[petersalas]

One thing that I thought was a disadvantage was having so many home games back to back. At one point I think it was like 7 in a row. Then so many road trips to end the season… I don’t think that schedule did the team any favors. You get used to playing at home so much and then having to play away from home, probably made it harder to adjust to those games. I like the balance of home and away games in a few games at a time. 

I think it would be better next year if Stanford started out ranked somewhere between #12 and #20.  This year's expectations were unrealistically high.  That can lead to disappointment by fans if initial expectations don't get met.   I would rather see Stanford overachieve next year and gradually work its way up in the rankings.

I think that is plausible.  We probably won't be expected to win the Pac 12 next year.  Utah gets everyone back.  UCLA's #1 freshman class become sophomores and players like Rice really come into their own.  Who knows what anyone else will look like with the massive flood of transfers, but the odds are that some other team in the league will hit the transfer jackpot in the off season.  Washington will be better next year than the team that beat us this year.  etc. 

To keep expectations reasonable, we probably should try to schedule non conference games that are the same caliber as conference games.  Maybe we should put one of those frenetic defenses on our schedule early on.

[petersalas]

One thing that I thought was a disadvantage was having so many home games back to back. At one point I think it was like 7 in a row. Then so many road trips to end the season… I don’t think that schedule did the team any favors. You get used to playing at home so much and then having to play away from home, probably made it harder to adjust to those games. I like the balance of home and away games in a few games at a time. 

I think it would be better next year if Stanford started out ranked somewhere between #12 and #20.  This year's expectations were unrealistically high.  That can lead to disappointment by fans if initial expectations don't get met.   I would rather see Stanford overachieve next year and gradually work its way up in the rankings.

I think that is plausible.  We probably won't be expected to win the Pac 12 next year.  Utah gets everyone back.  UCLA's #1 freshman class become sophomores and players like Rice really come into their own.  Who knows what anyone else will look like with the massive flood of transfers, but the odds are that some other team in the league will hit the transfer jackpot in the off season.  Washington will be better next year than the team that beat us this year.  etc. 

To keep expectations reasonable, we probably should try to schedule non conference games that are the same caliber as conference games.  Maybe we should put one of those frenetic defenses on our schedule early on.