[ChicagoCard]

This David Shaw interview (just posted today) touches on some of the typical questions. He seems to indicate that he expects Remound Wright to return. Touches on the 9-game conference schedule question.

[ChicagoCard]

This David Shaw interview (just posted today) touches on some of the typical questions. He seems to indicate that he expects Remound Wright to return. Touches on the 9-game conference schedule question.

[Bruce Wang]

Nice interview!  Thanks for posting. This was my favorite part:

"I'm asked to write recommendations for graduate school, for business school, for law school, for medical school. I'm very honored to do that."

[Bruce Wang]

Nice interview!  Thanks for posting. This was my favorite part:

"I'm asked to write recommendations for graduate school, for business school, for law school, for medical school. I'm very honored to do that."

[Nan3cy]

Now it's saying the page linked no longer exists.  :(

[Nan3cy]

Now it's saying the page linked no longer exists.  :(

[French Rage]

From the article:

Because what you see in our conference is not just the nine-game schedule, it's the fact that you have to play your non-conference games early in the season. So for those teams that don't have that, both of those caveats, where they can play eight games and then schedule a I-AA or an easy victory – let's call it what it is – in week 10, so they can get a break in between two tough opponents… we talked about that in our conference. Steve Sarkisian was one of the guys who said it. "Hey, if I can schedule a game between Oregon and Stanford that's a break of a game for me, great. I'd love to do that."

Oh Steve, you're so very easy to dislike.

[French Rage]

From the article:

Because what you see in our conference is not just the nine-game schedule, it's the fact that you have to play your non-conference games early in the season. So for those teams that don't have that, both of those caveats, where they can play eight games and then schedule a I-AA or an easy victory – let's call it what it is – in week 10, so they can get a break in between two tough opponents… we talked about that in our conference. Steve Sarkisian was one of the guys who said it. "Hey, if I can schedule a game between Oregon and Stanford that's a break of a game for me, great. I'd love to do that."

Oh Steve, you're so very easy to dislike.

[ChicagoCard]

In the interview Shaw mentions that Aziz Shittu is the only player in the two-deep depth chart on the defensive front seven who isn't a fourth or fifth year senior. I'll bet he aspires for that number to be five or six by the end of August.

[ChicagoCard]

In the interview Shaw mentions that Aziz Shittu is the only player in the two-deep depth chart on the defensive front seven who isn't a fourth or fifth year senior. I'll bet he aspires for that number to be five or six by the end of August.

[washingtonismoney]

In the interview Shaw mentions that Aziz Shittu is the only player in the two-deep depth chart on the defensive front seven who isn't a fourth or fifth year senior. I'll bet he aspires for that number to be five or six by the end of August.

He doesn't quite say that; at any rate, it's not accurate. Kevin Anderson will be fourth-year junior. Kalambayi will probably see time as the third OLB. Martinez and Noor Davis will surely be part of the rotation. So there's your five right there, of guys I'm pretty confident will get time. Guys like Kaumatule and Nwafor will probably be listed in the two-deep but might not be a part of the rotation.

[washingtonismoney]

In the interview Shaw mentions that Aziz Shittu is the only player in the two-deep depth chart on the defensive front seven who isn't a fourth or fifth year senior. I'll bet he aspires for that number to be five or six by the end of August.

He doesn't quite say that; at any rate, it's not accurate. Kevin Anderson will be fourth-year junior. Kalambayi will probably see time as the third OLB. Martinez and Noor Davis will surely be part of the rotation. So there's your five right there, of guys I'm pretty confident will get time. Guys like Kaumatule and Nwafor will probably be listed in the two-deep but might not be a part of the rotation.

[ChicagoCard]

[quote author=ChicagoVisitor link=topic=9904.msg88640#msg88640 date=1398728097]
In the interview Shaw mentions that Aziz Shittu is the only player in the two-deep depth chart on the defensive front seven who isn't a fourth or fifth year senior. I'll bet he aspires for that number to be five or six by the end of August.

He doesn't quite say that; at any rate, it's not accurate. Kevin Anderson will be fourth-year junior. Kalambayi will probably see time as the third OLB. Martinez and Noor Davis will surely be part of the rotation. So there's your five right there, of guys I'm pretty confident will get time. Guys like Kaumatule and Nwafor will probably be listed in the two-deep but might not be a part of the rotation.
[/quote]

If I understood him correctly, I thought he was trying to distinguish between guys who came in with Aziz Shittu in the class of 2012, on one hand, and on the other hand anybody from an earlier class. Anyway, must have been that his comment was meant to be motivational. And then when asked about the offensive line, he couldn't pretend that his starters might not be from that same 2012 class (i.e. all of them). Will they be ready, he was asked. "Well, they better."

[ChicagoCard]

[quote author=ChicagoVisitor link=topic=9904.msg88640#msg88640 date=1398728097]
In the interview Shaw mentions that Aziz Shittu is the only player in the two-deep depth chart on the defensive front seven who isn't a fourth or fifth year senior. I'll bet he aspires for that number to be five or six by the end of August.

He doesn't quite say that; at any rate, it's not accurate. Kevin Anderson will be fourth-year junior. Kalambayi will probably see time as the third OLB. Martinez and Noor Davis will surely be part of the rotation. So there's your five right there, of guys I'm pretty confident will get time. Guys like Kaumatule and Nwafor will probably be listed in the two-deep but might not be a part of the rotation.
[/quote]

If I understood him correctly, I thought he was trying to distinguish between guys who came in with Aziz Shittu in the class of 2012, on one hand, and on the other hand anybody from an earlier class. Anyway, must have been that his comment was meant to be motivational. And then when asked about the offensive line, he couldn't pretend that his starters might not be from that same 2012 class (i.e. all of them). Will they be ready, he was asked. "Well, they better."

[OutsiderFan]

Really good questions by the interviewer that covered a nice range of issues.  It's difficult for me to imagine there will be a tougher conference in the country than the PAC-12 this season.  My guess is playing 9 conference games is going to leave the PAC-12 on the outside looking in at the playoff.

[OutsiderFan]

Really good questions by the interviewer that covered a nice range of issues.  It's difficult for me to imagine there will be a tougher conference in the country than the PAC-12 this season.  My guess is playing 9 conference games is going to leave the PAC-12 on the outside looking in at the playoff.

[CTcard]

It's difficult for me to imagine there will be a tougher conference in the country than the PAC-12 this season.  My guess is playing 9 conference games is going to leave the PAC-12 on the outside looking in at the playoff.

Well, IF the Pac 12 is the strongest conference and IF the selection committee does it's job as advertised, then the Pac 12 champ would be all but automatically in.

[CTcard]

It's difficult for me to imagine there will be a tougher conference in the country than the PAC-12 this season.  My guess is playing 9 conference games is going to leave the PAC-12 on the outside looking in at the playoff.

Well, IF the Pac 12 is the strongest conference and IF the selection committee does it's job as advertised, then the Pac 12 champ would be all but automatically in.

[OutsiderFan]

Well, let's not forget, the top four programs in the Pac-12 are Stanford, Oregon, UCLA, and USC, in no particular order.  Apologies to ASU.  Only Stanford plays all of the other three annually, plus they also play Notre Dame every year.  So if Stanford wins the Pac-12, it means more than any other Pac-12 school winning it because Stanford's road is the toughest of any team in the Pac-12 if not annually, certainly historically.  Once again, USC and Oregon don't play each other in 2014.  Only Stanford and UCLA play all three of the top others in 2014.  If that weren't bad enough...

The Pac-12 once again scheduled Stanford at UCLA the last week of the season, when it is entirely possible for those two to meet in the CG the following week for the second time in three years.  Big Game on Thanksgiving weekend or Stanford and UCLA playing two weeks in a row?  Not a great choice, but couldn't Stanford and UCLA be scheduled a bit earlier on the schedule?

[OutsiderFan]

Well, let's not forget, the top four programs in the Pac-12 are Stanford, Oregon, UCLA, and USC, in no particular order.  Apologies to ASU.  Only Stanford plays all of the other three annually, plus they also play Notre Dame every year.  So if Stanford wins the Pac-12, it means more than any other Pac-12 school winning it because Stanford's road is the toughest of any team in the Pac-12 if not annually, certainly historically.  Once again, USC and Oregon don't play each other in 2014.  Only Stanford and UCLA play all three of the top others in 2014.  If that weren't bad enough...

The Pac-12 once again scheduled Stanford at UCLA the last week of the season, when it is entirely possible for those two to meet in the CG the following week for the second time in three years.  Big Game on Thanksgiving weekend or Stanford and UCLA playing two weeks in a row?  Not a great choice, but couldn't Stanford and UCLA be scheduled a bit earlier on the schedule?

[stupac2]

Not a great choice, but couldn't Stanford and UCLA be scheduled a bit earlier on the schedule?

I've mentioned this before, but the answer is "no", or, at least, "not easily". The problem is ND insisting on playing in CA on the last weekend of the season. When they play at USC (even years) that leaves both Big Game and the USC-UCLA game on Thanksgiving weekend, with every other rivalry being played the next week. So that leaves 3 teams without a game: UCLA, Stanford, Cal. Sure, UCLA and Cal could play, but Stanford would either need to take a final-week bye (which Cal did last year), which is a near-total waste of a bye, or we could play a non-conference game that week, which would be challenging (and this is what Cal is doing this year).

In odd years USC doesn't have this problem because they play UCLA on the final week of the season, and we play ND. Really, Cal is the one who gets totally hosed in this scenario, being forced to take an OOC game or a bye to finish the year every year, but that's not something I think anyone here will complain about.

(It's possible that I've missed something in this analysis, but I think that to first order that's the scheduling issue.)

[stupac2]

Not a great choice, but couldn't Stanford and UCLA be scheduled a bit earlier on the schedule?

I've mentioned this before, but the answer is "no", or, at least, "not easily". The problem is ND insisting on playing in CA on the last weekend of the season. When they play at USC (even years) that leaves both Big Game and the USC-UCLA game on Thanksgiving weekend, with every other rivalry being played the next week. So that leaves 3 teams without a game: UCLA, Stanford, Cal. Sure, UCLA and Cal could play, but Stanford would either need to take a final-week bye (which Cal did last year), which is a near-total waste of a bye, or we could play a non-conference game that week, which would be challenging (and this is what Cal is doing this year).

In odd years USC doesn't have this problem because they play UCLA on the final week of the season, and we play ND. Really, Cal is the one who gets totally hosed in this scenario, being forced to take an OOC game or a bye to finish the year every year, but that's not something I think anyone here will complain about.

(It's possible that I've missed something in this analysis, but I think that to first order that's the scheduling issue.)