09-06-2019, 04:07 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-06-2019, 05:36 AM by OutsiderFan.)
While one might think the thin OL depth, starting a True Frosh at LT, and a QB in their first road games would be a good reason to doubt victory this week, that is not why Stanford will lose.
What I saw from Stanford against Northwestern was talented Stanford players operating as less than the sum of their individual parts and Northwestern players operating as greater than the sum of their individual parts. Northwestern didn’t make as many plays as Stanford, but were more crisp in their execution and more consistent in their performance in general.
The takeaway here is neither Stanford or USC is particularly well coached in terms of consistent and crisp execution. USC, even with a higher overall talent level can be defeated, as Stanford has routinely shown. But Stanford just isn’t executing at the level it must and I have zero faith the offense will raise its level around Mills to help him out enough. I see a game like at San Diego State in 2017, where the defense plays well, but not great enough to overcome offensive gaffes without the big plays provided by Love.
David Shaw’s post game comments suggested they missed lots of big plays that had they been made, would have led to a greater victory margin. The cold hard reality is well coached teams make a few of those plays. There were glimpses of a less clogged offense against Northwestern, but it took individual players like Scarlett and Wedington beating guys in space for Stanford to overcome its mistakes on offense. USC has more players that can do this than Stanford does.
If Costello was starting I’d probably give the edge to Stanford, but since he isn’t I just can’t see Mills, who will likely have a short leash despite what Shaw says, overcoming the weight of the Stanford offense. He will be thinking too much and not just playing, while USC’s Frosh QB will be much more relaxed and play less constricted.
Finally, Stanford did little blitzing against NU. They chose to play coverage most of the time, but I am of the belief you blitz inexperienced QBs and try to speed things up for them. Clancy Pendergast will have an array of blitzes for Mills and I can’t trust Anderson will have the same for his counterpart.
It all adds up to a 24-10 USC victory. Man do I hope I am dead wrong about this. If someone can make a realistic counter argument for why Stanford will win, I’d love to see it.
What I saw from Stanford against Northwestern was talented Stanford players operating as less than the sum of their individual parts and Northwestern players operating as greater than the sum of their individual parts. Northwestern didn’t make as many plays as Stanford, but were more crisp in their execution and more consistent in their performance in general.
The takeaway here is neither Stanford or USC is particularly well coached in terms of consistent and crisp execution. USC, even with a higher overall talent level can be defeated, as Stanford has routinely shown. But Stanford just isn’t executing at the level it must and I have zero faith the offense will raise its level around Mills to help him out enough. I see a game like at San Diego State in 2017, where the defense plays well, but not great enough to overcome offensive gaffes without the big plays provided by Love.
David Shaw’s post game comments suggested they missed lots of big plays that had they been made, would have led to a greater victory margin. The cold hard reality is well coached teams make a few of those plays. There were glimpses of a less clogged offense against Northwestern, but it took individual players like Scarlett and Wedington beating guys in space for Stanford to overcome its mistakes on offense. USC has more players that can do this than Stanford does.
If Costello was starting I’d probably give the edge to Stanford, but since he isn’t I just can’t see Mills, who will likely have a short leash despite what Shaw says, overcoming the weight of the Stanford offense. He will be thinking too much and not just playing, while USC’s Frosh QB will be much more relaxed and play less constricted.
Finally, Stanford did little blitzing against NU. They chose to play coverage most of the time, but I am of the belief you blitz inexperienced QBs and try to speed things up for them. Clancy Pendergast will have an array of blitzes for Mills and I can’t trust Anderson will have the same for his counterpart.
It all adds up to a 24-10 USC victory. Man do I hope I am dead wrong about this. If someone can make a realistic counter argument for why Stanford will win, I’d love to see it.
