[george]

If Hogan improves even by 5% Stanford's offense will convert 3rd downs at 50%, a truly impressive number for any team, but it would seem he would actually be more of a 10% improvement type of guy.  He's got the OL, backs, and improved WRs to make it happen.

There's no question that it's really fun to read these articles and feel like you have empirical evidence to back up the national championship dreams (I've gone into every season since 1995 thinking we're going to win the national championship.)  But what I would've loved to see in this article is a mention of the spring game.  I love Kevin Hogan -- his brand of competitiveness and tenacity makes me proud to call him a Stanford man.  But his performance in the spring game was not a 10% improvement over last year.  He was ostensibly working on improving his deep ball over the winter and spring, but there was little evidence of gains in this area during the spring game.  More concerning was the fact that the he seemed to have regressed on the short to medium throws and rollouts that were so key to success last year.

Of course our defense played a large role in making his job harder.  Also we heard Shaw talk about him needing to settle down and play.  So maybe there were some nerves.  But I guess I had hoped that a guy who didn't flinch in his first road start at Oregon, beat UCLA twice in a row to clinch a rose bowl berth, and has never lost a game would be able to handle the expectations around the spring game.  Seeing Matt Barkley crack under the pressure this year at USC makes me appreciate Andrew Luck's amazing accomplishments even more.  I'm trying my best not to hold Kevin Hogan to the Andrew Luck standard, but it's hard to avoid it. 

The reality is that as good as our defense is and the fact that we have a promising line and several returning running backs and athletes at other skill positions, I think the reason that most people have such high hopes for us is Kevin Hogan.  He was terrific as the underdog.  How is he going to handle being the favorite?

[george]

If Hogan improves even by 5% Stanford's offense will convert 3rd downs at 50%, a truly impressive number for any team, but it would seem he would actually be more of a 10% improvement type of guy.  He's got the OL, backs, and improved WRs to make it happen.

There's no question that it's really fun to read these articles and feel like you have empirical evidence to back up the national championship dreams (I've gone into every season since 1995 thinking we're going to win the national championship.)  But what I would've loved to see in this article is a mention of the spring game.  I love Kevin Hogan -- his brand of competitiveness and tenacity makes me proud to call him a Stanford man.  But his performance in the spring game was not a 10% improvement over last year.  He was ostensibly working on improving his deep ball over the winter and spring, but there was little evidence of gains in this area during the spring game.  More concerning was the fact that the he seemed to have regressed on the short to medium throws and rollouts that were so key to success last year.

Of course our defense played a large role in making his job harder.  Also we heard Shaw talk about him needing to settle down and play.  So maybe there were some nerves.  But I guess I had hoped that a guy who didn't flinch in his first road start at Oregon, beat UCLA twice in a row to clinch a rose bowl berth, and has never lost a game would be able to handle the expectations around the spring game.  Seeing Matt Barkley crack under the pressure this year at USC makes me appreciate Andrew Luck's amazing accomplishments even more.  I'm trying my best not to hold Kevin Hogan to the Andrew Luck standard, but it's hard to avoid it. 

The reality is that as good as our defense is and the fact that we have a promising line and several returning running backs and athletes at other skill positions, I think the reason that most people have such high hopes for us is Kevin Hogan.  He was terrific as the underdog.  How is he going to handle being the favorite?