Season grade

[BobK]

Winning always better than losing. Grade B+

[CTcard]

... but the flub at Colorado prevents me from giving them an A - especially Shaw for the clock management in Q4. He's been a head coach for 10 years. Those kinds of mistakes are inexcusably bad.

What was the clock management problem in the Colorado game?
I don't remember that game too well outside of the defense waving in Colorado for three straight TDs to start the second half.

[CTcard]

Even beyond record we were a better team this year than last.

That looked extremely true to me, though it is not as if being better than the 2019 team is a big accomplishment.

Various power rankings back that up.
Sagarin is one.
By his average rating Stanford was at #73 in 2019; #27 in 2020
By his "recent" score, which emphasizes how the finish the season, Stanford was #84 in 2019, #23 in 2020.
That's not close.

[BostonCard]

Even beyond record we were a better team this year than last.

That looked extremely true to me, though it is not as if being better than the 2019 team is a big accomplishment. 

Agreed. I’m not saying it was a great season, just that the narrative that we are on a steep downward trajectory is just not supported by the facts.  I don’t dispute that compared to the 2010 to 2015 years that there has been some reversion to the mean. Nor do I dispute that given the somewhat lackluster recruiting, coupled with broader college football trends that I think disfavor Stanford and the future seems, IMO, less bright than it might have been a half dozen years ago. That being said, I see more of a long secular stagnation than an abrupt downfall.

BC

[CTcard]

I don’t dispute that compared to the 2010 to 2015 years that there has been some reversion to the mean. Nor do I dispute that given the somewhat lackluster recruiting, coupled with broader college football trends that I think disfavor Stanford and the future seems, IMO, less bright than it might have been a half dozen years ago. That being said, I see more of a long secular stagnation than an abrupt downfall.

That's an interesting question - what are the prospects for Stanford football now versus any time in the past?

For relatively short term prospects, the current situation is less good than during 2010-15 (or I'd say 2009-17).
But, otherwise the prospects are probably better than any time since my first enrollment at Stanford.
Even the "somewhat lackluster recruiting" consists of a poor class that follows 4 of 5 that were top 20 nationally and top 3 in the conference (at least by 247).

Long term - well nobody knows.

[winflop]

... but the flub at Colorado prevents me from giving them an A - especially Shaw for the clock management in Q4. He's been a head coach for 10 years. Those kinds of mistakes are inexcusably bad.

What was the clock management problem in the Colorado game?
I don't remember that game too well outside of the defense waving in Colorado for three straight TDs to start the second half.

Down two scores with about 6 mins left in the game, Shaw runs the 4-minute offense instead of the 2-minute offense. Huddling up, substituting, no sense of urgency. We ended up getting the ball back down a score but with no timeouts and not enough time to move the ball into scoring position. That decision cost the team any opportunity to win the game.

Just another in a long list of Shaw's mismanagement of the clock at the end of halves/games, not to mention burning timeouts and delay of game penalties driven by not getting plays in quickly enough. After 10 years as a head coach, the frequency of these kinds of mistakes is really inexcusable and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

[BostonCard]

I noted that yesterday, Bruce Aryans, a veteran coach, had to call a time out when Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest QB ever, was about to get hit with a DoG.

This stuff happens.  It has happened a lot less this year than in the past, mostly because we had an experienced QB and offensive line.  It will probably happen more next year with a new QB behind center.  It is frustrating, but also it gets way too much attention on this board.

BC

[winflop]

I noted that yesterday, Bruce Aryans, a veteran coach, had to call a time out when Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest QB ever, was about to get hit with a DoG.

This stuff happens.  It has happened a lot less this year than in the past, mostly because we had an experienced QB and offensive line.  It will probably happen more next year with a new QB behind center.  It is frustrating, but also it gets way too much attention on this board.

BC

It happens infrequently to even the best. It happens far too frequently with Shaw.

[SamuelMcF]

Still in the camp of "who cares about that when our defense has been a 4-alarm tire fire for 3 years now."

[BostonCard]

Still in the camp of "who cares about that when our defense has been a 4-alarm tire fire for 3 years now."

Thanks for keeping up the fight.

BC

[Brickcity]

Still in the camp of "who cares about that when our defense has been a 4-alarm tire fire for 3 years now."

I thought the season was a relative success. But, I too can't get excited about the overall state of the program given how offensive our defense has been with no signs of it getting better.

[old spanish trail]

[quote="BostonCard" pid='305406' dateline='1611007306']

I noted that yesterday, Bruce Aryans, a veteran coach, had to call a time out when Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest QB ever, was about to get hit with a DoG.



This stuff happens.  It has happened a lot less this year than in the past, mostly because we had an experienced QB and offensive line.  It will probably happen more next year with a new QB behind center.  It is frustrating, but also it gets way too much attention on this board.



BC

It happens infrequently to even the best. It happens far too frequently with Shaw.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, Winflop, agree with BC, it has received far too much complaint on this board.

[winflop]

[quote="BostonCard" pid='305406' dateline='1611007306']

I noted that yesterday, Bruce Aryans, a veteran coach, had to call a time out when Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest QB ever, was about to get hit with a DoG.



This stuff happens.  It has happened a lot less this year than in the past, mostly because we had an experienced QB and offensive line.  It will probably happen more next year with a new QB behind center.  It is frustrating, but also it gets way too much attention on this board.



BC

It happens infrequently to even the best. It happens far too frequently with Shaw.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, Winflop, agree with BC, it has received far too much complaint on this board.

Shaw's clock management has cost this team the opportunity to win at least one game per season, at the least

[SamuelMcF]

The defense was right around or worse than #100 in the nation (out of 127) in the following categories this season:
- Completion % allowed: 64.1%, #95
- Opponent 1st downs per game: 23.2, #98
- Sacks per game: 1.5, #104
- TFLs per game: 4.86, #106
- Passing YPA allowed: 8.3, #107
- Yards per play allowed: 6.58, #112
- Opponent Passer Rating: 156.9, #113
- Rushing YPC allowed: 5.46, #115
- Interceptions per game: 0.33, #116
- 3rd down conversion rate allowed: 51%, #121
- Passes defended/game: 2.5, #123
- 4th down conversion rate allowed: 100%, #127. Dead last. We were the only school in the nation to allow 100%.

It was similarly atrocious in many of these categories last season as well.

I get the complaint about mismanagement. I really do. But that has always been there. This level of defensive incompetence has not. And it's really, really, REALLY bad.

[lex24]

I noted that yesterday, Bruce Aryans, a veteran coach, had to call a time out when Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest QB ever, was about to get hit with a DoG.

This stuff happens.  It has happened a lot less this year than in the past, mostly because we had an experienced QB and offensive line.  It will probably happen more next year with a new QB behind center.  It is frustrating, but also it gets way too much attention on this board.

BC

It happens infrequently to even the best. It happens far too frequently with Shaw.

So, Winflop how many delay of game penalties were there last year.  How many time outs to avoid a DOG.  Next for each one, tell me the culprit. Play get in too late. QB have a hard time hearing, getting play, how bout too much time spent at LOS trying to audible.  One way to tell is when they break huddle.  If they have 10 seconds or so, that’s hard to put on the staff.  Plenty of time to get snap. (And sometimes, of course, the QB doesn’t like what he sees personnel wise and in such situations, particularly key downs, he should call a TO.  

Stanford’s game management style is to limit possessions. ( Which I believe is the right strategy most of the time). Thus the play clock winds down below 5 a lot.  I know you, like me, are probably yelling “hike” at the screen a fair amount.  But I suspect that the constant “close” leads to the belief that Stanford has more DOG’s and TOs than similarly situated teams - in other words, teams that do not play fast tempo.  And I don’t know that to be the case.

I do recall one egregious DOG where they failed to get the TO on a 4th and one and lost an opportunity to go for it inside the ten, I think. That shouldn’t happen. But as I said, I don’t  think DOGs and TOs were an issue last year.

[martyup]

The defense was right around or worse than #100 in the nation (out of 127) in the following categories this season:
. . .
- 4th down conversion rate allowed: 100%, #127. Dead last. We were the only school in the nation to allow 100%.

Wow, you'd be crazy not to go for it on 4th down against Stanford.  This reminded me of the team that never punts:

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2016/01...ver-punts/

[winflop]

I noted that yesterday, Bruce Aryans, a veteran coach, had to call a time out when Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest QB ever, was about to get hit with a DoG.

This stuff happens.  It has happened a lot less this year than in the past, mostly because we had an experienced QB and offensive line.  It will probably happen more next year with a new QB behind center.  It is frustrating, but also it gets way too much attention on this board.

BC

It happens infrequently to even the best. It happens far too frequently with Shaw.

So, Winflop how many delay of game penalties were there last year.  How many time outs to avoid a DOG.  Next for each one, tell me the culprit. Play get in too late. QB have a hard time hearing, getting play, how bout too much time spent at LOS trying to audible.  One way to tell is when they break huddle.  If they have 10 seconds or so, that’s hard to put on the staff.  Plenty of time to get snap. (And sometimes, of course, the QB doesn’t like what he sees personnel wise and in such situations, particularly key downs, he should call a TO.  

Stanford’s game management style is to limit possessions. ( Which I believe is the right strategy most of the time). Thus the play clock winds down below 5 a lot.  I know you, like me, are probably yelling “hike” at the screen a fair amount.  But I suspect that the constant “close” leads to the belief that Stanford has more DOG’s and TOs than similarly situated teams - in other words, teams that do not play fast tempo.  And I don’t know that to be the case.

I do recall one egregious DOG where they failed to get the TO on a 4th and one and lost an opportunity to go for it inside the ten, I think. That shouldn’t happen. But as I said, I don’t  think DOGs and TOs were an issue last year.

I don't know and I'm not going to go back and review the game tape. I disagree that if they break the huddle with 10 seconds left that's OK. Not in this offense. They need to be at the line ready to snap the ball with 10 seconds left in order for the QB to read the defense and get into the right play, which means breaking the huddle with 15 seconds left on the play clock.

My issues are far more about clock management than getting plays in on time. The end of the Colorado game this year is only the latest example. Substituting against UW on the final drive with no timeouts left, allowing the Huskies to bleed many seconds off the clock - can't remember if that was 2019 or 2018. I'm not going to revie  recordings from every game of the past xxx years, but I'm confident that Shaw is good for at least one of these major screwups every year.