[Austroturf]

If Cal, with no better talent than Stanford has, can be #2 (#16), there really is no reason Stanford shouldn't be better on Defense.

If Shaw does prioritize getting better on Defense and running the ball more effectively, and mixes in a potent passing attack with the best QB he's had since Luck, maybe 2019 can be one of those odd year runs to a conference title. But there must be staff changes because it seems clear some new thinking needs to be infused into the program.

You raise a very valid point here.  Under Sonny Dykes, Cal's defense was hopeless.  Wilcox basically took the players Dykes recruited, added a few freshly-recruited underclassmen and turned the Cal D into a strong unit.  Nobody can tell me Cal has better raw material on the defensive side of the ball than Stanford has.  All Wilcox could do is coach up the players he had, change the schemes and emphasize the importance of a stout defense.  He simply hasn't had the time to recruit an entirely new roster for the defense and put his own players in place.

So the legitimate question is: why the decline in Stanford's defense over this same period of time? In 2014, our D was still a monster; now, it is in the lower third of the conference.  How would it have performed if Wilcox had been coaching it?  What opportunities have we missed with the personnel we currently have?  Ultimately, is Anderson the right coach to revitalize the Stanford defense?

[Austroturf]

If Cal, with no better talent than Stanford has, can be #2 (#16), there really is no reason Stanford shouldn't be better on Defense.

If Shaw does prioritize getting better on Defense and running the ball more effectively, and mixes in a potent passing attack with the best QB he's had since Luck, maybe 2019 can be one of those odd year runs to a conference title. But there must be staff changes because it seems clear some new thinking needs to be infused into the program.

You raise a very valid point here.  Under Sonny Dykes, Cal's defense was hopeless.  Wilcox basically took the players Dykes recruited, added a few freshly-recruited underclassmen and turned the Cal D into a strong unit.  Nobody can tell me Cal has better raw material on the defensive side of the ball than Stanford has.  All Wilcox could do is coach up the players he had, change the schemes and emphasize the importance of a stout defense.  He simply hasn't had the time to recruit an entirely new roster for the defense and put his own players in place.

So the legitimate question is: why the decline in Stanford's defense over this same period of time? In 2014, our D was still a monster; now, it is in the lower third of the conference.  How would it have performed if Wilcox had been coaching it?  What opportunities have we missed with the personnel we currently have?  Ultimately, is Anderson the right coach to revitalize the Stanford defense?