[washingtonismoney]

University of Seventh Choice is a dangerous opponent as an underdog.  And Clancy Pendergast defenses at UW and University of Seventh Choice have had success against Stanford in the recent past. This will be a tough game.

Wilcox was at Washington (and gave Stanford a lot of trouble.) Pendergast was at cal (and never troubled Stanford there). Here's Pendergast's work against Stanford:

2010 Big Game: 48 points surrendered, 6.77 yards per play. Stanford averaged 40 points and 6.71 ypp. Pendergast "meh."

2011 Big Game: 31 points surrendered, 6.14 ypp. Stanford averaged 43 ppg and 6.8 ypp. Book this as a solid performance for Pendergast -- it was a close game, so the defense was just good enough to give cal a chance. On the other hand, Stanford was coming off the Oregon loss and was, at the time, missing tons of players. Hard for me to give Pendergast *that* much credit.

2012 Big Game: 21 points surrendered, 6.09 yards per play. This was deep in the Nunes era -- it's about the average offense performance for Stanford under Nunes. No points to Pendergast.

2013 SC: 17 points surrendered, 5.62 ypp. Again, another game after an emotional performance versus Oregon -- have long felt that Gaffney looked a bit tired, as did the rest of the defense. On the other hand, if I recall correctly, SC's depth was facing a major crunch in that game and they played like 13 players total all game. (Not at the same time.) We'll give some points to Pendergast.


Overall it's hard to say Pendergast had some special skill or voodoo for Stanford. He's a good defensive coordinator, however, and if the offense doesn't play well, SC can shut it down.

[washingtonismoney]

University of Seventh Choice is a dangerous opponent as an underdog.  And Clancy Pendergast defenses at UW and University of Seventh Choice have had success against Stanford in the recent past. This will be a tough game.

Wilcox was at Washington (and gave Stanford a lot of trouble.) Pendergast was at cal (and never troubled Stanford there). Here's Pendergast's work against Stanford:

2010 Big Game: 48 points surrendered, 6.77 yards per play. Stanford averaged 40 points and 6.71 ypp. Pendergast "meh."

2011 Big Game: 31 points surrendered, 6.14 ypp. Stanford averaged 43 ppg and 6.8 ypp. Book this as a solid performance for Pendergast -- it was a close game, so the defense was just good enough to give cal a chance. On the other hand, Stanford was coming off the Oregon loss and was, at the time, missing tons of players. Hard for me to give Pendergast *that* much credit.

2012 Big Game: 21 points surrendered, 6.09 yards per play. This was deep in the Nunes era -- it's about the average offense performance for Stanford under Nunes. No points to Pendergast.

2013 SC: 17 points surrendered, 5.62 ypp. Again, another game after an emotional performance versus Oregon -- have long felt that Gaffney looked a bit tired, as did the rest of the defense. On the other hand, if I recall correctly, SC's depth was facing a major crunch in that game and they played like 13 players total all game. (Not at the same time.) We'll give some points to Pendergast.


Overall it's hard to say Pendergast had some special skill or voodoo for Stanford. He's a good defensive coordinator, however, and if the offense doesn't play well, SC can shut it down.