01-02-2021, 08:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-02-2021, 08:50 AM by baymeadows3408.
Edit Reason: Spacing, word choice
)
Tomorrow will be the 10-year anniversary of Stanford’s 40-12 victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. This looming anniversary has inspired me to write this post about the 2010 football season and Stanford’s Orange Bowl victory.
I think you can make the argument that the 2010 Stanford football team was the school’s best team on this side of World War II. Stanford had a 12-1 record and had players such as future NFL stars Andrew Luck, Richard Sherman, Michael Thomas, Doug Baldwin, David DeCastro, Coby Fleener, and an emerging Zach Ertz. Major contributors also included Stepfan Taylor (the school’s all-time leader by career rushing yards), Owen Marecic, Chris Owusu, Konrad Reuland, Chase Beeler, Jonathan Martin, Chase Thomas, Johnson Bademosi, Delano Howell, and Shayne Skov. The team had star power AND depth, and Jim Harbaugh had an excellent group of assistant coaches who could maximize that talent.
Stanford had concluded the 2009 season strongly, and I had high expectations going into the 2010 season. Although Stanford had lost Toby Gerhart to the NFL, I was confident that Stanford would have an excellent offense once again in 2010 with Andrew Luck taking snaps behind an offensive line that was returning four starters. Stepfan Taylor had also shown a lot of promise during his freshman season. I had some concerns about the defense, especially with the secondary that had been torched the previous year against opponents like Arizona, Cal, and Notre Dame.
After we had thoroughly beaten Notre Dame on the road in late September 2010, I truly became excited about the team and realized that our game against Oregon could have Pac-10 championship or even national championship implications, but because the game was only our second conference game and fifth overall I was disappointed about the outcome but not crestfallen. I had no way of knowing at the time that both Stanford and Oregon would go unbeaten for the remainder of the regular season, so I did not know just how high the stakes had been at Autzen.
Although I was a disappointed at the end of the regular season that our lone loss against Oregon had denied us not just a conference title but also a berth in the national championship game, getting to play in the Orange Bowl seemed amazing given how we had gone 1-11 just four years earlier and how Stanford had played in a top-level bowl only once in my life (2000 Rose Bowl).
Tyrod Taylor’s talent and several miscues on Stanford’s part (Drew Terrell’s poor decision to return a punt from his own four-yard line, Derek Hall catching a deflected pass in the end zone and taking a safety, and a blocked extra point) had caused Stanford to lead just 13-12 at halftime. Stanford forced a Virginia Tech three-and-out to start the second half and then scored a touchdown on their ensuing drive, but Whitaker missed another extra point. I was frustrated to be leading only by seven points despite having outplayed Virginia Tech.
My concerns were unfounded. An interception by Delano Howell, a 56-yard run by Stepfan Taylor, and a 41-yard touchdown pass to Coby Fleener blew the game open for Stanford, who scored touchdowns on its first four drives of the second half. Stanford went on to win 40-12 after shutting out the Hokies in the second half. Virginia Tech linebackers and defensive backs probably have recurring nightmares about Stanford’s tight ends, and Tyrod Taylor would probably cower in fear if you mentioned the name “Shayne Skov.” If you were to combine the first half of the 2010 Big Game or 2016 Rose Bowl and the second half of the 2011 Orange Bowl, you would have as close to a perfect game of football as possible.
Stanford ended the 2010-11 season ranked #4 in the AP and coaches’ polls and #5 in the Harris poll. Jeff Sagarin’s Predictor rating (one that takes margin of victory into account, unlike the ELO rating he used for BCS purposes) had Stanford as the #1 team in the country and would have made Stanford 3 ½-point favorites in a rematch against Oregon and 7 ½-point favorites over Auburn.
Auburn won a closely contested national championship game 22-19 over Oregon with a field goal on the final play. I have no way of proving this, but I think we would have beaten Auburn had we made it to the national championship game. Auburn had a lot of close calls during its undefeated season and I think our defense could have contained Cam Newton as well as Oregon’s did while our dynamic pro-style offense would have been hard for Auburn to stop. Apart from a closer-than-expected game against Arizona State, Stanford was a juggernaut in the last six games of the season.
And that’s why it’s that damned game against Oregon is so painful to think about in retrospect. I think 2010 is as close as we’ll ever come to winning a national championship. The 2015 team most likely would have made the playoff if they had not face planted in the season opener against Northwestern or had not lost to Oregon (have there ever been two intra-conference foes that hurt each other as much as Stanford and Oregon between 2009 and 2016?), but I would have preferred our chances against a dressed up 2010-11 Auburn team than having to win two playoff games and having to beat a team like the 2015-16 Alabama or Clemson squads.
The trend of players with remaining eligibility declaring for the NFL (the rational part of me understands why the players are doing this, but the emotional side does not have to like it), negative impact of the early signing date, and overall recent softness of West Coast football do not give me confidence that we will reach the heights we achieved in 2010-2015 ever again (but I would love to be proven wrong!). The stars had lined up nicely in 2010 to give us such a great combination of playing and coaching talent, but I must admit that I feel greedy and wish they had lined up perfectly and we had been prepared for that onside kick or Owusu hadn't fumbled after being concussed...
I think you can make the argument that the 2010 Stanford football team was the school’s best team on this side of World War II. Stanford had a 12-1 record and had players such as future NFL stars Andrew Luck, Richard Sherman, Michael Thomas, Doug Baldwin, David DeCastro, Coby Fleener, and an emerging Zach Ertz. Major contributors also included Stepfan Taylor (the school’s all-time leader by career rushing yards), Owen Marecic, Chris Owusu, Konrad Reuland, Chase Beeler, Jonathan Martin, Chase Thomas, Johnson Bademosi, Delano Howell, and Shayne Skov. The team had star power AND depth, and Jim Harbaugh had an excellent group of assistant coaches who could maximize that talent.
Stanford had concluded the 2009 season strongly, and I had high expectations going into the 2010 season. Although Stanford had lost Toby Gerhart to the NFL, I was confident that Stanford would have an excellent offense once again in 2010 with Andrew Luck taking snaps behind an offensive line that was returning four starters. Stepfan Taylor had also shown a lot of promise during his freshman season. I had some concerns about the defense, especially with the secondary that had been torched the previous year against opponents like Arizona, Cal, and Notre Dame.
After we had thoroughly beaten Notre Dame on the road in late September 2010, I truly became excited about the team and realized that our game against Oregon could have Pac-10 championship or even national championship implications, but because the game was only our second conference game and fifth overall I was disappointed about the outcome but not crestfallen. I had no way of knowing at the time that both Stanford and Oregon would go unbeaten for the remainder of the regular season, so I did not know just how high the stakes had been at Autzen.
Although I was a disappointed at the end of the regular season that our lone loss against Oregon had denied us not just a conference title but also a berth in the national championship game, getting to play in the Orange Bowl seemed amazing given how we had gone 1-11 just four years earlier and how Stanford had played in a top-level bowl only once in my life (2000 Rose Bowl).
Tyrod Taylor’s talent and several miscues on Stanford’s part (Drew Terrell’s poor decision to return a punt from his own four-yard line, Derek Hall catching a deflected pass in the end zone and taking a safety, and a blocked extra point) had caused Stanford to lead just 13-12 at halftime. Stanford forced a Virginia Tech three-and-out to start the second half and then scored a touchdown on their ensuing drive, but Whitaker missed another extra point. I was frustrated to be leading only by seven points despite having outplayed Virginia Tech.
My concerns were unfounded. An interception by Delano Howell, a 56-yard run by Stepfan Taylor, and a 41-yard touchdown pass to Coby Fleener blew the game open for Stanford, who scored touchdowns on its first four drives of the second half. Stanford went on to win 40-12 after shutting out the Hokies in the second half. Virginia Tech linebackers and defensive backs probably have recurring nightmares about Stanford’s tight ends, and Tyrod Taylor would probably cower in fear if you mentioned the name “Shayne Skov.” If you were to combine the first half of the 2010 Big Game or 2016 Rose Bowl and the second half of the 2011 Orange Bowl, you would have as close to a perfect game of football as possible.
Stanford ended the 2010-11 season ranked #4 in the AP and coaches’ polls and #5 in the Harris poll. Jeff Sagarin’s Predictor rating (one that takes margin of victory into account, unlike the ELO rating he used for BCS purposes) had Stanford as the #1 team in the country and would have made Stanford 3 ½-point favorites in a rematch against Oregon and 7 ½-point favorites over Auburn.
Auburn won a closely contested national championship game 22-19 over Oregon with a field goal on the final play. I have no way of proving this, but I think we would have beaten Auburn had we made it to the national championship game. Auburn had a lot of close calls during its undefeated season and I think our defense could have contained Cam Newton as well as Oregon’s did while our dynamic pro-style offense would have been hard for Auburn to stop. Apart from a closer-than-expected game against Arizona State, Stanford was a juggernaut in the last six games of the season.
And that’s why it’s that damned game against Oregon is so painful to think about in retrospect. I think 2010 is as close as we’ll ever come to winning a national championship. The 2015 team most likely would have made the playoff if they had not face planted in the season opener against Northwestern or had not lost to Oregon (have there ever been two intra-conference foes that hurt each other as much as Stanford and Oregon between 2009 and 2016?), but I would have preferred our chances against a dressed up 2010-11 Auburn team than having to win two playoff games and having to beat a team like the 2015-16 Alabama or Clemson squads.
The trend of players with remaining eligibility declaring for the NFL (the rational part of me understands why the players are doing this, but the emotional side does not have to like it), negative impact of the early signing date, and overall recent softness of West Coast football do not give me confidence that we will reach the heights we achieved in 2010-2015 ever again (but I would love to be proven wrong!). The stars had lined up nicely in 2010 to give us such a great combination of playing and coaching talent, but I must admit that I feel greedy and wish they had lined up perfectly and we had been prepared for that onside kick or Owusu hadn't fumbled after being concussed...
Formerly posted on TOS as YCF, mostly a lurker now
