[OutsiderFan]

The common denominator between the Niners and the Stanford offense in terms of how defenses defend it is position of Safeties.  Neither Stanford or the Niners do a good job threatening Safeties down field.  Neither team has a real serious deep threat other teams fear.  And then, both the Niners and Stanford are terrible scoring TDs in the red zone.  Stanford couldn't score even a meaningless TD against Oregon at the end of the game inside the Oregon 5 on Saturday, and the Niners stumbled and bumbled into screwing up first and goal from the Rams' 2.5 and lost in the final seconds on Sunday.

I was watching Georgia defend Florida on Saturday.  Florida threw six passes all game long and ran for over 400 yards.  Yet despite this, Georgia mostly played with six in the box.  I don't remember Florida's offensive formations off the top of my head, but they wouldn't have won the game if Georgia played 7/8 in the box and dared Florida to throw the ball.  The previous week, LSU ran the ball down Ole Miss' throat and never faced 8 in the box either.  I don't think there is any team in college football that faces 7 and 8 guys as close to the LOS as Stanford does as routinely as Stanford does.  It's very difficult to run against defenses that keep their Safeties close to the LOS.

Stanford's coaching staff and the Niners coaching staff have been unable to punish teams for playing 8 in the box or playing Safeties shallow.  And the red zone play calling and execution is pathetic.  Unless and until these things change thee offenses will sputter.  Now throw too many turnovers into the mix and all signs point to teams that need new leaders for their offense.

Every team has injuries or inexperience.  Those are not acceptable excuses for such poor performance with good rosters.

[OutsiderFan]

The common denominator between the Niners and the Stanford offense in terms of how defenses defend it is position of Safeties.  Neither Stanford or the Niners do a good job threatening Safeties down field.  Neither team has a real serious deep threat other teams fear.  And then, both the Niners and Stanford are terrible scoring TDs in the red zone.  Stanford couldn't score even a meaningless TD against Oregon at the end of the game inside the Oregon 5 on Saturday, and the Niners stumbled and bumbled into screwing up first and goal from the Rams' 2.5 and lost in the final seconds on Sunday.

I was watching Georgia defend Florida on Saturday.  Florida threw six passes all game long and ran for over 400 yards.  Yet despite this, Georgia mostly played with six in the box.  I don't remember Florida's offensive formations off the top of my head, but they wouldn't have won the game if Georgia played 7/8 in the box and dared Florida to throw the ball.  The previous week, LSU ran the ball down Ole Miss' throat and never faced 8 in the box either.  I don't think there is any team in college football that faces 7 and 8 guys as close to the LOS as Stanford does as routinely as Stanford does.  It's very difficult to run against defenses that keep their Safeties close to the LOS.

Stanford's coaching staff and the Niners coaching staff have been unable to punish teams for playing 8 in the box or playing Safeties shallow.  And the red zone play calling and execution is pathetic.  Unless and until these things change thee offenses will sputter.  Now throw too many turnovers into the mix and all signs point to teams that need new leaders for their offense.

Every team has injuries or inexperience.  Those are not acceptable excuses for such poor performance with good rosters.