6. This feels like the first time this year in which the QB situation can legitimately be called a controversy. It's just hard to escape the optics of a sixth year player who has had a bad year being so reckless with the ball the last two weeks that he has been the proximate cause for letting second half competitiveness against good teams slip through our grasp. One doesn't need to think highly of Brown at all to think there is logic in playing the redshirt freshman. Notably, whereas Reich went most of the season refusing to even play Brown in garbage time, in this game we actually put Brown in for several drives before the mathematical dividing point for garbage time (Brown's short fourth down pass to Farrell that got stopped for a turnover on downs was the mathematical end of the game). That is a significant change that, coupled with Gulbranson's performance, makes me think it's possible Brown gets the nod going forward in a way I really didn't think was a possibility in previous weeks. That performance for Gulbranson was 83rd of 104 quarterbacks nationally in Total QBR this week, a middle of the road game by his bad standards this year (the fifth best of his nine games). He is now 127th of 135 on the season and still battling with the Syracuse QB for the basement of Power Four. Brown edged Gulbranson in Total QBR this week in the former's two drives of non-garbage time and then subsequent two drives of garbage time, however much of that was against backups. Illustratively, the guys in coverage on Brown's touchdown to Williams are #24 and #30 on the Pitt defense in snaps this year. I don't think we can take much positive (at least not much meaningful) out of Brown's game. But in a situation where we've seen such struggles from Gulbranson it would be very reasonable to make a change. We now have nine data points of Gulbranson and two games in which Brown has played somewhat significantly and in that sample Gulbranson has our four best and five worst performances, with both of Brown's better than Gulbranson's median and Gulbranson's last two. We are left with a situation in which Reich can reasonably continue to insist Gulbranson gives us our best chance to win (after all, Brown has never shown he can do what Gulbranson did against Virginia, Florida State, and San Jose State) but can just as reasonably change course on the basis of Brown playing better in recent weeks and Gulbranson's norm being so bad that there's little harm in trying something else. I am not going to get worked up about this either way as, fundamentally, I don't think either is good and I don't think this season matters. But it's as interesting of a subplot as we have until there's a new coaching staff.
7. For all the things we haven't been able to do this season, dialing up passing games with multiple 100 yard receivers is something that has happened surprisingly often. Yesterday was the third time in the last six games (Farrell and Williams against Virginia, Williams and High against San Jose State, Williams and Roush against Pitt), and against SMU Roush was 11 yards from joining Williams. The WR1 has clearly been Williams, who is now 8th in the ACC in receiving, not quite where Ayomanor was last year but nonetheless a level I think that has pleasantly surprised most of us. Williams paced us yesterday in both meaningful action and garbage-time, with quite a lot of connections with Brown in the latter. It was interesting to see Williams appear visibly wistful in the post-game press conference about playing with Brown. Others may have had a different read but to me it seemed like he gave a clear vibe he came to Stanford in part to play with Brown and would enjoy a QB switch and, regardless, looks forward to following and cheering on Brown's future. He said the right classy things about Gulbranson, just seemed wistful to me. Roush also had a nice game yesterday and now leads ACC tight ends in receiving yards and is neck and neck with the other top guys on a per game basis. Gulbranson extending the play and finding Roush behind the defense for our first first down of the game and one of our seven longest plays of the season was a great moment for both men (Gulbranson was not all bad). We need to do some soul-searching (and more importantly portal mining), I think, about the large number of key receiving targets on offense and players at all levels of the defense who we will be without next year. We lose some stuff. [Moving the chains (first down) leaderboard: Williams (6), Roush (3), Farrell (2), Hampton (2), Blackburn, Marcus Brown, High, Irvin] Not sure what else there is to say about the offensive line. We need to get older, and I don't mean thinking another year of development will make the difference for House, Ugorji, Williams, Brown, etc.
8. Have a day Brandon Nicholson! Two interceptions in the end zone is something any player would remember for the rest of their lives. Happy for him, a guy whose high school ballhawking really attracted me and who I have been waiting to be more than mediocre in college. PFF viewed Nicholson as our star yesterday, and certainly the picks will be most evocative for eye test fans. I was hesitant to give the game ball as one of the picks came in garbage time and there were other players who were our most valuable defenders when the game was still being contested, but PFF informs me Nicholson played 40 coverage snaps (64 total) without giving up a catch and had interceptions on two of his three targets, so that seems hard not to give a game ball too. But there are several guys I feel like I'm spurning. Cooper had arguably his game of the year with a fumble recovery, pass breakup, run stop, and sack to force a punt. Galvan has been one of our stars practically weekly, and in this one his first half boasted two run stops, a forced fumble to give us awesome field position, and a pass breakup. Leigber had not one but two tackles for loss in run defense as well as a solid tackle on a pass play. Patterson had four run stops and a sack to force a punt. Barth, who has had a bad year, had his third straight week tied for season low snaps with 15 but made the most of it with a pass breakup, hurry to force Nicholson's non-garbage time interception, and a non-credited hurry that directly contributed to Cooper's sack to force a punt. If I didn't hold myself to the one game ball for each phase rule I'd find a way to carve it up for all these guys. Ultimately, though, this defense needs takeaways and Nicholson gave two and that must be rewarded. There were some other players who showed up with multiple positive plays, including Tafiti, McAllister, Rose, Aybar, and Dubre (garbage time standout with two goal line stops, one of which was a forced fumble and fumble recovery).
9. Special teams felt pretty neutral. Kenney made field goals of 39 (bad kick he was very lucky to doink in) and 45 yards. It's nice to have a kicker good enough I view that as a bad game due to the lack of style points. Flintoft had net punts of 51 to the 40 (slightly out-kicked coverage but such a good booming punt that it was nonetheless a great result, 43 to the 50 (not ideal but ok punting from so far back, at least the hang time forced a fair catch), 30 to the 11 (situationally solid), 46 to the 23 (solid), and 49 to the 30 (very good). High's opening 27 yard return gave us only three extra yards than a fair catch would but just subjectively was a nice jolt of energy to start. On a net basis High gave those yards right back on the next return with an 18 yard return that only got to the 22. But then his third return definitively made it a positive contribution with a 27 yard return to the 42. Thorpe handled his punts and had one two yard return on a short punt (so not going to complain about that net at all) but on one occasion I thought it was crazy not to attempt a return, perhaps indicative of some meat we're leaving on the bone in the return game. We gave up a few long kick returns, including a 41 yard return after a touchdown, and Neely made the coverage tackles on both of those. Barth, in addition to his defensive contributions, had a kick coverage tackle for a good result that was made great by a Pitt holding call that pinned them back at the 9 to start the drive. Pulsipher had the punt coverage tackle to make Flintoft's boomer pay off.
10. Game balls: CJ Williams, Brandon Nicholson, Barth (kind of cheating combining defense and special teams), Paul Williams
11. We have the ball squarely in our court to break the three win season streak. Both North Carolina and Cal are very real opportunities. The Tar Heels are first. Nothing we have done on the road yet this season would predict a win in that game but that's only because we've been so bad. We don't have to be that good to win that one. Hopefully we can have our best road game of the season and break through to that fourth win. Whether it's Gulbranson (my current guess but it's legitimately entering controversy realm as I said) or Brown, we can do this. Let's go, no more three win seasons!
7. For all the things we haven't been able to do this season, dialing up passing games with multiple 100 yard receivers is something that has happened surprisingly often. Yesterday was the third time in the last six games (Farrell and Williams against Virginia, Williams and High against San Jose State, Williams and Roush against Pitt), and against SMU Roush was 11 yards from joining Williams. The WR1 has clearly been Williams, who is now 8th in the ACC in receiving, not quite where Ayomanor was last year but nonetheless a level I think that has pleasantly surprised most of us. Williams paced us yesterday in both meaningful action and garbage-time, with quite a lot of connections with Brown in the latter. It was interesting to see Williams appear visibly wistful in the post-game press conference about playing with Brown. Others may have had a different read but to me it seemed like he gave a clear vibe he came to Stanford in part to play with Brown and would enjoy a QB switch and, regardless, looks forward to following and cheering on Brown's future. He said the right classy things about Gulbranson, just seemed wistful to me. Roush also had a nice game yesterday and now leads ACC tight ends in receiving yards and is neck and neck with the other top guys on a per game basis. Gulbranson extending the play and finding Roush behind the defense for our first first down of the game and one of our seven longest plays of the season was a great moment for both men (Gulbranson was not all bad). We need to do some soul-searching (and more importantly portal mining), I think, about the large number of key receiving targets on offense and players at all levels of the defense who we will be without next year. We lose some stuff. [Moving the chains (first down) leaderboard: Williams (6), Roush (3), Farrell (2), Hampton (2), Blackburn, Marcus Brown, High, Irvin] Not sure what else there is to say about the offensive line. We need to get older, and I don't mean thinking another year of development will make the difference for House, Ugorji, Williams, Brown, etc.
8. Have a day Brandon Nicholson! Two interceptions in the end zone is something any player would remember for the rest of their lives. Happy for him, a guy whose high school ballhawking really attracted me and who I have been waiting to be more than mediocre in college. PFF viewed Nicholson as our star yesterday, and certainly the picks will be most evocative for eye test fans. I was hesitant to give the game ball as one of the picks came in garbage time and there were other players who were our most valuable defenders when the game was still being contested, but PFF informs me Nicholson played 40 coverage snaps (64 total) without giving up a catch and had interceptions on two of his three targets, so that seems hard not to give a game ball too. But there are several guys I feel like I'm spurning. Cooper had arguably his game of the year with a fumble recovery, pass breakup, run stop, and sack to force a punt. Galvan has been one of our stars practically weekly, and in this one his first half boasted two run stops, a forced fumble to give us awesome field position, and a pass breakup. Leigber had not one but two tackles for loss in run defense as well as a solid tackle on a pass play. Patterson had four run stops and a sack to force a punt. Barth, who has had a bad year, had his third straight week tied for season low snaps with 15 but made the most of it with a pass breakup, hurry to force Nicholson's non-garbage time interception, and a non-credited hurry that directly contributed to Cooper's sack to force a punt. If I didn't hold myself to the one game ball for each phase rule I'd find a way to carve it up for all these guys. Ultimately, though, this defense needs takeaways and Nicholson gave two and that must be rewarded. There were some other players who showed up with multiple positive plays, including Tafiti, McAllister, Rose, Aybar, and Dubre (garbage time standout with two goal line stops, one of which was a forced fumble and fumble recovery).
9. Special teams felt pretty neutral. Kenney made field goals of 39 (bad kick he was very lucky to doink in) and 45 yards. It's nice to have a kicker good enough I view that as a bad game due to the lack of style points. Flintoft had net punts of 51 to the 40 (slightly out-kicked coverage but such a good booming punt that it was nonetheless a great result, 43 to the 50 (not ideal but ok punting from so far back, at least the hang time forced a fair catch), 30 to the 11 (situationally solid), 46 to the 23 (solid), and 49 to the 30 (very good). High's opening 27 yard return gave us only three extra yards than a fair catch would but just subjectively was a nice jolt of energy to start. On a net basis High gave those yards right back on the next return with an 18 yard return that only got to the 22. But then his third return definitively made it a positive contribution with a 27 yard return to the 42. Thorpe handled his punts and had one two yard return on a short punt (so not going to complain about that net at all) but on one occasion I thought it was crazy not to attempt a return, perhaps indicative of some meat we're leaving on the bone in the return game. We gave up a few long kick returns, including a 41 yard return after a touchdown, and Neely made the coverage tackles on both of those. Barth, in addition to his defensive contributions, had a kick coverage tackle for a good result that was made great by a Pitt holding call that pinned them back at the 9 to start the drive. Pulsipher had the punt coverage tackle to make Flintoft's boomer pay off.
10. Game balls: CJ Williams, Brandon Nicholson, Barth (kind of cheating combining defense and special teams), Paul Williams
11. We have the ball squarely in our court to break the three win season streak. Both North Carolina and Cal are very real opportunities. The Tar Heels are first. Nothing we have done on the road yet this season would predict a win in that game but that's only because we've been so bad. We don't have to be that good to win that one. Hopefully we can have our best road game of the season and break through to that fourth win. Whether it's Gulbranson (my current guess but it's legitimately entering controversy realm as I said) or Brown, we can do this. Let's go, no more three win seasons!