[CornFed]

I don't think anyone disputes the epic experience that we Stanford fans have had over the last seven years.  Quoting the truly amazing statistics that the team accumulated over that period does absolutely nothing to assess whether the momentum has been leaking out of the engine.

Having experienced a period of euphoria, anxiety arises about the signs the period might be drawing to a close.  All we need to do is rationalize 8-5 w/ discussions of the impact of injuries and sophisticated statistics that put our frustrations at ease.  In the meantime, the TWU membership roll is empty.  There really is no Intellectual Brutality.  We do not Party in the Backfield with regularity.

We partied in the backfield 34 times this year, which is second  in the conference in sack rate.  That’s comparable to our 2011 and 2013 defenses which were averaging just over theee sacks a game (2012 was on another level at 4 sacks a game).  Considering the relative youth and lack of star power in our DL, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

BC

The timing and regularity of sacks leads to a spirit of "partying in the backfield".  Like a baseball player that gets all his hits with the bases empty or a basketball player who seems to score only when the game is no longer at stake.  At the height (to date) of this renaissance of Cardinal football, the concepts of TWU, P in the B, and IB were interwoven into the overall outcome of a game.  34 sacks has no meaning in isolation.  Sure, it is better to have more than fewer.  But how many of those sacks were of the Solomon Thomas Sun Bowl variety?  That is, tough, critical and timely.  The bad news is those 34 sacks were not enough to keep us from potentially going 8-5 again.  And then we can discuss how many injuries we had, which is true.  Or how hard our schedule is, which is true.  I am just looking for the solid indicator that we are not winding down from this incredible ride we've had for the last 10 years.

[CornFed]

I don't think anyone disputes the epic experience that we Stanford fans have had over the last seven years.  Quoting the truly amazing statistics that the team accumulated over that period does absolutely nothing to assess whether the momentum has been leaking out of the engine.

Having experienced a period of euphoria, anxiety arises about the signs the period might be drawing to a close.  All we need to do is rationalize 8-5 w/ discussions of the impact of injuries and sophisticated statistics that put our frustrations at ease.  In the meantime, the TWU membership roll is empty.  There really is no Intellectual Brutality.  We do not Party in the Backfield with regularity.

We partied in the backfield 34 times this year, which is second  in the conference in sack rate.  That’s comparable to our 2011 and 2013 defenses which were averaging just over theee sacks a game (2012 was on another level at 4 sacks a game).  Considering the relative youth and lack of star power in our DL, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

BC

The timing and regularity of sacks leads to a spirit of "partying in the backfield".  Like a baseball player that gets all his hits with the bases empty or a basketball player who seems to score only when the game is no longer at stake.  At the height (to date) of this renaissance of Cardinal football, the concepts of TWU, P in the B, and IB were interwoven into the overall outcome of a game.  34 sacks has no meaning in isolation.  Sure, it is better to have more than fewer.  But how many of those sacks were of the Solomon Thomas Sun Bowl variety?  That is, tough, critical and timely.  The bad news is those 34 sacks were not enough to keep us from potentially going 8-5 again.  And then we can discuss how many injuries we had, which is true.  Or how hard our schedule is, which is true.  I am just looking for the solid indicator that we are not winding down from this incredible ride we've had for the last 10 years.