[CTcard]

... Though from a season stats perspective, Stanford's offense is in the bottom half of the conference, the reality is Stanford's offense, when playing to its strengths, is right at the top of the conference. ...

Stanford is averaging .440 points per play, good for #35 in FBS.  Cal is averaging .278, good for #121 in FBS.
Stanford is yielding .333 points per play, good for #39 in FBS. Cal is yielding .299, good for #25 in FBS.

I am assuming you got those numbers from TeamRankings.com.
That's fine, but I note that site has had apparently inaccurate numbers at times, or at least numbers I cannot verify.

Your statement about Stanford's offense being good when it plays to its strengths would roughly translate to Stanford's offense struggling for the first five games and moving the ball generally well in the more recent five games. Stanford's offense has certainly been a different beast lately, and season average stats mush two very different styles and levels of productivity together.

TeamRankings does have a past three games entry on their points per play stat. By that we have*
#20 Stanford  0.534 points/play  #1 in Pac 12.
#124 cal        0.203 point/play   #12 in Pac 12.

The opponents for Stanford in that stretch were OSU, UW, WSU - so one terrible defense and two very good defenses.
The opponents for cal in that stretch were U$C, WSU, UW - so the same two very good defenses and an $C defense that is pretty good, certainly much better than OSU.

I suppose I should do the same exercise for the defense, but it is not clear to me that there has been any such abrupt change in the approach or performance of the defense.


* I cannot find an explicit statement of what TeamRankings includes for points per play.
Over the past three games, my own calculations would give the following numbers:
Stanford
0.559 pts/play all points and all plays
no defensive points scored
cal
0.214 pts/play all points
0.171 pts/play removing defensive scores (1 safety, 1 TD no extra point)

Obviously, the numbers I calculated don't match the TeamRankings numbers, which is why I am suspicious of that site. I concede that there could be some method for counting points and plays that would give TeamRankings' numbers, but I don't know what that is.

[CTcard]

... Though from a season stats perspective, Stanford's offense is in the bottom half of the conference, the reality is Stanford's offense, when playing to its strengths, is right at the top of the conference. ...

Stanford is averaging .440 points per play, good for #35 in FBS.  Cal is averaging .278, good for #121 in FBS.
Stanford is yielding .333 points per play, good for #39 in FBS. Cal is yielding .299, good for #25 in FBS.

I am assuming you got those numbers from TeamRankings.com.
That's fine, but I note that site has had apparently inaccurate numbers at times, or at least numbers I cannot verify.

Your statement about Stanford's offense being good when it plays to its strengths would roughly translate to Stanford's offense struggling for the first five games and moving the ball generally well in the more recent five games. Stanford's offense has certainly been a different beast lately, and season average stats mush two very different styles and levels of productivity together.

TeamRankings does have a past three games entry on their points per play stat. By that we have*
#20 Stanford  0.534 points/play  #1 in Pac 12.
#124 cal        0.203 point/play   #12 in Pac 12.

The opponents for Stanford in that stretch were OSU, UW, WSU - so one terrible defense and two very good defenses.
The opponents for cal in that stretch were U$C, WSU, UW - so the same two very good defenses and an $C defense that is pretty good, certainly much better than OSU.

I suppose I should do the same exercise for the defense, but it is not clear to me that there has been any such abrupt change in the approach or performance of the defense.


* I cannot find an explicit statement of what TeamRankings includes for points per play.
Over the past three games, my own calculations would give the following numbers:
Stanford
0.559 pts/play all points and all plays
no defensive points scored
cal
0.214 pts/play all points
0.171 pts/play removing defensive scores (1 safety, 1 TD no extra point)

Obviously, the numbers I calculated don't match the TeamRankings numbers, which is why I am suspicious of that site. I concede that there could be some method for counting points and plays that would give TeamRankings' numbers, but I don't know what that is.