             loss
Saturday, Dec. 6 ACC Championship Game Charlotte, N.C.

7-5 and an invitation to the Who Cares Bowl.  I would walk back home victories as losses if they start at 4 p.m. or later.

---

I can understand the desire to start winning and to replace TT if this is another downer year.  Unfortunately, if you get what you ask for, the end result may be even worse. Ask yourself how many successful D1 coaches would want the Stanford job.  Money maybe OK but hardly great, ability to attract to players near zero etc etc. 
TT has shown he can coach, but is the Stanford job just a bridge too far considering the state of college football today?  If I was a 4 or 5 star recruit coming out of highschool and with Stanford grades and scores, would I choose Stanford over tOSU or others? Do you want to play infront of an empty stadium while the coaching staff tries to bring in others near your level so as to start winning?  How much can a 4 star recruit demand in NIL payments if he say goes to USC, tOSU, ND etc?
If schooll A offers you $1,000,000 in NIL payments and you can go to Stanford and get half of that why would you go to Stanford?  The 40 year decison thing is dead in the water for almost all recruits. Playing in front of a crowd of 1000 is hardly inspiring.  Most good high school players had bigger crowds than Stanford can offer now days.
While I would love to see this problem solved, I believe it is pretty much beyond the ken of current fans to solve.

Not going to disagree that we're probably not going to be recruiting at an elite level and getting the next Andrew Luck to take us to, say, the College Football Playoff; but I do think that recruiting is not the biggest problem with the football program today. For what it's worth, the past few Troy Taylor classes all rank around 50th in the country with a good sprinkle of three and four star players -- and that is despite NIL, despite the departure of Shaw, despite the administration's "war on fun," despite our academic requirements (or do 3* recruits who probably aren't making the League still making their "40 year decisions"?). 

The fact is that we have consistently failed to develop talented blue chip recruits and the coaching staff is doing them no favors with game plans and various in-game hiccups. That should be the biggest indictment against Troy Taylor and co. And yes, I do believe that Taylor should be let go if we don't win three or more games next season and if we don't make a bowl game at all in the next couple of years.

[ironiamarisa]

I think the arrangement of the home and aways and the byes is a little bit improved schedule compared to last year, as far as travel considerations.
However, the expected overall quality of the opponents is quite daunting.  Seems tougher overall than last year.
Not advocating at this point for retaining Coach TT or not, but simply looking at this schedule, to repeat a 3 win season would be a modest accomplishment for any coach given our roster.  And winning 4 or more would be a real achievement.
This also without factoring in any known benefit yet from the hiring of AL as GM.

Now that the roster is mostly overhauled and the vast majority of Covid-year-super-super-seniors are gone across the country, repeating a 3-win season in year 3 should not be viewed as "a modest accomplishment." It should be viewed as failure to launch.

Saturday, Aug. 23 at Hawai'i Honolulu, Hawaii  WIN
Saturday, Sept. 6 at BYU Provo, Utah                   loss
Saturday, Sept. 13 Boston College* Stanford, Calif.   WIN
Saturday, Sept. 20 at Virginia* Charlottesville, Va.  WIN
Saturday, Sept. 27 San Jose State Stanford, Calif.  WIN
Saturday, Oct. 11 at SMU* Dallas, Texas              loss
Saturday, Oct. 18 Florida State* (Reunion Homecoming) Stanford, Calif.    WIN
Saturday, Oct. 25 at Miami* Miami Gardens, Fla.  loss 
Saturday, Nov. 1 Pittsburgh* Stanford, Calif.           WIN
Saturday, Nov. 8 at North Carolina* Chapel Hill, N.C.    loss  
Saturday, Nov. 22 California* (128th Big Game) Stanford, Calif.  WIN
Saturday, Nov. 29 Notre Dame Stanford, Calif.             loss
Saturday, Dec. 6 ACC Championship Game Charlotte, N.C.

7-5 and an invitation to the Who Cares Bowl.  I would walk back home victories as losses if they start at 4 p.m. or later.

---

I can understand the desire to start winning and to replace TT if this is another downer year.  Unfortunately, if you get what you ask for, the end result may be even worse. Ask yourself how many successful D1 coaches would want the Stanford job.  Money maybe OK but hardly great, ability to attract to players near zero etc etc. 
TT has shown he can coach, but is the Stanford job just a bridge too far considering the state of college football today?  If I was a 4 or 5 star recruit coming out of highschool and with Stanford grades and scores, would I choose Stanford over tOSU or others? Do you want to play infront of an empty stadium while the coaching staff tries to bring in others near your level so as to start winning?  How much can a 4 star recruit demand in NIL payments if he say goes to USC, tOSU, ND etc?
If schooll A offers you $1,000,000 in NIL payments and you can go to Stanford and get half of that why would you go to Stanford?  The 40 year decison thing is dead in the water for almost all recruits. Playing in front of a crowd of 1000 is hardly inspiring.  Most good high school players had bigger crowds than Stanford can offer now days.
While I would love to see this problem solved, I believe it is pretty much beyond the ken of current fans to solve.

Not going to disagree that we're probably not going to be recruiting at an elite level and getting the next Andrew Luck to take us to, say, the College Football Playoff; but I do think that recruiting is not the biggest problem with the football program today. For what it's worth, the past few Troy Taylor classes all rank around 50th in the country with a good sprinkle of three and four star players -- and that is despite NIL, despite the departure of Shaw, despite the administration's "war on fun," despite our academic requirements (or do 3* recruits who probably aren't making the League still making their "40 year decisions"?). 

The fact is that we have consistently failed to develop talented blue chip recruits and the coaching staff is doing them no favors with game plans and various in-game hiccups. That should be the biggest indictment against Troy Taylor and co. And yes, I do believe that Taylor should be let go if we don't win three or more games next season and if we don't make a bowl game at all in the next couple of years.