[msqueri]

6. Shaw's post-game comments about the defense not being terrible in the first half do not hold up to scrutiny and Harold Gutmann was quite right to point out that there was no evidence to support Shaw's assertion. Yes, we handed USC short fields but if the defense weren't terrible there would have been more positive plays. Two tackles for loss and a pass defended in a half is not putting up much resistance, no matter where you are on the field. The brightest spot for the defense was third down, only giving up two conversions....but USC didn't even have to try a third down until the last plays of the first half! We didn't actually stop them until the third quarter, and because the second half started with another bomb to Addison USC scored on that drive anyway. No, the defense was terrible. The culprit, contrary to our norm, was the pass defense, which was absolutely roasted to the tune of 12.6 yards per attempt, the most we've given up since the conference championship against USC in 2017 and the third most ever given up by a Shaw team. The enemy gets a vote and USC's passing attack is spectacular, but not that spectacular. 12.6 yards per attempt is worse than Rice allowed and worse than all but two Oklahoma opponents in 2021. Several DBs were victimized (and lack of pass rush plays a role too) but Kelly really stands out. I know Addison is the Biletnikoff winner and incredible, but a DB even close to the totally undeserved hype Kelly gets wouldn't give up a bomb every other game, which is his norm going back a long while now. In contrast, I will eat some crow, at least for a week, on Bonner, who had a very nice (totally quiet, as one likes to see for a corner) game. Granted, that may have been because Williams didn't need to target Bonner since Kelly and Wyrick were proving vulnerable, but still a very nice game for Bonner. 

7. PFF thought Rogers bounced back quite credibly in his second start filling in for Bragg, Roush overtook Archer in snaps but had a brutal game, Williamson had another good game, Bailey was mediocre but did some nice things, and Herron (despite a stat-padding performance based on conventional stats), Mangum-Farrar, and Miezan had very rough games. Moi got 34 snaps, which is quite a lot but partly has to do with the tempo of this game compared to Colgate. Armitage played a significant amount more than against Colgate (16th in defensive snaps as opposed to 21st), which appears to have been a function of an unannounced absence entirely for Buckey. As Armitage is ostensibly an edge player and Buckey a DL, this is an example of the fluidity of personnel usage.

8. Sanborn's two punts were more effective than he tended to be last week: a 48 yard net punt inside the 20 and a 49 yard net punt inside the 20 (though three yards of that and being inside the 20 owed to a muff), though he let meat on the bone on both. 

9. Game balls: Rogers (PFF thought McKee better but I could give McKee the ball every week and that's no fun), Bonner, Sanborn, Shaw

10. Now for the weirdly timed bye. I get the sense Shaw and the players are resolved to make lemonade out of a lemon and use this bye and our relative health to sneak in an extra week of practice (as opposed to the bye norm of largely taking a week off) and work on what film has revealed from the first two games. With a new offensive identity that we're no longer trying to keep under wraps, this is a chance to work on solidifying that identity. To the extent Bragg, Rouse, Smith, and Buckey are working through things, some rest may do them good. When we're back in action, we'll have a pair of road games that will go a long way to deciding what kind of season it is. Washington and Oregon are beatable. Given location, timing on the schedule, and other factors, the USC game was arguably one of our seven or eight most winnable games. If this is going to be a winning season, a game like the upcoming one at Washington is one of the ones that is likely needed to get us there. Will this be a Stanford team that responds to adversity or one where failures snowball?

[msqueri]

6. Shaw's post-game comments about the defense not being terrible in the first half do not hold up to scrutiny and Harold Gutmann was quite right to point out that there was no evidence to support Shaw's assertion. Yes, we handed USC short fields but if the defense weren't terrible there would have been more positive plays. Two tackles for loss and a pass defended in a half is not putting up much resistance, no matter where you are on the field. The brightest spot for the defense was third down, only giving up two conversions....but USC didn't even have to try a third down until the last plays of the first half! We didn't actually stop them until the third quarter, and because the second half started with another bomb to Addison USC scored on that drive anyway. No, the defense was terrible. The culprit, contrary to our norm, was the pass defense, which was absolutely roasted to the tune of 12.6 yards per attempt, the most we've given up since the conference championship against USC in 2017 and the third most ever given up by a Shaw team. The enemy gets a vote and USC's passing attack is spectacular, but not that spectacular. 12.6 yards per attempt is worse than Rice allowed and worse than all but two Oklahoma opponents in 2021. Several DBs were victimized (and lack of pass rush plays a role too) but Kelly really stands out. I know Addison is the Biletnikoff winner and incredible, but a DB even close to the totally undeserved hype Kelly gets wouldn't give up a bomb every other game, which is his norm going back a long while now. In contrast, I will eat some crow, at least for a week, on Bonner, who had a very nice (totally quiet, as one likes to see for a corner) game. Granted, that may have been because Williams didn't need to target Bonner since Kelly and Wyrick were proving vulnerable, but still a very nice game for Bonner. 

7. PFF thought Rogers bounced back quite credibly in his second start filling in for Bragg, Roush overtook Archer in snaps but had a brutal game, Williamson had another good game, Bailey was mediocre but did some nice things, and Herron (despite a stat-padding performance based on conventional stats), Mangum-Farrar, and Miezan had very rough games. Moi got 34 snaps, which is quite a lot but partly has to do with the tempo of this game compared to Colgate. Armitage played a significant amount more than against Colgate (16th in defensive snaps as opposed to 21st), which appears to have been a function of an unannounced absence entirely for Buckey. As Armitage is ostensibly an edge player and Buckey a DL, this is an example of the fluidity of personnel usage.

8. Sanborn's two punts were more effective than he tended to be last week: a 48 yard net punt inside the 20 and a 49 yard net punt inside the 20 (though three yards of that and being inside the 20 owed to a muff), though he let meat on the bone on both. 

9. Game balls: Rogers (PFF thought McKee better but I could give McKee the ball every week and that's no fun), Bonner, Sanborn, Shaw

10. Now for the weirdly timed bye. I get the sense Shaw and the players are resolved to make lemonade out of a lemon and use this bye and our relative health to sneak in an extra week of practice (as opposed to the bye norm of largely taking a week off) and work on what film has revealed from the first two games. With a new offensive identity that we're no longer trying to keep under wraps, this is a chance to work on solidifying that identity. To the extent Bragg, Rouse, Smith, and Buckey are working through things, some rest may do them good. When we're back in action, we'll have a pair of road games that will go a long way to deciding what kind of season it is. Washington and Oregon are beatable. Given location, timing on the schedule, and other factors, the USC game was arguably one of our seven or eight most winnable games. If this is going to be a winning season, a game like the upcoming one at Washington is one of the ones that is likely needed to get us there. Will this be a Stanford team that responds to adversity or one where failures snowball?