[Farm93]

It's not even a close call.  The 5 wins were key.   The Sunday outcomes improved the chances for NCAA team titles for multiple sports.  Though really only two of the five wins were essential, the other three were nice to get.

Cal was probably going to a mediocre bowl game without a Big Game win.   
Stanford was probably not going to a bowl even with a Big Game win. 

I would prefer the Big Game win AND the 5 Sunday wins.  Still, if the Big Game loss was the required sacrifice to the NCAA gods for Andrew Thomas to have those awesome PK saves then I am good with the sacrifice.  And happier if the sacrifice was required for Stanford's win on Monday. 

Still sad the tally is now 18-1.  :(

[Farm93]

It's not even a close call.  The 5 wins were key.   The Sunday outcomes improved the chances for NCAA team titles for multiple sports.  Though really only two of the five wins were essential, the other three were nice to get.

Cal was probably going to a mediocre bowl game without a Big Game win.   
Stanford was probably not going to a bowl even with a Big Game win. 

I would prefer the Big Game win AND the 5 Sunday wins.  Still, if the Big Game loss was the required sacrifice to the NCAA gods for Andrew Thomas to have those awesome PK saves then I am good with the sacrifice.  And happier if the sacrifice was required for Stanford's win on Monday. 

Still sad the tally is now 18-1.  :(

[Nan3cy]

OK, question for the fans:

Would you have traded all 5 wins yesterday (which would mean an early exit from the tournament for both soccer teams, not clinching the automatic bid for the WP tournament, losing out on a #1 seed in VB, and a disappointment in WBB) in exchange for beating Cal on Saturday?

BC

No.

After Colorado L, Stanford football going nowhere bowl-wise.  This was as good a Big Game to lose as any could have been, all things considered.

After the 1991 BG, won by the good guys by a bunch, though I don’t remember the score and am too lazy to look it up —- I was with a high school friend who is a Cal fan (great person, bad taste), and one of her tailgate friends said, in all seriousness, that he’d rather be 2-9 and beat Stanford than be 9-2 (which they were) having lost to Stanford. I told him, in all seriousness, that he was nuts. Or maybe I just thought that — my memory is a little fuzzy on that point. But I definitely thought that.

[Nan3cy]

OK, question for the fans:

Would you have traded all 5 wins yesterday (which would mean an early exit from the tournament for both soccer teams, not clinching the automatic bid for the WP tournament, losing out on a #1 seed in VB, and a disappointment in WBB) in exchange for beating Cal on Saturday?

BC

No.

After Colorado L, Stanford football going nowhere bowl-wise.  This was as good a Big Game to lose as any could have been, all things considered.

After the 1991 BG, won by the good guys by a bunch, though I don’t remember the score and am too lazy to look it up —- I was with a high school friend who is a Cal fan (great person, bad taste), and one of her tailgate friends said, in all seriousness, that he’d rather be 2-9 and beat Stanford than be 9-2 (which they were) having lost to Stanford. I told him, in all seriousness, that he was nuts. Or maybe I just thought that — my memory is a little fuzzy on that point. But I definitely thought that.