[OutsiderFan]

I honestly can't believe anyone thinks using the I formation and running power out of it 55% of the time is a recipe for winning football games in 2021.

Why not just run the wishbone or single wing?

Other than the fact that they ran it out of the shotgun, Utah beating us to submission running the ball 46 times out of 68 snaps (68%), mostly between the tackles, seemed like a pretty good validation for a run-first approach.  I haven’t done the math recently, but I remember a post by CTCard in which he showed that Stanford is among the most pass-happy teams in the pac-12.  Yeah, some of it is out of necessity, but still, if you look at some of the most successful teams in the country: Georgia, Michigan State, Oregon (to name three), all of them run much more than they pass.  The I-formation and Power as a play has gone out of fashion, but the concept of power running between the tackles has not.

BC

Were I to guess, the reason Stanford is so soft on both sides of the LOS has much more to do with (lack of) player development and coaching than it does any individual scheme per se. Every coach apologist says the players are responsible for executing, but the reality is college coaches decide who to have on their roster and are responsible for preparing them to play on the field. So lack of execution is always the coach's responsibility, especially considering only the coach is paid in college football.

[OutsiderFan]

I honestly can't believe anyone thinks using the I formation and running power out of it 55% of the time is a recipe for winning football games in 2021.

Why not just run the wishbone or single wing?

Other than the fact that they ran it out of the shotgun, Utah beating us to submission running the ball 46 times out of 68 snaps (68%), mostly between the tackles, seemed like a pretty good validation for a run-first approach.  I haven’t done the math recently, but I remember a post by CTCard in which he showed that Stanford is among the most pass-happy teams in the pac-12.  Yeah, some of it is out of necessity, but still, if you look at some of the most successful teams in the country: Georgia, Michigan State, Oregon (to name three), all of them run much more than they pass.  The I-formation and Power as a play has gone out of fashion, but the concept of power running between the tackles has not.

BC

Were I to guess, the reason Stanford is so soft on both sides of the LOS has much more to do with (lack of) player development and coaching than it does any individual scheme per se. Every coach apologist says the players are responsible for executing, but the reality is college coaches decide who to have on their roster and are responsible for preparing them to play on the field. So lack of execution is always the coach's responsibility, especially considering only the coach is paid in college football.