[pcgoode]

Hats off to you OF - you were definitely one of the first to call this. I am becoming more convinced you are correct. I think we will know more after the Oregon game. They seem to have a fairly balanced attack with a good OL, and we will playing in Eugene. 

If you look back at the original post in this thread, my assumption was Stanford's DL and defense would both be better in 2018 than 2017. After two games, look at the following:

Stanford is #3 in the FBS in Points allowed (and the #2 Power 5 team to Iowa who hasn't played team as good as Stanford has)
Stanford is is #3 in sacks (I don't know how they only have 9 officially, because I counted more than 2 against USC and they had 7 vs. SDSU)
Stanford is yielding 3.57 per rush (a full yard better than 2017, and #53 in FBS)
Stanford is #25 in Pass Efficiency D


When you consider they are doing this while yielding 40% 3rd down conversions (which is terrible), there seems to be room for improvement.

Let me point out something many folks reading this might have missed.  On 3rd and 2 with 10:46 left, USC ran Carr but he was stuffed by Dylan Jackson (who might have had his best game of his Stanford career, btw). On the play, DWP was at NT.  The only reason this stop was made was because DWP commanded a double team and he wasn't pushed out of the way.  This allowed Jackson to get inside to make the tackle. To me, that was the greatest play I saw all night.

Not only is there evidence the DL and defense was being undervalued, but it actually seems as though it can be better than even I thought was possible.

[pcgoode]

Hats off to you OF - you were definitely one of the first to call this. I am becoming more convinced you are correct. I think we will know more after the Oregon game. They seem to have a fairly balanced attack with a good OL, and we will playing in Eugene. 

If you look back at the original post in this thread, my assumption was Stanford's DL and defense would both be better in 2018 than 2017. After two games, look at the following:

Stanford is #3 in the FBS in Points allowed (and the #2 Power 5 team to Iowa who hasn't played team as good as Stanford has)
Stanford is is #3 in sacks (I don't know how they only have 9 officially, because I counted more than 2 against USC and they had 7 vs. SDSU)
Stanford is yielding 3.57 per rush (a full yard better than 2017, and #53 in FBS)
Stanford is #25 in Pass Efficiency D


When you consider they are doing this while yielding 40% 3rd down conversions (which is terrible), there seems to be room for improvement.

Let me point out something many folks reading this might have missed.  On 3rd and 2 with 10:46 left, USC ran Carr but he was stuffed by Dylan Jackson (who might have had his best game of his Stanford career, btw). On the play, DWP was at NT.  The only reason this stop was made was because DWP commanded a double team and he wasn't pushed out of the way.  This allowed Jackson to get inside to make the tackle. To me, that was the greatest play I saw all night.

Not only is there evidence the DL and defense was being undervalued, but it actually seems as though it can be better than even I thought was possible.