[msqueri]

1. The epitome of a moral victory. We competed toe to toe with the highest ranked team in the conference, a legitimate (albeit ambitious) national title aspirant and could have come out with a victory if a few things broke differently. This stands in marked contrast to the carnage that ensued the other times we played touted opponents and thus creates a palpable sense among fans - and one hopes players, coaches, and recruits - that we are on the right track. This kind of heartbreak late game sequence sits a lot better in the first year of a challenging rebuild than it would any other time, but fortunately we are in the first year of a challenging rebuild. While our typical performances this year have been clearly the worst team in the Pac-12 and one of the worst Stanford teams ever, two of the last three and three of the last five have been considerably better, downright respectable. [Based on newly updated Sagarin rankings, the final results of our games this season have been befitting the #92 (at Hawaii), #206 (at USC), #156 (Sacramento State), #46 (Arizona), #148 (Oregon), #43 (at Colorado), #189 (UCLA), and #46 (Washington) teams in the nation.] This feels like progress.

2. This one was especially refreshing, in some ways more so than the Colorado and Arizona games, because it was such a team accomplishment. I genuinely think equal credit goes to the players and coaches. For the players, it was a balanced game in terms of execution, with both offense and defense playing relatively well and giving us a chance against a far superior team. They played well enough that we could have conceivably won had any number of things gone differently - a bit less beleaguered pass protection, not giving up a devastating amount of field position on special teams (between the failed and entirely elective/debatable onside kick, numerous significant Husky punt returns, etc.), not committing a large number of personal fouls, not giving up an 88 yard touchdown, not dropping a wide open critical fourth down pass on a well-designed and timed trick play. This is always the case in competitive games that a lot of things could have changed the result so we shouldn't belabor the point. The main takeaway is that we were competitive against a very good team. For the coaches, it was a fantastic game plan and a great example of how manipulating time of possession can be advantageous. Some fans overdo that concept but there's no doubt that against some opponents/talent mismatches it's the way to go. Our coaches played this masterfully. No matter how you slice it Washington demonstrated itself to be the clearly superior team, but we had a plan to neutralize their advantages and then the players executed that plan, hanging in deep into the fourth quarter. Kudos to players and coaches alike.

3. In terms of the final score, that was a shootout. It's the most points Washington has scored against a Power Five opponent other than Cal; meanwhile, Stanford tied with Oregon for the most points anybody has scored against Washington (!). Point total aside, we really competed. Our defense gave up 7.08 yards per play, which is a lot but we knew we'd give up a lot to this offense. It's actually the third least Washington has mustered (though all three of those were the last three weeks so this is an offense trying to rediscover its most dominant form) and well over a yard per play better than we did against USC or Oregon. On offense, I am still waiting for a 6+ yard per play game for us so shouldn't get too carried away, but it was very good by our standards, the most we've had against any Power Five defense other than the miserable Colorado D and the third most effective any offense has been against Washington. The Huskies had a bit of a depleted secondary but nonetheless I think this was a nice performance by our offense. My favorite stat for both sides is how we did on a points per non-garbage drive basis. The defense held Washington to 3.23 points per drive, which compares favorably to our season average heading in of 3.31 and quite favorably to the Washington offense's average of 3.70. The offense scored 2.36 points per drive, significantly better than both our average heading in of 1.88 and especially Washington's average of 1.57. In other words, we played the #5 offense in the nation like they were the #13 team and we played the #23 defense like they were the #85 defense (to visualize, as if they were Arizona State). Nice!

4. Breaking it down further, I was especially impressed with two things, our run defense and our passing offense. On run defense, we held Washington to their second worst run game (though the two worst have been back to back weeks so their struggles play in to some extent), almost a yard per carry worse than their average. It was definitively the stingiest we've been against anybody other than Hawaii, besting our Colorado performance in that department, and considering Hawaii is #132 of 133 teams in yards per carry and Colorado is dead last #133 while Washington is a far more respectable #65, this performance last night night was clear, massive evidence of improvement in our run defense. There were also big signs of progress in the passing game. We were slightly ahead of our statistical averages in both yards per attempt and passer rating despite Washington being one of the better pass defenses we've faced (second or third, after UCLA and comparable with Oregon). This is the signature passing game of our season to date, much more balanced and replicable than the Colorado miracle. The other phases I haven't mentioned, pass defense and run game, had bright spots but were less impressive. Our pass defense held Washington under their season averages in yards per attempt and passer rating but the truth is that the Husky passing game has been trending downward for weeks and being without a fully healthy McMillan is a significant detriment. I also suspect the famously tough Penix is playing through pain and furthermore that the last two weeks have been emotional slogs and potential trap games coming out of the iconic win over Oregon (and relatedly the as-ever-annoying Tim Brando's comments about the Stanford mausoleum being a deflating atmosphere for Washington were probably true). With all this swirling, Penix and his receivers had their best game in over a month, despite a lot of drops, so this was nothing really to write home about for our pass defense. [My man Wright continues to be very much not a lockdown guy.] As for our run game, it was the second most effective it's been all season against a Power Five opponent (behind just the USC game) but this strikes me as a testament to two things, Washington's softness against the run (six of their eight opponents rushed better than we did) and Daniels' remarkable rushing game. [By the way, that Daniels showed pocket presence, scrambling ability, and even some ability to succeed on designed run plays puts a nail in the the coffin on any QB competition. Clearly Lamson is just a situational guy unless injury strikes.] There's still no reason to think we have a run game, but at least we can be opportunistic.

5. The most negative thing I will say team-wide is that we have a discipline problem. #117 in penalty yards per game is insane for a Stanford team. We are almost always above average in limiting penalties and I am honestly unsure if there has ever in history been a Stanford team this undisciplined. I know for a fact that at no point since the turn of the century has Stanford been worse than 90-something in penalty yards per game. A little of this could be attributed to bad breaks from officiating but it's mostly about dumb post-snap personal fouls and such. I think self-awareness of this is why Taylor was so visibly vitriolic in his reaction to Rogers' very costly late hit. It's so odd to see Stanford be so sloppy on penalties and it's been both sides of the ball and a consistent theme. The national median in penalty yards per game is 51 and here we are having done worse than that against Hawaii, Sacramento State, Colorado, UCLA, and Washington. This isn't officials being out to get us, this is indiscipline.

[msqueri]

1. The epitome of a moral victory. We competed toe to toe with the highest ranked team in the conference, a legitimate (albeit ambitious) national title aspirant and could have come out with a victory if a few things broke differently. This stands in marked contrast to the carnage that ensued the other times we played touted opponents and thus creates a palpable sense among fans - and one hopes players, coaches, and recruits - that we are on the right track. This kind of heartbreak late game sequence sits a lot better in the first year of a challenging rebuild than it would any other time, but fortunately we are in the first year of a challenging rebuild. While our typical performances this year have been clearly the worst team in the Pac-12 and one of the worst Stanford teams ever, two of the last three and three of the last five have been considerably better, downright respectable. [Based on newly updated Sagarin rankings, the final results of our games this season have been befitting the #92 (at Hawaii), #206 (at USC), #156 (Sacramento State), #46 (Arizona), #148 (Oregon), #43 (at Colorado), #189 (UCLA), and #46 (Washington) teams in the nation.] This feels like progress.

2. This one was especially refreshing, in some ways more so than the Colorado and Arizona games, because it was such a team accomplishment. I genuinely think equal credit goes to the players and coaches. For the players, it was a balanced game in terms of execution, with both offense and defense playing relatively well and giving us a chance against a far superior team. They played well enough that we could have conceivably won had any number of things gone differently - a bit less beleaguered pass protection, not giving up a devastating amount of field position on special teams (between the failed and entirely elective/debatable onside kick, numerous significant Husky punt returns, etc.), not committing a large number of personal fouls, not giving up an 88 yard touchdown, not dropping a wide open critical fourth down pass on a well-designed and timed trick play. This is always the case in competitive games that a lot of things could have changed the result so we shouldn't belabor the point. The main takeaway is that we were competitive against a very good team. For the coaches, it was a fantastic game plan and a great example of how manipulating time of possession can be advantageous. Some fans overdo that concept but there's no doubt that against some opponents/talent mismatches it's the way to go. Our coaches played this masterfully. No matter how you slice it Washington demonstrated itself to be the clearly superior team, but we had a plan to neutralize their advantages and then the players executed that plan, hanging in deep into the fourth quarter. Kudos to players and coaches alike.

3. In terms of the final score, that was a shootout. It's the most points Washington has scored against a Power Five opponent other than Cal; meanwhile, Stanford tied with Oregon for the most points anybody has scored against Washington (!). Point total aside, we really competed. Our defense gave up 7.08 yards per play, which is a lot but we knew we'd give up a lot to this offense. It's actually the third least Washington has mustered (though all three of those were the last three weeks so this is an offense trying to rediscover its most dominant form) and well over a yard per play better than we did against USC or Oregon. On offense, I am still waiting for a 6+ yard per play game for us so shouldn't get too carried away, but it was very good by our standards, the most we've had against any Power Five defense other than the miserable Colorado D and the third most effective any offense has been against Washington. The Huskies had a bit of a depleted secondary but nonetheless I think this was a nice performance by our offense. My favorite stat for both sides is how we did on a points per non-garbage drive basis. The defense held Washington to 3.23 points per drive, which compares favorably to our season average heading in of 3.31 and quite favorably to the Washington offense's average of 3.70. The offense scored 2.36 points per drive, significantly better than both our average heading in of 1.88 and especially Washington's average of 1.57. In other words, we played the #5 offense in the nation like they were the #13 team and we played the #23 defense like they were the #85 defense (to visualize, as if they were Arizona State). Nice!

4. Breaking it down further, I was especially impressed with two things, our run defense and our passing offense. On run defense, we held Washington to their second worst run game (though the two worst have been back to back weeks so their struggles play in to some extent), almost a yard per carry worse than their average. It was definitively the stingiest we've been against anybody other than Hawaii, besting our Colorado performance in that department, and considering Hawaii is #132 of 133 teams in yards per carry and Colorado is dead last #133 while Washington is a far more respectable #65, this performance last night night was clear, massive evidence of improvement in our run defense. There were also big signs of progress in the passing game. We were slightly ahead of our statistical averages in both yards per attempt and passer rating despite Washington being one of the better pass defenses we've faced (second or third, after UCLA and comparable with Oregon). This is the signature passing game of our season to date, much more balanced and replicable than the Colorado miracle. The other phases I haven't mentioned, pass defense and run game, had bright spots but were less impressive. Our pass defense held Washington under their season averages in yards per attempt and passer rating but the truth is that the Husky passing game has been trending downward for weeks and being without a fully healthy McMillan is a significant detriment. I also suspect the famously tough Penix is playing through pain and furthermore that the last two weeks have been emotional slogs and potential trap games coming out of the iconic win over Oregon (and relatedly the as-ever-annoying Tim Brando's comments about the Stanford mausoleum being a deflating atmosphere for Washington were probably true). With all this swirling, Penix and his receivers had their best game in over a month, despite a lot of drops, so this was nothing really to write home about for our pass defense. [My man Wright continues to be very much not a lockdown guy.] As for our run game, it was the second most effective it's been all season against a Power Five opponent (behind just the USC game) but this strikes me as a testament to two things, Washington's softness against the run (six of their eight opponents rushed better than we did) and Daniels' remarkable rushing game. [By the way, that Daniels showed pocket presence, scrambling ability, and even some ability to succeed on designed run plays puts a nail in the the coffin on any QB competition. Clearly Lamson is just a situational guy unless injury strikes.] There's still no reason to think we have a run game, but at least we can be opportunistic.

5. The most negative thing I will say team-wide is that we have a discipline problem. #117 in penalty yards per game is insane for a Stanford team. We are almost always above average in limiting penalties and I am honestly unsure if there has ever in history been a Stanford team this undisciplined. I know for a fact that at no point since the turn of the century has Stanford been worse than 90-something in penalty yards per game. A little of this could be attributed to bad breaks from officiating but it's mostly about dumb post-snap personal fouls and such. I think self-awareness of this is why Taylor was so visibly vitriolic in his reaction to Rogers' very costly late hit. It's so odd to see Stanford be so sloppy on penalties and it's been both sides of the ball and a consistent theme. The national median in penalty yards per game is 51 and here we are having done worse than that against Hawaii, Sacramento State, Colorado, UCLA, and Washington. This isn't officials being out to get us, this is indiscipline.

[msqueri]

6. The personnel story of our season continues to be the chemistry and success between Daniels and the two key members of his battery of young receivers. Ayomanor and Bachmeier can do damage and Daniels can get the ball to them and the trio are performing despite severely limited protection (which is, as Taylor always reminds, about both an inexperienced line but also breakdowns by RBs and TEs too). This is the most exciting thing we have going right now. Big props to Daniels for his best game and against a quality opponent. He was #34 of 109 QBs nationally in Total QBR this week and got another 70+ grade from PFF, the second week in a row and the third time this season excluding the Oregon game in which he was limited in snaps. He showed great poise, made significant mistakes (intentional grounding, fumbling, etc.) but kept composure and kept dealing/surviving/improvising, and as I observed of him as a recruit has a knack for deep balls. I thought Daniels did a good job preventing the sack total from being out of control but as it happened we still gave up the most sacks anybody has to Washington this season, a reminder that pass protection remains a clear massive liability for us. That makes his performance even more impressive. On the season he has ascended into solidly mediocre territory, #76 in the nation and #8 in the Pac-12 in Total QBR, which compares to 2022 McKee being #79 and #9 respectively (2021 McKee was better). This strikes me as a Cameron Ward/Jayden de Laura kind of trajectory, the kind of QB one would expect to be very solid and quite possibly good in 2024 and potentially a star in 2025. That's a tough guy to supplant as QB1. Let's see where Daniels is in a month but he's showing QB of the future capability.

7. Ayomanor and Bachmeier both deserve tons of flowers. This is gargantuan, historic production from a duo of football freshmen wide receivers. [This week's moving the chains (first downs) leaderboard: Bachmeier (5, plus drew a pass interference), Daniels (5), Ayomanor (3, plus drew a pass interference), Lamson (2), Harris, Filkins, Raines, Roush, Smith, Farrell] Ayomanor is our best player on either side of the ball but beyond that he is one of the best players in America, straight up. brobdingnagian bummer that he is probably out for the year. [I know that hasn't been announced but if you look at the body language and that we only have a month left in an obvious rebuilding year.....I would be surprised if he's back.] Ayomanor is a genuine mega star obvious NFL player, currently 14th in the nation in receiving as a freshman (even if Stanford is too stupid to market him that way and the first player to have 90+ yards receiving per game for us since Simi Fehoko did it in a pandemic half season. In his first year of college football, Ayomanor had a prime Mark Harris/DeRonnie Pitts/James Lofton kind of season statistically. It's a real shame Stanford has its head up its butt and doesn't understand eligibility or marketing as this is historic on a national scale too. This is one of the best receiver debuts in the history of football. Rondale Moore, Richie James (Group of Five), Tyler Boyd, Davante Adams (Group of Five), Marqise Lee, Sammy Watkins, and Eric Page (Group of Five) are the only freshmen to have debut seasons like this in the last 15 years. I really hope we get one more season out of Ayomanor. And once he's gone, I think we are seeing that Bachmeier will be able to be a bona fide #1 receiver in the ACC.

8. More on the youth movement: Yesterday was triply encouraging at WR because of the shocking deep bomb to Jackson Harris. I don't usually say first names of current players but I am assuming many of you aren't tracking Harris closely. Harris was a late bloomer big high school WR with immense production (the Bobby Kennedy mold) and was the third highest profile true freshman WR in our latest class (behind Borden and Bachmeier, ahead of Cisse). As with Borden and Cisse I have been taking it as a discouraging development that Bachmeier's classmates couldn't push for travel roster spots and playing time. To have Harris come out of nowhere not only to play but to come out of the gate with an awesome and timely chunk play....brobdingnagian. It's my opinion that Farrell and Reuben are bad and need to be over-recruited ASAP, so Harris having utility is a big development. It's also encouraging more generally for the team's development that Taylor made a postgame comment about there being lots of young players like that waiting for an opportunity. We saw two of those on the offensive line with Maikkula and Baklenko not only getting their first college playing time but playing very solidly (according to PFF the best on our line, though close with Rogers). Just absolutely massive shoutouts to those two. Gotta keep playing the hot hand, right? I wonder who else Taylor could have in mind with this comment. it will be big if the 2023 class is decent, contrary to profile. One final point on offensive personnel for this week: while I am finding recent weeks encouraging at WR, I am starting to worry about tight end. We have been spoiled at TE for years but Roush.....woof. My eyes tell me he's one of the worst blockers we've ever put out there but then I look at PFF and they think he's just as bad at receiving, ranking him #109 of 120 receiving TEs and #96 of 120 blocking TEs. He's had 12 games with 20+ snaps and across those games PFF graded him 10 of 36 in terms of solid grades in receiving, run blocking, or pass blocking (his clear strength in their view). We have to hope for big year to year improvement (and TE is a position where that can happen) but he's almost half way through his college career and was a vaunted early enrollee so this might not be a TE at our historical standards. All off season and most of this season I have assumed 2023 would be the last year for Yurosek and it probably will be for a host of reasons, but now that he's lost a year and our TE pipeline behind him is arguably in shambles, I am now opening up a sliver of hope Yurosek pulls a Mike Wilson and comes back. If not, we can hope for big improvement from Roush but if it's not there I think we need to be thoughtful about the best use of personnel and scheme and hopefully take advantage of improved line play and more receiving options to rely less on TEs.

[msqueri]

6. The personnel story of our season continues to be the chemistry and success between Daniels and the two key members of his battery of young receivers. Ayomanor and Bachmeier can do damage and Daniels can get the ball to them and the trio are performing despite severely limited protection (which is, as Taylor always reminds, about both an inexperienced line but also breakdowns by RBs and TEs too). This is the most exciting thing we have going right now. Big props to Daniels for his best game and against a quality opponent. He was #34 of 109 QBs nationally in Total QBR this week and got another 70+ grade from PFF, the second week in a row and the third time this season excluding the Oregon game in which he was limited in snaps. He showed great poise, made significant mistakes (intentional grounding, fumbling, etc.) but kept composure and kept dealing/surviving/improvising, and as I observed of him as a recruit has a knack for deep balls. I thought Daniels did a good job preventing the sack total from being out of control but as it happened we still gave up the most sacks anybody has to Washington this season, a reminder that pass protection remains a clear massive liability for us. That makes his performance even more impressive. On the season he has ascended into solidly mediocre territory, #76 in the nation and #8 in the Pac-12 in Total QBR, which compares to 2022 McKee being #79 and #9 respectively (2021 McKee was better). This strikes me as a Cameron Ward/Jayden de Laura kind of trajectory, the kind of QB one would expect to be very solid and quite possibly good in 2024 and potentially a star in 2025. That's a tough guy to supplant as QB1. Let's see where Daniels is in a month but he's showing QB of the future capability.

7. Ayomanor and Bachmeier both deserve tons of flowers. This is gargantuan, historic production from a duo of football freshmen wide receivers. [This week's moving the chains (first downs) leaderboard: Bachmeier (5, plus drew a pass interference), Daniels (5), Ayomanor (3, plus drew a pass interference), Lamson (2), Harris, Filkins, Raines, Roush, Smith, Farrell] Ayomanor is our best player on either side of the ball but beyond that he is one of the best players in America, straight up. brobdingnagian bummer that he is probably out for the year. [I know that hasn't been announced but if you look at the body language and that we only have a month left in an obvious rebuilding year.....I would be surprised if he's back.] Ayomanor is a genuine mega star obvious NFL player, currently 14th in the nation in receiving as a freshman (even if Stanford is too stupid to market him that way and the first player to have 90+ yards receiving per game for us since Simi Fehoko did it in a pandemic half season. In his first year of college football, Ayomanor had a prime Mark Harris/DeRonnie Pitts/James Lofton kind of season statistically. It's a real shame Stanford has its head up its butt and doesn't understand eligibility or marketing as this is historic on a national scale too. This is one of the best receiver debuts in the history of football. Rondale Moore, Richie James (Group of Five), Tyler Boyd, Davante Adams (Group of Five), Marqise Lee, Sammy Watkins, and Eric Page (Group of Five) are the only freshmen to have debut seasons like this in the last 15 years. I really hope we get one more season out of Ayomanor. And once he's gone, I think we are seeing that Bachmeier will be able to be a bona fide #1 receiver in the ACC.

8. More on the youth movement: Yesterday was triply encouraging at WR because of the shocking deep bomb to Jackson Harris. I don't usually say first names of current players but I am assuming many of you aren't tracking Harris closely. Harris was a late bloomer big high school WR with immense production (the Bobby Kennedy mold) and was the third highest profile true freshman WR in our latest class (behind Borden and Bachmeier, ahead of Cisse). As with Borden and Cisse I have been taking it as a discouraging development that Bachmeier's classmates couldn't push for travel roster spots and playing time. To have Harris come out of nowhere not only to play but to come out of the gate with an awesome and timely chunk play....brobdingnagian. It's my opinion that Farrell and Reuben are bad and need to be over-recruited ASAP, so Harris having utility is a big development. It's also encouraging more generally for the team's development that Taylor made a postgame comment about there being lots of young players like that waiting for an opportunity. We saw two of those on the offensive line with Maikkula and Baklenko not only getting their first college playing time but playing very solidly (according to PFF the best on our line, though close with Rogers). Just absolutely massive shoutouts to those two. Gotta keep playing the hot hand, right? I wonder who else Taylor could have in mind with this comment. it will be big if the 2023 class is decent, contrary to profile. One final point on offensive personnel for this week: while I am finding recent weeks encouraging at WR, I am starting to worry about tight end. We have been spoiled at TE for years but Roush.....woof. My eyes tell me he's one of the worst blockers we've ever put out there but then I look at PFF and they think he's just as bad at receiving, ranking him #109 of 120 receiving TEs and #96 of 120 blocking TEs. He's had 12 games with 20+ snaps and across those games PFF graded him 10 of 36 in terms of solid grades in receiving, run blocking, or pass blocking (his clear strength in their view). We have to hope for big year to year improvement (and TE is a position where that can happen) but he's almost half way through his college career and was a vaunted early enrollee so this might not be a TE at our historical standards. All off season and most of this season I have assumed 2023 would be the last year for Yurosek and it probably will be for a host of reasons, but now that he's lost a year and our TE pipeline behind him is arguably in shambles, I am now opening up a sliver of hope Yurosek pulls a Mike Wilson and comes back. If not, we can hope for big improvement from Roush but if it's not there I think we need to be thoughtful about the best use of personnel and scheme and hopefully take advantage of improved line play and more receiving options to rely less on TEs.

[msqueri]

9. With this kind of rebuild it's natural to be most excited about the youth movement but we should acknowledge that some old guys have been very important glue for the defense. Fifth year Manley had the key interception and has been a solid player this year but what really caught my eye yesterday was fourth year Gilman. He was central to our run defense and also broke up a pass to force a punt. I am starting to feel like if he does move on, as I would expect, it is a real loss for us. I never thought going into the year that Gilman could more or less replace McGill on the defense one for one but that's kind of been the case (McGill more of a playmaker, GIlman more of a run defender, but in terms of high effort glue guys I think the comparison is there). If Gilman is gone maybe Leigber can step into the role next year (not a big fan of the player but with the recovered fumble and a tackle for short gain in crunch time Leigber found a way to contribute in moments), but I will miss Gilman when he's gone. Speaking of one of our main DBs, while yesterday wasn't one of our best games in pass defense now that we've faced three of the top eight passing offenses in the nation (!) we should take a moment to acknowledge the gauntlet our pass defense has been through. The stats are ugly but we should expect that. Beyond the stats, PFF thinks Wright, Edwards, Gilman, and Manley are the four best players on the defense on the season. That makes secondary arguably the biggest strength on our roster, to which I think we should give a real tip of the cap to Williams and Gregory. In particular we should be grateful for the tackling we are getting out of the DBs, with Wright and Gilman two of the most important players for our run defense. They aren't perfect and it's killing me to see Wright so consistently give up chunk plays in coverage (though he lost out on an interception in this one due to an offsides) but there's some good stuff too.

10. Aside from Gilman, the other defender who notched five plays last night that I deemed as positive plays in the play-by-play was Tafiti. We are seeing the emergence of Tafiti as one of the best players on our roster, as Shaw/Anderson/April/anybody who talks about Tafiti has long foreshadowed. While I know we are all extremely disappointed in David Bailey's true sophomore season and Ernest Cooper's benchwarming, to have a good redshirt freshman OLB replacing Bailey as our primary field side OLB is a big development. Tafiti had the highly impactful distinction yesterday of getting multiple run stops, multiple hurries to force an incompletion, a turnover, and in the sum total of those plays two different Husky drives Tafiti was responsible for ending. brobdingnagian. Alas, it was an up and down night because he was the poster child of that indiscipline I talked about, drawing both a personal foul on special teams and a face mask penalty. Still, Tafiti is transforming before our eyes and like Ayomanor is a redshirt freshman blossoming post-injury and potentially poised for explosion with more confidence and range of motion. Exciting (though clearly far below Ayomanor in the ceiling demonstrated thus far). It was also nice to have another OLB make big contributions as Aybar had plays in both run defense and pass rush. I don't think he's great but at this point I am welcoming any and all impactful plays by OLBs given the disappointment of the season for that group to date. Aybar should be very proud of getting a sack against Washington, which was only fifth sack they've allowed all season. On the flip side of these items of praise, it was disappointing to see Sinclair follow up his career game with yesterday. 95 percent of the time he is so, so, so bad. Among younger players, I hope Kolodziej can get more out of Moi going forward. Moi hasn't been great this year and then really regressed yesterday. As a parting comment on the defense, the sample size is too small to comment meaningfully on takeaways but it is very nice that we've won the turnover margin two of the last three weeks. Hopefully we can build on that.

11. I swear the coaches are trolling us trotting Weselman out there. Please put him and us out of his misery. This time it was a catastrophic net punt of 14 yards to give one of the best offenses in the nation the ball at the 50 yard line for their first possession. Thankfully, it was Flintoft the rest of the way. I hope that's the case through the 2026 season. I think Flintoft can be great. However, in this one the punt unit did not shine. Flintoft had nets of 47 to the 18 (nice), 39 to the 25 (ok), 29 to the 48 (subpar), and 24 to the 48 (even more subpar). I don't know whether those multiple sub-30 net punts were more on Flintoft or the coverage team but they weren't helpful plays and, coupled with Weselman's whiff, led Taylor to make a point in the press conference to say special teams hurt us yesterday. In the return game Farrell gave us awful field position by taking a kick out to the 14. Karty didn't hurt us, making both of his field goals. He's fallen to sixth in the nation in field goals and I still am not fully over the many missed opportunities to score points and go for some highlights against UCLA. Let Karty eat! Finally, Morris had a fantastic special teams tackle, not the first time this season we've said that. Don't laugh: contributions like that are the kind of thing that can get somebody darkhorse consideration for the AP/ST slot on the all-conference team. I hope this portends abilities that translate at corner as Manley will soon leave solidly sized shoes to fill, though it's probably a meaningful sign of coach evaluation that Frausto-Ramos is getting those defensive opportunities (and struggling mightily).

12. Game balls: Ashton Daniels, Alaka'i Gilman, Aaron Morris, Troy Taylor

13. The pattern I've hinted at before of alternating between abysmal performances and respectable performances only got reinforced with this game. An optimist would point out we've tended to be more respectable lately and that our mode outcome is now one befitting a respectable team (a Washington State, say). A pessimist would say our median outcome is still quite bad, arguably the worst Stanford team in history. In the big picture of the rebuild it's probably not too consequential which of those two reads ends up having more support by the end of the year, as both are true and don't change the fundamentals of a program that needs more time to bring in the new staff's own players and culture. Nonetheless, it would be nice to break the pendulum we've seen so far and start stringing together a few respectable games in a row. Washington State and their four game losing streak should not be an intimidating team for us to try to start doing that. Go Card!

[msqueri]

9. With this kind of rebuild it's natural to be most excited about the youth movement but we should acknowledge that some old guys have been very important glue for the defense. Fifth year Manley had the key interception and has been a solid player this year but what really caught my eye yesterday was fourth year Gilman. He was central to our run defense and also broke up a pass to force a punt. I am starting to feel like if he does move on, as I would expect, it is a real loss for us. I never thought going into the year that Gilman could more or less replace McGill on the defense one for one but that's kind of been the case (McGill more of a playmaker, GIlman more of a run defender, but in terms of high effort glue guys I think the comparison is there). If Gilman is gone maybe Leigber can step into the role next year (not a big fan of the player but with the recovered fumble and a tackle for short gain in crunch time Leigber found a way to contribute in moments), but I will miss Gilman when he's gone. Speaking of one of our main DBs, while yesterday wasn't one of our best games in pass defense now that we've faced three of the top eight passing offenses in the nation (!) we should take a moment to acknowledge the gauntlet our pass defense has been through. The stats are ugly but we should expect that. Beyond the stats, PFF thinks Wright, Edwards, Gilman, and Manley are the four best players on the defense on the season. That makes secondary arguably the biggest strength on our roster, to which I think we should give a real tip of the cap to Williams and Gregory. In particular we should be grateful for the tackling we are getting out of the DBs, with Wright and Gilman two of the most important players for our run defense. They aren't perfect and it's killing me to see Wright so consistently give up chunk plays in coverage (though he lost out on an interception in this one due to an offsides) but there's some good stuff too.

10. Aside from Gilman, the other defender who notched five plays last night that I deemed as positive plays in the play-by-play was Tafiti. We are seeing the emergence of Tafiti as one of the best players on our roster, as Shaw/Anderson/April/anybody who talks about Tafiti has long foreshadowed. While I know we are all extremely disappointed in David Bailey's true sophomore season and Ernest Cooper's benchwarming, to have a good redshirt freshman OLB replacing Bailey as our primary field side OLB is a big development. Tafiti had the highly impactful distinction yesterday of getting multiple run stops, multiple hurries to force an incompletion, a turnover, and in the sum total of those plays two different Husky drives Tafiti was responsible for ending. brobdingnagian. Alas, it was an up and down night because he was the poster child of that indiscipline I talked about, drawing both a personal foul on special teams and a face mask penalty. Still, Tafiti is transforming before our eyes and like Ayomanor is a redshirt freshman blossoming post-injury and potentially poised for explosion with more confidence and range of motion. Exciting (though clearly far below Ayomanor in the ceiling demonstrated thus far). It was also nice to have another OLB make big contributions as Aybar had plays in both run defense and pass rush. I don't think he's great but at this point I am welcoming any and all impactful plays by OLBs given the disappointment of the season for that group to date. Aybar should be very proud of getting a sack against Washington, which was only fifth sack they've allowed all season. On the flip side of these items of praise, it was disappointing to see Sinclair follow up his career game with yesterday. 95 percent of the time he is so, so, so bad. Among younger players, I hope Kolodziej can get more out of Moi going forward. Moi hasn't been great this year and then really regressed yesterday. As a parting comment on the defense, the sample size is too small to comment meaningfully on takeaways but it is very nice that we've won the turnover margin two of the last three weeks. Hopefully we can build on that.

11. I swear the coaches are trolling us trotting Weselman out there. Please put him and us out of his misery. This time it was a catastrophic net punt of 14 yards to give one of the best offenses in the nation the ball at the 50 yard line for their first possession. Thankfully, it was Flintoft the rest of the way. I hope that's the case through the 2026 season. I think Flintoft can be great. However, in this one the punt unit did not shine. Flintoft had nets of 47 to the 18 (nice), 39 to the 25 (ok), 29 to the 48 (subpar), and 24 to the 48 (even more subpar). I don't know whether those multiple sub-30 net punts were more on Flintoft or the coverage team but they weren't helpful plays and, coupled with Weselman's whiff, led Taylor to make a point in the press conference to say special teams hurt us yesterday. In the return game Farrell gave us awful field position by taking a kick out to the 14. Karty didn't hurt us, making both of his field goals. He's fallen to sixth in the nation in field goals and I still am not fully over the many missed opportunities to score points and go for some highlights against UCLA. Let Karty eat! Finally, Morris had a fantastic special teams tackle, not the first time this season we've said that. Don't laugh: contributions like that are the kind of thing that can get somebody darkhorse consideration for the AP/ST slot on the all-conference team. I hope this portends abilities that translate at corner as Manley will soon leave solidly sized shoes to fill, though it's probably a meaningful sign of coach evaluation that Frausto-Ramos is getting those defensive opportunities (and struggling mightily).

12. Game balls: Ashton Daniels, Alaka'i Gilman, Aaron Morris, Troy Taylor

13. The pattern I've hinted at before of alternating between abysmal performances and respectable performances only got reinforced with this game. An optimist would point out we've tended to be more respectable lately and that our mode outcome is now one befitting a respectable team (a Washington State, say). A pessimist would say our median outcome is still quite bad, arguably the worst Stanford team in history. In the big picture of the rebuild it's probably not too consequential which of those two reads ends up having more support by the end of the year, as both are true and don't change the fundamentals of a program that needs more time to bring in the new staff's own players and culture. Nonetheless, it would be nice to break the pendulum we've seen so far and start stringing together a few respectable games in a row. Washington State and their four game losing streak should not be an intimidating team for us to try to start doing that. Go Card!

[terry]

Good post! Thanks.

[terry]

Good post! Thanks.

[qwerty49]

Thank you Matt! I know I speak for many here when I say I love your posts and insights. 

As Stanford fans we are starved for content in so many ways, and your Sunday morning thoughts provide badly needed sustenance.

The team showed heart yesterday and Bachmeier and Gilman in particular played with a lot of grit. It’s also a great sign that some others cracked the lineup and made their presence known.

[qwerty49]

Thank you Matt! I know I speak for many here when I say I love your posts and insights. 

As Stanford fans we are starved for content in so many ways, and your Sunday morning thoughts provide badly needed sustenance.

The team showed heart yesterday and Bachmeier and Gilman in particular played with a lot of grit. It’s also a great sign that some others cracked the lineup and made their presence known.

[CowboyIndian]

Excellent work and great to rehash the best game the boys have played all year. Hope is alive!

IMO, Bachmeier ought to be getting a game ball as well. Are you holding that slightly funky pass against him?

[CowboyIndian]

Excellent work and great to rehash the best game the boys have played all year. Hope is alive!

IMO, Bachmeier ought to be getting a game ball as well. Are you holding that slightly funky pass against him?

[msqueri]

Excellent work and great to rehash the best game the boys have played all year. Hope is alive!

IMO, Bachmeier ought to be getting a game ball as well. Are you holding that slightly funky pass against him?

Not at all. I didn't even think it was that bad of a pass. I blame Raines 80-90 percent. 

I am pretty anal about my game balls. One offense, one defense, one special teams, one coach. No exceptions. Sometimes there are five deserving on one side and none on the other, but a game ball is a game ball and I have my process (and realistically teams have the same kind of arbitrary constraints too in real life). 

In this case, my heart wanted to go with Bachmeier or maybe Ayomanor. But I've shown them both a lot of love and tend to be harsher about Daniels and, especially since QB is the most important position by far and external validators (like the PFF grades) had Daniels as giving the best performance, I was wary about being seen as a Daniels hater. I'm not, and he deserves recognition. But yeah, I think Bachmeier and Ayomanor had every bit as good of games for WRs as Daniels did for a QB. No quarrel from me on a game ball going to any. Similarly on defense I wouldn't argue with Tafiti or Aybar getting recognition or on special teams with Karty or Flintoft being seen as doing more than Morris. For the coaching staff, my heart wanted to go with April. I think last night was a big step for his career and for our program. But I also try to have my game balls comport with the evidence and analysis in the rest of the post and on balance I think Taylor was more responsible for the win and the offense's performance more impressive than the defense's. Anyway, all four game balls this week were tossups, which is not often the case.

[msqueri]

Excellent work and great to rehash the best game the boys have played all year. Hope is alive!

IMO, Bachmeier ought to be getting a game ball as well. Are you holding that slightly funky pass against him?

Not at all. I didn't even think it was that bad of a pass. I blame Raines 80-90 percent. 

I am pretty anal about my game balls. One offense, one defense, one special teams, one coach. No exceptions. Sometimes there are five deserving on one side and none on the other, but a game ball is a game ball and I have my process (and realistically teams have the same kind of arbitrary constraints too in real life). 

In this case, my heart wanted to go with Bachmeier or maybe Ayomanor. But I've shown them both a lot of love and tend to be harsher about Daniels and, especially since QB is the most important position by far and external validators (like the PFF grades) had Daniels as giving the best performance, I was wary about being seen as a Daniels hater. I'm not, and he deserves recognition. But yeah, I think Bachmeier and Ayomanor had every bit as good of games for WRs as Daniels did for a QB. No quarrel from me on a game ball going to any. Similarly on defense I wouldn't argue with Tafiti or Aybar getting recognition or on special teams with Karty or Flintoft being seen as doing more than Morris. For the coaching staff, my heart wanted to go with April. I think last night was a big step for his career and for our program. But I also try to have my game balls comport with the evidence and analysis in the rest of the post and on balance I think Taylor was more responsible for the win and the offense's performance more impressive than the defense's. Anyway, all four game balls this week were tossups, which is not often the case.

[SkiBum80]

Great write up
I’m of the opinion that our average play has far improved from let’s say a low point of USC
However we’re still dogged by the backbreaking outlier mistakes
A very dumb costly penalty at the worst moment
A totally missed block that if made would have prevented a sack, or sprung our runner for a big gain instead of maybe 2 yards
A dropped pass that is caught 9 outta 10 times
It’s almost like we really don’t need to play any better, just need make fewer mistakes, and especially not at crucial moments
Then game score gets better & wins more possible

[SkiBum80]

Great write up
I’m of the opinion that our average play has far improved from let’s say a low point of USC
However we’re still dogged by the backbreaking outlier mistakes
A very dumb costly penalty at the worst moment
A totally missed block that if made would have prevented a sack, or sprung our runner for a big gain instead of maybe 2 yards
A dropped pass that is caught 9 outta 10 times
It’s almost like we really don’t need to play any better, just need make fewer mistakes, and especially not at crucial moments
Then game score gets better & wins more possible

[Mick]

Good point on penalties and our current #113 ranking. We've never been that bad. We ranked #99 in 2008, Harbaugh's second year. Believe it or not, our best rankings were #8 and #7 in fewest yards per game penalized...in Wlat's first and second years, 2005 and 2006.

We had a good year in 2018, Shaw's 9-4 season, and last year we were #21.  Anyway, here's our ranking among NCAA college football programs in fewest average penalty yards per game for the last 20 seasons inclusive of 2023:

YEAR RANK
2023 113
2022 21
2021 27
2020 64
2019 40
2018 18
2017 41
2016 65
2015 32
2014 47
2013 48
2012 67
2011 79
2010 33
2009 62
2008 99
2007 40
2006 8
2005 7
2004 50

[Mick]

Good point on penalties and our current #113 ranking. We've never been that bad. We ranked #99 in 2008, Harbaugh's second year. Believe it or not, our best rankings were #8 and #7 in fewest yards per game penalized...in Wlat's first and second years, 2005 and 2006.

We had a good year in 2018, Shaw's 9-4 season, and last year we were #21.  Anyway, here's our ranking among NCAA college football programs in fewest average penalty yards per game for the last 20 seasons inclusive of 2023:

YEAR RANK
2023 113
2022 21
2021 27
2020 64
2019 40
2018 18
2017 41
2016 65
2015 32
2014 47
2013 48
2012 67
2011 79
2010 33
2009 62
2008 99
2007 40
2006 8
2005 7
2004 50

[needle]

Good point on penalties and our current #113 ranking. We've never been that bad. We ranked #99 in 2008, Harbaugh's second year. Believe it or not, our best rankings were #8 and #7 in fewest yards per game penalized...in Wlat's first and second years, 2005 and 2006.

We had a good year in 2018, Shaw's 9-4 season, and last year we were #21.  Anyway, here's our ranking among NCAA college football programs in fewest average penalty yards per game for the last 20 seasons inclusive of 2023:

YEAR RANK
2023 113
2022 21
2021 27
2020 64
2019 40
2018 18
2017 41
2016 65
2015 32
2014 47
2013 48
2012 67
2011 79
2010 33
2009 62
2008 99
2007 40
2006 8
2005 7
2004 50

More plays means more opportunities for penalties, which should factor in when comparing yearly totals. Not actually sure how Stanford ranks in plays per game this year compared to other years.

BTW, the replays from last night seemed to show at least one hold on every play, either by Washington or Stanford. Defensive backs do it, receiver do it, linemen do it. Every play. It truly is arbitrary whether or not officials flag a team for it or not.

[needle]

Good point on penalties and our current #113 ranking. We've never been that bad. We ranked #99 in 2008, Harbaugh's second year. Believe it or not, our best rankings were #8 and #7 in fewest yards per game penalized...in Wlat's first and second years, 2005 and 2006.

We had a good year in 2018, Shaw's 9-4 season, and last year we were #21.  Anyway, here's our ranking among NCAA college football programs in fewest average penalty yards per game for the last 20 seasons inclusive of 2023:

YEAR RANK
2023 113
2022 21
2021 27
2020 64
2019 40
2018 18
2017 41
2016 65
2015 32
2014 47
2013 48
2012 67
2011 79
2010 33
2009 62
2008 99
2007 40
2006 8
2005 7
2004 50

More plays means more opportunities for penalties, which should factor in when comparing yearly totals. Not actually sure how Stanford ranks in plays per game this year compared to other years.

BTW, the replays from last night seemed to show at least one hold on every play, either by Washington or Stanford. Defensive backs do it, receiver do it, linemen do it. Every play. It truly is arbitrary whether or not officials flag a team for it or not.

[msqueri]

Good point on penalties and our current #113 ranking. We've never been that bad. We ranked #99 in 2008, Harbaugh's second year. Believe it or not, our best rankings were #8 and #7 in fewest yards per game penalized...in Wlat's first and second years, 2005 and 2006.

We had a good year in 2018, Shaw's 9-4 season, and last year we were #21.  Anyway, here's our ranking among NCAA college football programs in fewest average penalty yards per game for the last 20 seasons inclusive of 2023:

YEAR RANK
2023 113
2022 21
2021 27
2020 64
2019 40
2018 18
2017 41
2016 65
2015 32
2014 47
2013 48
2012 67
2011 79
2010 33
2009 62
2008 99
2007 40
2006 8
2005 7
2004 50

More plays means more opportunities for penalties, which should factor in when comparing yearly totals. Not actually sure how Stanford ranks in plays per game this year compared to other years.

BTW, the replays from last night seemed to show at least one hold on every play, either by Washington or Stanford. Defensive backs do it, receiver do it, linemen do it. Every play. It truly is arbitrary whether or not officials flag a team for it or not.

Meh. Penalties happen on both offense and defense. A highly penalized team is a highly penalized team. 

As for plays per game, Stanford is at 71.75. Typically I view mid-70s as a blistering pace and, by way of comparison, in Taylor's three seasons at Sacramento State he had more than 73.9 plays per game every year and 76.5 was the median while Stanford in 2022 was 68.7 and Shaw's median over 12 years was 66. Notably, the clock rules changed in 2023 and run much more liberally than before, presumably making it harder to sneak in a lot of plays. I think it is fair to say Stanford is getting a lot of plays in this season. Looking across the nation in 2023, among teams who have played eight games (a short cut I'm electing to take because the database I'm looking at lists in terms of total plays rather than plays per game), Stanford is 24th of 117 teams in plays. Fast but not blistering. We are actually only fourth in the Pac-12 on pace, behind Cal, Colorado, and UCLA. The big shock to me is how much USC has slowed down compared to what Riley usually does.

[msqueri]

Good point on penalties and our current #113 ranking. We've never been that bad. We ranked #99 in 2008, Harbaugh's second year. Believe it or not, our best rankings were #8 and #7 in fewest yards per game penalized...in Wlat's first and second years, 2005 and 2006.

We had a good year in 2018, Shaw's 9-4 season, and last year we were #21.  Anyway, here's our ranking among NCAA college football programs in fewest average penalty yards per game for the last 20 seasons inclusive of 2023:

YEAR RANK
2023 113
2022 21
2021 27
2020 64
2019 40
2018 18
2017 41
2016 65
2015 32
2014 47
2013 48
2012 67
2011 79
2010 33
2009 62
2008 99
2007 40
2006 8
2005 7
2004 50

More plays means more opportunities for penalties, which should factor in when comparing yearly totals. Not actually sure how Stanford ranks in plays per game this year compared to other years.

BTW, the replays from last night seemed to show at least one hold on every play, either by Washington or Stanford. Defensive backs do it, receiver do it, linemen do it. Every play. It truly is arbitrary whether or not officials flag a team for it or not.

Meh. Penalties happen on both offense and defense. A highly penalized team is a highly penalized team. 

As for plays per game, Stanford is at 71.75. Typically I view mid-70s as a blistering pace and, by way of comparison, in Taylor's three seasons at Sacramento State he had more than 73.9 plays per game every year and 76.5 was the median while Stanford in 2022 was 68.7 and Shaw's median over 12 years was 66. Notably, the clock rules changed in 2023 and run much more liberally than before, presumably making it harder to sneak in a lot of plays. I think it is fair to say Stanford is getting a lot of plays in this season. Looking across the nation in 2023, among teams who have played eight games (a short cut I'm electing to take because the database I'm looking at lists in terms of total plays rather than plays per game), Stanford is 24th of 117 teams in plays. Fast but not blistering. We are actually only fourth in the Pac-12 on pace, behind Cal, Colorado, and UCLA. The big shock to me is how much USC has slowed down compared to what Riley usually does.

[cctop]

Maybe I missed it being discussed but evidently a bunch of the UW players including Penix had the flu, which would help explain why the game was unexpectedly close:

https://www.si.com/college/washington/fo...eel-better

[cctop]

Maybe I missed it being discussed but evidently a bunch of the UW players including Penix had the flu, which would help explain why the game was unexpectedly close:

https://www.si.com/college/washington/fo...eel-better

[washingtonismoney]

Maybe I missed it being discussed but evidently a bunch of the UW players including Penix had the flu, which would help explain why the game was unexpectedly close:

https://www.si.com/college/washington/fo...eel-better

Suppose it's possible but strikes me as the CFB equivalent of how NBA stars suddenly become way more injured -- and are happy to let the press know about their ailments -- directly after being eliminated from the playoffs. In Washington's case, they have a committee to impress, or at the very least, do some explaining to.

[washingtonismoney]

Maybe I missed it being discussed but evidently a bunch of the UW players including Penix had the flu, which would help explain why the game was unexpectedly close:

https://www.si.com/college/washington/fo...eel-better

Suppose it's possible but strikes me as the CFB equivalent of how NBA stars suddenly become way more injured -- and are happy to let the press know about their ailments -- directly after being eliminated from the playoffs. In Washington's case, they have a committee to impress, or at the very least, do some explaining to.

[SamuelMcF]

SI. No thanks.

[SamuelMcF]

SI. No thanks.

[76lsjumb]

How times have changed. Just three years ago Davis Mills DIDN’T have the flu, and he wasn’t allowed to play…

[76lsjumb]

How times have changed. Just three years ago Davis Mills DIDN’T have the flu, and he wasn’t allowed to play…

[needle]

TT says in Tuesday presser that the team is hopeful that Ayomanor, Filkins and Pale will be able to play, added that more would be known at the end of the week.

Very rushed answer. I do not think TT feels it necessary to be especially honest/forthcoming when asked about injuries. 

I didn't even notice when Filkins or Pale went down. I agree that Ayomanor is doubtful to play the rest of the season, just based on watching the play where he got hurt. Any guesses on Filkins or Pale?

[needle]

TT says in Tuesday presser that the team is hopeful that Ayomanor, Filkins and Pale will be able to play, added that more would be known at the end of the week.

Very rushed answer. I do not think TT feels it necessary to be especially honest/forthcoming when asked about injuries. 

I didn't even notice when Filkins or Pale went down. I agree that Ayomanor is doubtful to play the rest of the season, just based on watching the play where he got hurt. Any guesses on Filkins or Pale?

[washingtonismoney]

TT says in Tuesday presser that the team is hopeful that Ayomanor, Filkins and Pale will be able to play, added that more would be known at the end of the week.

Very rushed answer. I do not think TT feels it necessary to be especially honest/forthcoming when asked about injuries. 

I didn't even notice when Filkins or Pale went down. I agree that Ayomanor is doubtful to play the rest of the season, just based on watching the play where he got hurt. Any guesses on Filkins or Pale?

I thought the funniest -- well, probably not for the people in question -- non-answer was his one about Bailey. I expect this is trending to a transfer at this point.

[washingtonismoney]

TT says in Tuesday presser that the team is hopeful that Ayomanor, Filkins and Pale will be able to play, added that more would be known at the end of the week.

Very rushed answer. I do not think TT feels it necessary to be especially honest/forthcoming when asked about injuries. 

I didn't even notice when Filkins or Pale went down. I agree that Ayomanor is doubtful to play the rest of the season, just based on watching the play where he got hurt. Any guesses on Filkins or Pale?

I thought the funniest -- well, probably not for the people in question -- non-answer was his one about Bailey. I expect this is trending to a transfer at this point.

[gailtate]

I'm no Tim Brando fanboy, far from it, but I will say this: He was bang-on, double-dog-dare-ya on target when he uncorked the following, in what used to be called a Tweet:

"We had another epic Saturday in CFB tonight at Stanford and as I hop on my redeye flight home I’m compelled to post this," said Brando. "I’ve never seen a 5th ranked team like Washington play before such a small audience on the road in a Conference game. What happened tonight was epic yet so few seemed (to) care on site. It’s my sincere hope that @StanfordFball garners more respect from its students, faculty and alumni in coming years under @CoachTroyTaylor! He and his team deserves better. Ya wonder why the @PAC12 is on the verge of extinction? Apathy and lack of overall respect for a mammoth tradition in CFB."
He continued, explaining that he feels for the program as there seems to be a lack of respect for the history and tradition.
"I have greater empathy for @StanfordFootball even more because this is their home and there seemingly were more vendors than fans in the stands. I understand CFB is not as big a deal in the Silicon Valley, but how about some respect for the rich history & tradition of your program. Let’s hope it improves before heading to the @TheACC Many thanks to the @StanfordFball and @UW_Football for giving us a great game," said Brando.

(I believe Coach Taylor will do exactly that, BTW.).  And thanks for your post-mortem, as always.

[gailtate]

I'm no Tim Brando fanboy, far from it, but I will say this: He was bang-on, double-dog-dare-ya on target when he uncorked the following, in what used to be called a Tweet:

"We had another epic Saturday in CFB tonight at Stanford and as I hop on my redeye flight home I’m compelled to post this," said Brando. "I’ve never seen a 5th ranked team like Washington play before such a small audience on the road in a Conference game. What happened tonight was epic yet so few seemed (to) care on site. It’s my sincere hope that @StanfordFball garners more respect from its students, faculty and alumni in coming years under @CoachTroyTaylor! He and his team deserves better. Ya wonder why the @PAC12 is on the verge of extinction? Apathy and lack of overall respect for a mammoth tradition in CFB."
He continued, explaining that he feels for the program as there seems to be a lack of respect for the history and tradition.
"I have greater empathy for @StanfordFootball even more because this is their home and there seemingly were more vendors than fans in the stands. I understand CFB is not as big a deal in the Silicon Valley, but how about some respect for the rich history & tradition of your program. Let’s hope it improves before heading to the @TheACC Many thanks to the @StanfordFball and @UW_Football for giving us a great game," said Brando.

(I believe Coach Taylor will do exactly that, BTW.).  And thanks for your post-mortem, as always.

[Brickcity]

I'm no Tim Brando fanboy, far from it, but I will say this: He was bang-on, double-dog-dare-ya on target when he uncorked the following, in what used to be called a Tweet:

"We had another epic Saturday in CFB tonight at Stanford and as I hop on my redeye flight home I’m compelled to post this," said Brando. "I’ve never seen a 5th ranked team like Washington play before such a small audience on the road in a Conference game. What happened tonight was epic yet so few seemed (to) care on site. It’s my sincere hope that @StanfordFball garners more respect from its students, faculty and alumni in coming years under @CoachTroyTaylor! He and his team deserves better. Ya wonder why the @PAC12 is on the verge of extinction? Apathy and lack of overall respect for a mammoth tradition in CFB."
He continued, explaining that he feels for the program as there seems to be a lack of respect for the history and tradition.
"I have greater empathy for @StanfordFootball even more because this is their home and there seemingly were more vendors than fans in the stands. I understand CFB is not as big a deal in the Silicon Valley, but how about some respect for the rich history & tradition of your program. Let’s hope it improves before heading to the @TheACC Many thanks to the @StanfordFball and @UW_Football for giving us a great game," said Brando.

(I believe Coach Taylor will do exactly that, BTW.).  And thanks for your post-mortem, as always.

I had never been a fan of Brando but I thought he was great on Saturday - his vibe from the Tweet above came through during the broadcast. Thanks for posting.

[Brickcity]

I'm no Tim Brando fanboy, far from it, but I will say this: He was bang-on, double-dog-dare-ya on target when he uncorked the following, in what used to be called a Tweet:

"We had another epic Saturday in CFB tonight at Stanford and as I hop on my redeye flight home I’m compelled to post this," said Brando. "I’ve never seen a 5th ranked team like Washington play before such a small audience on the road in a Conference game. What happened tonight was epic yet so few seemed (to) care on site. It’s my sincere hope that @StanfordFball garners more respect from its students, faculty and alumni in coming years under @CoachTroyTaylor! He and his team deserves better. Ya wonder why the @PAC12 is on the verge of extinction? Apathy and lack of overall respect for a mammoth tradition in CFB."
He continued, explaining that he feels for the program as there seems to be a lack of respect for the history and tradition.
"I have greater empathy for @StanfordFootball even more because this is their home and there seemingly were more vendors than fans in the stands. I understand CFB is not as big a deal in the Silicon Valley, but how about some respect for the rich history & tradition of your program. Let’s hope it improves before heading to the @TheACC Many thanks to the @StanfordFball and @UW_Football for giving us a great game," said Brando.

(I believe Coach Taylor will do exactly that, BTW.).  And thanks for your post-mortem, as always.

I had never been a fan of Brando but I thought he was great on Saturday - his vibe from the Tweet above came through during the broadcast. Thanks for posting.

[msqueri]

The most interesting thing about Brando’s commentary is that it’s clear Taylor has won him over. During the USC game Brando was acidic toward Stanford and almost gleeful at what the Trojans did to us. Disdainful. I was quite taken aback during the broadcast with how he talked about us. My read is that the meetings/coverage/etc. this year have led him to cotton to Taylor.

[msqueri]

The most interesting thing about Brando’s commentary is that it’s clear Taylor has won him over. During the USC game Brando was acidic toward Stanford and almost gleeful at what the Trojans did to us. Disdainful. I was quite taken aback during the broadcast with how he talked about us. My read is that the meetings/coverage/etc. this year have led him to cotton to Taylor.