[KartyFan]

It's not Reich. Andy Reed could be coaching this team and we'd get the same result. Right. The running game was working and/or Hawaii just sucks at run defense (lots of evidence for the latter), and Stanford is executing a nice four-minute drive with a field goal lead. In the alternate universe we are bemoaning how they knew this, stacked the box, held us to a field goal and had time for the game winning touchdown. So, they called a safe pass on first down. Reich gave the guy credit for an 'incredible play' but it was right to him and unlike the earlier missed interceptions including a pick six, he made the play. Gulbranson needs to not throw that (slide or chuck it out of bounds or make the play - it was first down) and he is in his sixth year of college football.  I get it. If you throw an interception you should have kept running. If you get stoned running, you should have passed.  Nothing wrong with the play calling. That's a player issue.

There will be a true and complete reset next year, so let's play out the long string and salvage something. Reich did his friend a favor by stepping into an untenable situation. That's better than pulling a Stanford Rugby. Reich will get saddled with a bunch of losses while Luck is hopefully out there talking to another Lance Leipold. Or shoot. The Lance Leipold.

Well said. It's fine to look at playcalling, but giving Reich any blame for where we are as a team, or even the loss last week, is silly given the position he is in. Like you, I'm thankful that he came in to do this for us and give this year some kind of legitimacy.

I tend to agree we should have continued running the ball on our last drive, but the criticism I have seen here from some is overblown. It is far from the worst playcalling decision I have seen. Our decision to pass on 3rd down on the prior drive as Hawaii sold out against the run nearly won us the game, and probably should have. On the final drive, if the pass had been completed instead of the receiver falling down, nobody would have given the play a second thought. We might even be celebrating that we didn't "turtle" like Shaw used to.

I agree with the OP that it's all about the lines. Terrible line play is how recent talented Stanford quarterbacks couldn't get us to better than 3-9. I'd rather have a bad year with encouraging line play and terrible quarterback play than vice versa. We just need to find one quarterback, and we will eventually. Finding and developing an entire OL is much harder. That said, I'm not celebrating our OL and DL quality yet - jury is still out.

Unfortunately, I have a really hard time seeing 6 wins. But to those convinced our ceiling is 1 win, I am open for bets and will happily take the over a 1.5-win season.

[KartyFan]

It's not Reich. Andy Reed could be coaching this team and we'd get the same result. Right. The running game was working and/or Hawaii just sucks at run defense (lots of evidence for the latter), and Stanford is executing a nice four-minute drive with a field goal lead. In the alternate universe we are bemoaning how they knew this, stacked the box, held us to a field goal and had time for the game winning touchdown. So, they called a safe pass on first down. Reich gave the guy credit for an 'incredible play' but it was right to him and unlike the earlier missed interceptions including a pick six, he made the play. Gulbranson needs to not throw that (slide or chuck it out of bounds or make the play - it was first down) and he is in his sixth year of college football.  I get it. If you throw an interception you should have kept running. If you get stoned running, you should have passed.  Nothing wrong with the play calling. That's a player issue.

There will be a true and complete reset next year, so let's play out the long string and salvage something. Reich did his friend a favor by stepping into an untenable situation. That's better than pulling a Stanford Rugby. Reich will get saddled with a bunch of losses while Luck is hopefully out there talking to another Lance Leipold. Or shoot. The Lance Leipold.

Well said. It's fine to look at playcalling, but giving Reich any blame for where we are as a team, or even the loss last week, is silly given the position he is in. Like you, I'm thankful that he came in to do this for us and give this year some kind of legitimacy.

I tend to agree we should have continued running the ball on our last drive, but the criticism I have seen here from some is overblown. It is far from the worst playcalling decision I have seen. Our decision to pass on 3rd down on the prior drive as Hawaii sold out against the run nearly won us the game, and probably should have. On the final drive, if the pass had been completed instead of the receiver falling down, nobody would have given the play a second thought. We might even be celebrating that we didn't "turtle" like Shaw used to.

I agree with the OP that it's all about the lines. Terrible line play is how recent talented Stanford quarterbacks couldn't get us to better than 3-9. I'd rather have a bad year with encouraging line play and terrible quarterback play than vice versa. We just need to find one quarterback, and we will eventually. Finding and developing an entire OL is much harder. That said, I'm not celebrating our OL and DL quality yet - jury is still out.

Unfortunately, I have a really hard time seeing 6 wins. But to those convinced our ceiling is 1 win, I am open for bets and will happily take the over a 1.5-win season.