Quote: The offense currently ranks as SP+ #90 (#95 last year), FEI #95 (#72 last year), scoring #105 (#112 last year), and yards per play #124 (#110 last year). One can make a case there was slight improvement but it's just as easy to make a case there wasn't.
The way you've ranked Stanford's top six performances, only one came against a top 40 defense (as ranked by opponent points per game at TeamRankings.com). That was against Kal (No. 39). Stanford played four other top 40 defenses: No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 23 SMU, No. 32 Clemson and No. 37 Virginia Tech.
Quote: The defense currently ranks as SP+ #109 (#116 last year), FEI #85 (#115 last year), scoring #116 (#132 last year), and yards per play #124 (#110 last year). More clear cut case that the defense modestly improved but it was modest.
Similarly, out of Stanford's top six performances, three were against top 40 offenses (as ranked by team points per game at TeamRankings.com): No. 19 Louisville, No. 29 TCU and No. 33 Syracuse. Stanford played three other top 40 offenses: No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 6 SMU and No. 19 Clemson.
Is this analysis meaningful? I believe it shows that under April the team showed an ability to play "above its head" in multiple games this year against tough competition. The bad news is that the Stanford offense under Troy Taylor really didn't show anything similar.
I guess it's just my opinion, but I don't see much evidence that TT can elevate the talent on offense. April probably has a bright coaching future (some online chatter has him as a candidate for DC at Wisconsin, though I think that would be a tough sell to Badger fans even with his ties to that program).