[BostonCard]

How about Stanford going forward? We are right now in the top 10. Do we belong there? Hard to say. We are 4-0, and have played three "good" teams, which is more than anybody else, I think. However, this last game is hard to give us lots of credit for. We also have for certain serious OL issues that threaten our identity as a "running team". We next play a Notre Dame team that is similarly in the top 10 but has played only one good team. They just changed QBs (maybe). They are where they are because of their name, not because of who they have defeated. Cal has a resume that is as good. Whichever team loses this next game will be labeled a "pretender". While a loss in this game doesn't change our situation in the PAC-12, it would impact our reputation much more than it should. Paradoxically, a victory doesn't help us as much as one might expect because it would be ND that is the pretender and beating them was no big deal.

I disagree.  If we beat Notre Dame, it would remove the feeling that winning at Oregon was a fluke.  We would have four wins against teams that between them would have one loss to a team outside of Stanford.  We might not be considered "elite", but we would be high in that category just below the elite teams. 

BC

[BostonCard]

How about Stanford going forward? We are right now in the top 10. Do we belong there? Hard to say. We are 4-0, and have played three "good" teams, which is more than anybody else, I think. However, this last game is hard to give us lots of credit for. We also have for certain serious OL issues that threaten our identity as a "running team". We next play a Notre Dame team that is similarly in the top 10 but has played only one good team. They just changed QBs (maybe). They are where they are because of their name, not because of who they have defeated. Cal has a resume that is as good. Whichever team loses this next game will be labeled a "pretender". While a loss in this game doesn't change our situation in the PAC-12, it would impact our reputation much more than it should. Paradoxically, a victory doesn't help us as much as one might expect because it would be ND that is the pretender and beating them was no big deal.

I disagree.  If we beat Notre Dame, it would remove the feeling that winning at Oregon was a fluke.  We would have four wins against teams that between them would have one loss to a team outside of Stanford.  We might not be considered "elite", but we would be high in that category just below the elite teams. 

BC