11-13-2022, 11:32 AM
6. I am beyond weary of assessing individual offensive performance as if the players even have a chance. We have no idea how good/bad these players are. They play in Shawfense, a soul-sucking vortex that is starting to look as hopeless as the Teevens years. To my naked eyes, McKee looked really bad yesterday, the human anti-presence in the pocket. We had the lowest yards per attempt Utah has given up in Pac-12 play this year and Oregon State is the only team they've even remotely stifled in the passing game like this. On the season we are 98th in passer rating and 86th in yards per attempt. But is this McKee's fault? Beats me, I just know he doesn't have a chance with the coach/offense he has. Just as we saw last week, advanced stats suggest he's the least of our problems, with PFF giving McKee the top grade on the offense yesterday and Total QBR ranking him #57 of 125 QBs nationally. Similarly, is Higgins an NFL WR? How would I know? For what it's worth, his 100 yard game yesterday is his third in two years, surpassing Fehoko and Wilson for the most by a Stanford player in the last four years. In the run game, 22 yards rushing and 0.8 yards per carry is our worst rushing game since the 2019 Washington State fiasco, but Utah did similar things to Arizona State, Washington State, and Southern Utah. An offense with a pulse might have been able to do what Shaw talks about - take what the defense gives you by passing when the run isn't there and vice versa - but our offense doesn't have a pulse.
7. There is again more nice to say about individual defensive players. The thing that struck me, though, was how the three best games by Stanford defenders were all guys who would be core players in 2023 for a team players were excited to play for but may be unlikely to come back to play for Stanford. Damuni had a dominant, career game (all the sweeter for doing it at home in Utah) - a tackle for loss on 3rd and 4, three stops right at the line of scrimmage and a fourth for a one yard gain, and a forced fumble (not his fault we didn't recover). As his fifth year comes up, will he follow Gabe Reid and Houston Heimuli's footsteps and play in his home state rather than be the best inside linebacker in a woeful corps for Stanford? McGill had two consecutive pass breakups to force a punt, an interception in the end zone, and a run stop, and as usual is a source of energy and fire in addition to his playmaking. As his fifth year comes up, will he decide that another football experience or degree is preferable to running it back for Stanford? Bonner came back from injury and immediately contributed a run stop and a pass breakup. A sixth year for him may be even more of an ask than the others returning. Overall, it's hard to see the defense improving if the LB and DB corps are both rebuilding. (I also am getting pessimistic about the interior DL next season as those guys are playing poorly enough right now that they'll probably still be bad even with year-to-year improvement next year) We have lots of players who could return, but will they? The one area that seems certain to be improved and something to be very excited about is the edge group. We know about Bailey and Cooper (two more nice plays in this game) but Keneley had a career game with numerous tackles for loss. Herron is a luxury for next year given the strength of this position group and we may even be better off without him.
8. One particular aspect of defensive failure that deserves a separate comment: Utah's fourth down conversions (both as an offense and the fake punt) were obviously a key part of the first half. On the season, we are dead last in the country in this, allowing opponents to convert on an incredible 84.21 percent of fourth downs. That's the most any Power Five defense has given up in the last seven years aside from ourselves in 2020 when we didn't get a single fourth down stop in the short season (but many fewer data points). It's really hard to compete when other teams have four downs to get a first down and you have three.
9. Another miserable week, another joyless game in which we don't even get to see Karty chase awards or hit long field goals. Playing in the altitude and you pass up not one but two chances for a long field goal? Bummer for fans. I somewhat question Karty's distance if we won't give him these opportunities, but I mainly blame Shaw. In the punting game, this seemed like a quintessential Sanborn game - tons of punts, mostly competent, really not that great. He had net punts of 34 (to the 48), 41 (to the 31), 48 (to the 23), 25 (to the 150, 33 (to the 44), 52 (to the 28), and 28 (to the 12). On the season we are 65th in net punting, right smack dab average. That seems about right. I'd want more given all the scholarships we offer specialists. The most entertaining play in the punting phase was Parsons' big tackle on the 48 yard net punt after Sanborn outkicked his coverage, and then Parsons' penalty-risking exuberance. I don't blame the long snapper one bit for celebrating a career highlight. On returns, Thompson very rarely gets past the 25 and if he qualified would be sixth of eight Pac-12 kick returners, raising the question of why we don't just call for the fair catch (and if he's not adding any value why we're burning his redshirt).
10. Game balls: McKee, Damuni, Parsons, Sanders
11. It's tragic-comic to even mention it but it must be said: that loss eliminated us from bowl contention. There can now be no doubt what kind of season this is: a bad, losing, irrelevant season with no December payoff. Fans can only hope that the payoff comes in the form of a new coaching staff. There will be scant hope of that if the team puts lipstick on the pig with a win either of the next two weeks, and these upcoming games are both pitiful enough opponents that it's legitimately possible. I know many fans cannot stomach rooting against Stanford in any game and especially Big Game and I respect that. I wouldn't say I'm rooting against Stanford, but I don't want anything that could be used to defend this trainwreck. It's system failure. Burn it all down.
7. There is again more nice to say about individual defensive players. The thing that struck me, though, was how the three best games by Stanford defenders were all guys who would be core players in 2023 for a team players were excited to play for but may be unlikely to come back to play for Stanford. Damuni had a dominant, career game (all the sweeter for doing it at home in Utah) - a tackle for loss on 3rd and 4, three stops right at the line of scrimmage and a fourth for a one yard gain, and a forced fumble (not his fault we didn't recover). As his fifth year comes up, will he follow Gabe Reid and Houston Heimuli's footsteps and play in his home state rather than be the best inside linebacker in a woeful corps for Stanford? McGill had two consecutive pass breakups to force a punt, an interception in the end zone, and a run stop, and as usual is a source of energy and fire in addition to his playmaking. As his fifth year comes up, will he decide that another football experience or degree is preferable to running it back for Stanford? Bonner came back from injury and immediately contributed a run stop and a pass breakup. A sixth year for him may be even more of an ask than the others returning. Overall, it's hard to see the defense improving if the LB and DB corps are both rebuilding. (I also am getting pessimistic about the interior DL next season as those guys are playing poorly enough right now that they'll probably still be bad even with year-to-year improvement next year) We have lots of players who could return, but will they? The one area that seems certain to be improved and something to be very excited about is the edge group. We know about Bailey and Cooper (two more nice plays in this game) but Keneley had a career game with numerous tackles for loss. Herron is a luxury for next year given the strength of this position group and we may even be better off without him.
8. One particular aspect of defensive failure that deserves a separate comment: Utah's fourth down conversions (both as an offense and the fake punt) were obviously a key part of the first half. On the season, we are dead last in the country in this, allowing opponents to convert on an incredible 84.21 percent of fourth downs. That's the most any Power Five defense has given up in the last seven years aside from ourselves in 2020 when we didn't get a single fourth down stop in the short season (but many fewer data points). It's really hard to compete when other teams have four downs to get a first down and you have three.
9. Another miserable week, another joyless game in which we don't even get to see Karty chase awards or hit long field goals. Playing in the altitude and you pass up not one but two chances for a long field goal? Bummer for fans. I somewhat question Karty's distance if we won't give him these opportunities, but I mainly blame Shaw. In the punting game, this seemed like a quintessential Sanborn game - tons of punts, mostly competent, really not that great. He had net punts of 34 (to the 48), 41 (to the 31), 48 (to the 23), 25 (to the 150, 33 (to the 44), 52 (to the 28), and 28 (to the 12). On the season we are 65th in net punting, right smack dab average. That seems about right. I'd want more given all the scholarships we offer specialists. The most entertaining play in the punting phase was Parsons' big tackle on the 48 yard net punt after Sanborn outkicked his coverage, and then Parsons' penalty-risking exuberance. I don't blame the long snapper one bit for celebrating a career highlight. On returns, Thompson very rarely gets past the 25 and if he qualified would be sixth of eight Pac-12 kick returners, raising the question of why we don't just call for the fair catch (and if he's not adding any value why we're burning his redshirt).
10. Game balls: McKee, Damuni, Parsons, Sanders
11. It's tragic-comic to even mention it but it must be said: that loss eliminated us from bowl contention. There can now be no doubt what kind of season this is: a bad, losing, irrelevant season with no December payoff. Fans can only hope that the payoff comes in the form of a new coaching staff. There will be scant hope of that if the team puts lipstick on the pig with a win either of the next two weeks, and these upcoming games are both pitiful enough opponents that it's legitimately possible. I know many fans cannot stomach rooting against Stanford in any game and especially Big Game and I respect that. I wouldn't say I'm rooting against Stanford, but I don't want anything that could be used to defend this trainwreck. It's system failure. Burn it all down.