Random thoughts on Stanford victory

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Random thoughts on Stanford victory - Mick - 09-01-2019

Our defense, with the 4th and 5th year seniors gives me great confidence.  I realize NU's offense is not stellar.  But this was the best the Big 10 had to offer last year.  I was very impressed with our defense. We need more takeaways this year, we really need to win the turnover battle.  Yesterday, we lost two fumbles and recovered two.  With our two interceptions, that means we had a +2 for the day.  I'm very hopeful that our fumbles were because of first game jitters by Mills. I'm uncertain about our special teams.  Toner had a nice, 51 yard field goal.  Kickoff teams were subpar compared to Northwestern's.  Punting was poor, both our 32.6 average on five points and the 20 yard punt return we gave up.  Special teams was a net negative, and I'm very hopeful that we improve against USC. Costello was superb.  I thought he lost consciousness on the hit at the end of the first half. If it's a bad concussion I don't think he returns for a few weeks.  If that's the case, Mills needs to improve very fast.  FWLIW, I thought Mills wasn't terrible, and  most of his mistakes should clear up by game two, including the fumbles and the passing inaccuracy.  Given his lack of playing time over the past two years, I understand it, but given that Mills is likely to play the entire game against the Trojans, he needs to get much better very quickly. I was impressed with Scarlett's 97 yards on 22 carries against what will probably be the toughest front seven that Stanford will face all year.  I think Scarlett will have a superb season and I think Maddox will provide great relief.  I think both will improve as the season wears on.<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:/Users/Test/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:/Users/Test/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:/Users/Test/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>

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RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - MVDan - 09-01-2019

I think we will get a preview against USC of what the offense will look like with Costello and Little (maybe?) gone next year. The botched option hand offs should be taken care of with practice this week. USC  defensive backfield looked like it was ripe for the taking on many plays against Fresno State.  If Stanford's offensive line can pass protect effectively Stanford should be able to pass downfield. Will be interesting to see who is in what positions on the O/L.

RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - d4cohn - 09-01-2019

I re-watched the game for the defensive series (since that was the best part of yesterday's game :) ),and here are my thoughts: 1) DWP, Mike Williams, Swann and Schaffer were the MVP's on defense in my opinion They say everything starts up front, and it really was true yesterday. From the pass rush leading tothe first INT and both fumbles, the DL held their position, physically pushed blockers back (like DWPdid on one play, pushing his blocker at least 5 yards backward), and had great agility to side stepblockers (Gabe Reid and Swann with pure agility were able to "go small" and squeeze past the OL;Reid's play directly led to the first INT). Yes, with our mistakes on offense/special teams, Northwestern was in the game, but given the way their OL couldn't get any push,they weren't going to have much of a chance. All the credit to the DL + Toohill + Reid for a spectacular game yesterday. 2) Miezan was fantastic yesterday; he spied their QB very well, provided strong run support, and rushed the passer wellwith his big QB hit that saved a TD at the end of the first half. IMO, he should be starting.  I am a bit more neutral on the rest of the ILB play as compared to winflop; in particular, #2 (who starts ahead of Miezan)seemed like he was caught a bit flat-footed on some plays (one was bailed out by Adebo's spectacular pick, but if Adebomisses on that ball, with #2 out of position, that is 6). #2 also had to take a PI call when he was beat in coverage on a route. 3) Screen pass coverage was honestly poor yesterday, and the problem at least to me on tape, was that it appeared to be a combinationof things rather than one player out of position (which is a bit more concerning). Fortunately, Hunter Johnson airmailed more screen passes than he completed, but #4, #25 and #10 with an overaggressive pass rush on at least two of three instances (I presume that was by design, but if not leaving the RB in the flat all alone was a bad idea) was not great. A much better QB (say Herbert in three weeks) could have toasted us for at least 1 TD on the play where #25 left the RB uncovered. (that was the one instance where our guy wasn't rushing the passer, but ended up doubling a receiver with safety support instead of picking up the RB).

RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - SamuelMcF - 09-01-2019

(09-01-2019, 10:00 AM)Mick Wrote: Our defense, with the 4th and 5th year seniors gives me great confidence.  I realize NU's offense is not stellar.  But this was the best the Big 10 had to offer last year. <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:/Users/Test/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:/Users/Test/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:/Users/Test/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>

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RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - French Rage - 09-01-2019

Not saying Scarlett didn't have a good game, but am I the only one who thinks Maddox has a bit of extra spark?

RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - Goose - 09-01-2019

(09-01-2019, 11:48 AM)French Rage Wrote: Not saying Scarlett didn't have a good game, but am I the only one who thinks Maddox has a bit of extra spark?

Maddox is faster, without question. At some point he will break one. But if you need 3 yards, give it to Scarlett. I think he runs smarter and in a more determined way.  Maddox is going to get carries, for sure.

RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - JJJ - 09-01-2019

(09-01-2019, 11:48 AM)French Rage Wrote: Not saying Scarlett didn't have a good game, but am I the only one who thinks Maddox has a bit of extra spark?

Agreed that Maddox seemed to add an extra spark. But my main thought was “we need to play better next week!”

RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - Spiny_Norman - 09-01-2019

FWIW, the Northwestern players at the post game presser said that Stanford did nothing unexpected.  from WR Bennett Skowronek

Quote:They played their base defense against us, but we made adjustments to
what they did and they didn’t throw anything special at us.

from DB Travis Whillock

Quote:We got what we expected, we just need to make the plays to get our offense back on the field and putting up points for us.

Shaw teams have a history of pretty strong defensive performances in
game 1. 7 points vs. Northwestern, 10 points last year vs. SDSU, 7
points vs. Rice, 13 points vs K State. No opponent in the Shaw era has scored more than 17 in a season opener (SJS in 2012). The challenge really ramps up next week. I expect USC to try to attack Stanford's nickel. Appeared to me that JJ Parson was the nickelback for much of the game with Kyu Blu Kelly playing some at the end. Neither has much game experience.

RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - PVTree - 09-01-2019

Where's Speights? I thought he had a good chance of being the starting RB after last year.

RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - JJJ - 09-01-2019

(09-01-2019, 01:35 PM)PVTree Wrote: Where's Speights? I thought he had a good chance of being the starting RB after last year.

I believe Troy's Treecast said he wouldn't be available for the game.

RE: Random thoughts on Stanford victory - CTcard - 09-01-2019

I finally got a chance to view the entire game on a Youtube video. My overall impression is that it was a good win and encouraging for the rest of the season.

While I know this reads as being on the verge of nuts, I feel as good about that offensive performance as is possible for an offense scoring 10 points. Obviously there were plenty of mistakes: holding penalties, false starts, dropped passes, etc., but those things are more fixable than simply being bad/slow/weak/without a plan.

Costello played well.
Line protected and created reasonable running lanes; there were very few losses on running plays (only one Scarlett run for -2 yards if I remember correctly - not sure one should count the fumbled exchanges in this category but there were two of those).
Stanford only had a single drive without a first down (happened a lot last year), and ended 8 drives on the Northwestern half of the field.
Mills wasn't great, but one can see the potential. Made some great throws along with a couple of poor ones and at least one he shouldn't have thrown.

Health is, of course, the biggest issue at the moment.

There wasn't much more one could expect out of the defense; at 210 total yds, 3.5 per play, and 7 points that's among a handful of best defensive statistical games in the Shaw era.
The nervous fan in me does fear that much of what we saw was an incompetent Northwestern offense and QB. The twp droves with TJ Green as QB went for 41 and 66 yds, more than half Northwestern's total for the game though no points.