[stupac2]

I realize that rooting for Stanford for a long time apparently causes extreme cases of pessimism, but I think that, at some point, one needs to shake it off. Did anyone expect going into last season to win the Rose Bowl? I certainly didn't. We lost way more before that season than we will this year. (Fleener, Luck, Martin, and DeCastro ALL GONE? How could we possibly recover?) We might be losing some great talent, but we have great talent waiting to replace it. Maybe Noor Davis is the next Skov. Maybe Shiitu and Nwafor will be dominant linemen with another offseason. We don't really know, but given that we've gotten incredible production out of guys who were far less heralded, I think there's reason to be optimistic.

Also, BCS hopes aren't gone this season either. Projections have us at #9, the highest two-loss team. Several of the teams ahead of us play each other (Aurburn and Missouri both likely get second losses), and many of those teams are already slotted in BCS bowls. Of teams ahead of us right now, none are likely at-large selections (I'm not counting Clemson and an SEC team since those will likely be picked to replace Alabama and FSU, and the third SEC team ahead of us can't go). I think that we actually have decent odds to get into one of these games as an at-large, especially if the non-AQ teams stumble and none get an AQ bid.

Anyway, this loss hurts and it literally made me lose sleep last night, but the sky isn't falling. Try to be positive!

[stupac2]

I realize that rooting for Stanford for a long time apparently causes extreme cases of pessimism, but I think that, at some point, one needs to shake it off. Did anyone expect going into last season to win the Rose Bowl? I certainly didn't. We lost way more before that season than we will this year. (Fleener, Luck, Martin, and DeCastro ALL GONE? How could we possibly recover?) We might be losing some great talent, but we have great talent waiting to replace it. Maybe Noor Davis is the next Skov. Maybe Shiitu and Nwafor will be dominant linemen with another offseason. We don't really know, but given that we've gotten incredible production out of guys who were far less heralded, I think there's reason to be optimistic.

Also, BCS hopes aren't gone this season either. Projections have us at #9, the highest two-loss team. Several of the teams ahead of us play each other (Aurburn and Missouri both likely get second losses), and many of those teams are already slotted in BCS bowls. Of teams ahead of us right now, none are likely at-large selections (I'm not counting Clemson and an SEC team since those will likely be picked to replace Alabama and FSU, and the third SEC team ahead of us can't go). I think that we actually have decent odds to get into one of these games as an at-large, especially if the non-AQ teams stumble and none get an AQ bid.

Anyway, this loss hurts and it literally made me lose sleep last night, but the sky isn't falling. Try to be positive!