Rose Bowl game thread

[estephan500]

absolutely.  Alvarez is a great coach . . . time for some chess moves from Shaw

And Hamilton...shake it up somehow

Hey, I like these first calls on this new drive. Hogan Play action run and then a pass on first down to shake it up. Then Unfortunately a big loss on a run.

[akCard]

Why isn't Kelsey Young used more?? He seems to have great speed to bust some pretty spectacular plays.

[TRD]

This game is killin' me.

We need at least another TD before the end of the game.

[estephan500]

Have to admit one thing. We have wrapped up Ball pretty well.

[akCard]

Shades of the Tunnel Workers Union on that drive. Too bad they couldn't seal the deal with a touchdown.

Nice field goals by Williamson, though.

COME ON D!!!

[BigAppleBucky]

Well, there's half time. Wisconsin gets the ball at start of second half.

From earlier comment by announcers, it sounds like they are planning to put the Stanford band on TV.

One of the few nice things TV hasn't ruined is the tradition of showing the halftime band performances  at the Rose Bowl. Nice that there's not some sort of over-produced commercial crap.  Might be in the contract.

[FarmBoy]

TD there would have iced it. Let's hope the D has one more great stand in them.

[82 Card]

YES!!!!

I had just been thinking there hadn't been any interceptions on either side.

[akCard]

2012 was such a crappy year for me that a Rose Bowl win is a great way to kick off the new year.

It's a great day to be a Cardinal!!

[JohnR34231]

Kind of the way the season went.

The defense plays great, and the offense plays just well enough.

Go Cardinal!

[82 Card]

I expect that there are some gamblers out there very upset with Shaw for not attempting a field goal. At the end. Not his style to worry about the spread.

In losing, Wisconsin showed that they really are a better team than their regular season record shows. Two great teams faced off today. Feels good to have our team come out on top.

[BigAppleBucky]

In losing, Wisconsin showed that they really are a better team than their regular season record shows. Two great teams faced off today. Feels good to have our team come out on top.

Badgers proved they knew how to lose close games.  Six in one season is tough to take. We did have two early season close wins, but in games we would have won more comfortably later in the season.

Stanford looked very good today.  Congratulations.

[socalstanfan1]

Somehow fitting that Usua Amanam, who had such a great day in game #1 against SJSU to announce himself as a big part of the defense, would come up with the decisive pic at the end to seal the Rose Bowl victory.

Congrats to Chase Thomas, Stepfan Taylor, Sam Schwartzstein, Drew Terrell and all the other seniors for both today's victory, and a great run at Stanford. 

Now on to National Signing day to bring in the next contributors, Spring Football to continue to polish and refine the unbeaten Kevin Hogan and his receivers, and to begin the process of finding more fantastic performers for the 2013 Stanford Cardinal!

Happy New Year everyone! Let's all plan to start 2014 in the same way.

[Cadet84]

Wonderful end to a great season! Wish I could have been there with the other Cardboarders. Enjoy the victory party!

[doublespiral]

So, props to the big boys on the D-line. I think they got a hand (or a facemask) on 5 balls. Whisky got lucky and many of them bounced right to them, but not on the last one.

Nice way to settle my blood pressure, Amanam.

[M T]

IMO, Shaw needs some coaching on giving post-game interviews/speeches.  On air, he barely mentioned his opponents (only in his 2nd on-field, post-game interview) and didn't mention the Rose Bowl institution itself.  No thank you to the hosts, no comments on the 99th Rose Bowl, no specific mentions of the other coach or the other players.  It was almost exclusively about Stanford.  The questions did direct him towards talking about Stanford, but he is a professional and should remember to congratulate the opponent, and certainly compliment the host.

He had the perfect opportunity to thank the Rose Bowl Committee when he was handed the trophy, but he didn't.

I don't think his oversight was intentional, but he can burn bridges that way.  I hope he was reminded of this and corrected it in the press conference.

I'm hoping he gets a lot more practice at this.

Congratulations to the players and the coaches on a great season, and to the fans there who cheered them to victory.

[Correcting some of my earlier posts.  Yep, "11" was a typo for "1".  A tremor makes typing more challenging these days (and I understand the comment about "11" was not a complaint).  On review, I realized that TV did show more of the Stanford band at the half than I saw live (I took a break) so it was about even between the two bands. ]

[estephan500]

Directly before his official stage speech, he emphasized in the fast interview with espn that Wisconsin was a good, hard team and Stanford needed everything to beat them.

In retrospect, I like that hard nosed second half. And it should be shouted from the treetops that the final interception was tipped, thus a fuller defensive effort. We were past, past overdue for one of the tips to go our way.

Stanford triumphed this season by playing ultra hard and tough, and also by having the heart and consciousness to "finish" (in Shaw's words) when it came down to the wire. Wisconsin is the same BUT without the finishing.  Our defense won this game by squashing Ball and the rest of them, over and over and over.

Hogan showed that he was not always laser accurate. But I love some of those scrambles.

Congratulations especially to the tough hard defense of the 2013 PAC 12 champion, 2013 Rose Bowl champion, Stanford Cardinal.

[socalstanfan1]

In a season of nice developments, one of the nicest was the recovery of Jordan Williamson from last season's heartbreak.  Kudos to the coaches and players rallying around Jordan to help him regain his confidence.  And kudos to Jordan, himself, for hanging in there and returning to the form he had prior to last season's USC game, that is, before his injury.

Experiences like last year's Fiesta Bowl can, seriously, mess with a person's head to the point of derailing a career.  But Williamson's two FGs, including a 48 yarder, were the difference on the scoreboard in this year's game.  What a way to put to rest any lingering doubts of past big-game troubles.  And he had a chance to do it, again, in front of a national TV audience (many of whom, no doubt, are just big time college FB fans who witnessed both his low point, and now his recovery).

The way the whole Stanford family responded to last year's disappointment makes one proud.  When Shaw says he has the best locker room in the nation, he can point to this as an example.  And Shaw deserves a great deal of credit, too, for sticking with Williamson as he continued to have some challenges earlier this season, before putting it all together late.

[82 Card]

Link to photo of Patterson's spectacular catch:
http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows...7089545778

Link to story with highlight video and 127 picture slide show:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/01...93762.html
Scroll down for the slide show.

[needle]

Great for JRP to close out his career with such a vital contribution.

The fan atmosphere/intensity was really strong at the game (at least in my section), with fairly loud results.

Credit I suspect goes to Mason for making adjustments at halftime, though it would take a sharper mind than mine to pinpoint what those may have been.

This is an elite defense, and elite defenses don't often give up more than 17 points. Yes, stretches look bad, but that is the game.

I wonder if Alvarez is kicking himself for not going for it on fourth and very short early in the fourth quarter. That was a headscratcher--but I suspect the first-half goal line stand was very much on his mind (as was the woeful Stanford offense in almost all of the second half).

Yes, I'm sure we could grumble about a few head-scratching decisions on the Stanford side of the ball, but I'm not interested in putting much effort in that at the moment. This has simply been the finest season of Stanford football in 40 years.