[msqueri]

9. A solid special teams day got marred by Kenney missing a 41 yard field goal, made all the more painful by how close the game ended up being and how that likely changed the complexion of some coaching decisions (e.g., failed two point conversion attempts. He made a 38 yarder but ultimately that's a bad day at the office to cost us like that. Flintoft had net punts of 42 to the 31 (solid but owes Black one on that tackle), 32 to the 9 (really good situationally), 49 to the 19 (great but also credit to Pulsipher on the tackle), 45 to the 5 (excellent situationally), 42 to the 35 (ok but Libman's illegal motion made it disappointing). Really nice day at the office for Flintoft. Thorpe generally calls for a fair catch or lets the punt go, seems like we give up yards in the punt return game. Black and Pulsipher had those nice coverage tackles whereas Dubre got called for a hold. Darrius Davis took advantage of a muffed kick return to pin North Carolina at the 10. High had a 20 yard return to the 24 that gave up a yard compared to a fair catch but was explosive enough that it set a fine tone to start the game, but the other kick we decided to return, Chris Davis Jr.'s 16 yard return to the 16, not only gave up nine yards of field position but also gave North Carolina a jolt with the massive arm tackle hit.

10. Game balls: Caden High, Tevarua Tafiti, Aidan Flintoft, Malcolm Agnew

11. This era of Stanford football sucks and this season, despite the energy Luck brings to the program, is more of the same. We have just about exactly a 50 percent chance of this being our fifth consecutive 3-9 season. But now we get a bye and a classic Big Game to try to salvage our season in the eyes of some. Big Game will be a mediocre team on one side trying to build on a season it wants to pretend is doing something respectable going against a bad team trying to salvage its season with a win in the most important game of the year. I personally do not subscribe to the idea Big Game is all that more important than other games, but the salient fact for us is that Andrew Luck and the program have been posturing all year that Big Game is a big deal and, now, we face a situation where our main goal (a bowl, as acknowledged by Reich in his post-game press conference alluding to our goals being crushed yesterday) is gone and what's left is winning this game. Coming back home to C-House with a week off to prepare, I have no doubt we will put it on the line against Cal. That circumstance, this being at Stanford, and Cal being super mediocre (with home field advantage Sagarin pegs this a true tossup) make me believe this is a game that really could go either way. We are playing to end the bleak streak of 3-9 seasons. Let's go guys, four wins.

[msqueri]

9. A solid special teams day got marred by Kenney missing a 41 yard field goal, made all the more painful by how close the game ended up being and how that likely changed the complexion of some coaching decisions (e.g., failed two point conversion attempts. He made a 38 yarder but ultimately that's a bad day at the office to cost us like that. Flintoft had net punts of 42 to the 31 (solid but owes Black one on that tackle), 32 to the 9 (really good situationally), 49 to the 19 (great but also credit to Pulsipher on the tackle), 45 to the 5 (excellent situationally), 42 to the 35 (ok but Libman's illegal motion made it disappointing). Really nice day at the office for Flintoft. Thorpe generally calls for a fair catch or lets the punt go, seems like we give up yards in the punt return game. Black and Pulsipher had those nice coverage tackles whereas Dubre got called for a hold. Darrius Davis took advantage of a muffed kick return to pin North Carolina at the 10. High had a 20 yard return to the 24 that gave up a yard compared to a fair catch but was explosive enough that it set a fine tone to start the game, but the other kick we decided to return, Chris Davis Jr.'s 16 yard return to the 16, not only gave up nine yards of field position but also gave North Carolina a jolt with the massive arm tackle hit.

10. Game balls: Caden High, Tevarua Tafiti, Aidan Flintoft, Malcolm Agnew

11. This era of Stanford football sucks and this season, despite the energy Luck brings to the program, is more of the same. We have just about exactly a 50 percent chance of this being our fifth consecutive 3-9 season. But now we get a bye and a classic Big Game to try to salvage our season in the eyes of some. Big Game will be a mediocre team on one side trying to build on a season it wants to pretend is doing something respectable going against a bad team trying to salvage its season with a win in the most important game of the year. I personally do not subscribe to the idea Big Game is all that more important than other games, but the salient fact for us is that Andrew Luck and the program have been posturing all year that Big Game is a big deal and, now, we face a situation where our main goal (a bowl, as acknowledged by Reich in his post-game press conference alluding to our goals being crushed yesterday) is gone and what's left is winning this game. Coming back home to C-House with a week off to prepare, I have no doubt we will put it on the line against Cal. That circumstance, this being at Stanford, and Cal being super mediocre (with home field advantage Sagarin pegs this a true tossup) make me believe this is a game that really could go either way. We are playing to end the bleak streak of 3-9 seasons. Let's go guys, four wins.