[Goose]

Yes, that 2016 blowout loss to the Huskies in Seattle felt like a sea-change: once the home of "intellectual brutality", Stanford was brutalized by the Dawgs on both sides of the line.  Burns and Chryst were running for their lives, while CMac was stymied every time he got the ball.  The first seven games of that season were a sign that the foundation for Stanford's brand of football was no longer firm, especially after that travesty of a home loss to Colorado (10-5!).  A few stand-out players, most notably Bryce Love in 2017, helped plaster over the cracks during this period; but the crumbling continued apace, and last night's game represents a logical nadir (or can it still get worse?).

I think Utah last year was far worse.

Well, that was against a very good Utah team.  The way we choked last Saturday was against a decidedly average Beaver squad with its second string QB.  Plus, this defeat sets a Stanford record for consecutive losses to FBS teams.  Feels like a relative nadir, which could be exceeded this coming Saturday.  Anyway, we can quibble about where rock bottom is.  We are at or near it right now.

The Colorado game definitely showed that Stanford had serious OL problems. Nobody wanted to hear it back then, but it was a fact. Lots of that got covered up by great individual talents elsewhere exploiting weaknesses in opposing defenses. The Coaches were able to "work around" a systemic problem for a while. On the one hand, they were good enough coaches to put in place the "work-arounds". OTOH, they weren't good enough coaches to recognize and fix the systemic problem.

However bad those problems were, those teams never "quit". Against Utah last year, no matter what one says about the relative stringths of the teams, IMHO Stanford quit, and quit pretty early on, possibly from the first play. This year's team hasn't quit, at least not yet. IMHO, quitting is the nadir.

[Goose]

Yes, that 2016 blowout loss to the Huskies in Seattle felt like a sea-change: once the home of "intellectual brutality", Stanford was brutalized by the Dawgs on both sides of the line.  Burns and Chryst were running for their lives, while CMac was stymied every time he got the ball.  The first seven games of that season were a sign that the foundation for Stanford's brand of football was no longer firm, especially after that travesty of a home loss to Colorado (10-5!).  A few stand-out players, most notably Bryce Love in 2017, helped plaster over the cracks during this period; but the crumbling continued apace, and last night's game represents a logical nadir (or can it still get worse?).

I think Utah last year was far worse.

Well, that was against a very good Utah team.  The way we choked last Saturday was against a decidedly average Beaver squad with its second string QB.  Plus, this defeat sets a Stanford record for consecutive losses to FBS teams.  Feels like a relative nadir, which could be exceeded this coming Saturday.  Anyway, we can quibble about where rock bottom is.  We are at or near it right now.

The Colorado game definitely showed that Stanford had serious OL problems. Nobody wanted to hear it back then, but it was a fact. Lots of that got covered up by great individual talents elsewhere exploiting weaknesses in opposing defenses. The Coaches were able to "work around" a systemic problem for a while. On the one hand, they were good enough coaches to put in place the "work-arounds". OTOH, they weren't good enough coaches to recognize and fix the systemic problem.

However bad those problems were, those teams never "quit". Against Utah last year, no matter what one says about the relative stringths of the teams, IMHO Stanford quit, and quit pretty early on, possibly from the first play. This year's team hasn't quit, at least not yet. IMHO, quitting is the nadir.