<![CDATA[The CardBoard - The CardBoard]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/ Tue, 20 Oct 2026 02:56:57 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[kick-off at Louisville 12:15pm PT]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26360.html Mon, 19 Oct 2026 12:52:00 -0400 82lsju]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26360.html https://gostanford.com/news/2026/10/19/l...e-revealed]]> https://gostanford.com/news/2026/10/19/l...e-revealed]]> <![CDATA[Sunday evening thoughts - Elon]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26359.html Sun, 18 Oct 2026 23:24:02 -0400 msqueri]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26359.html 1. It was great to be on campus for a win on a beautiful day amidst the reunion throngs. It was not great that the state of the program is such that the throngs almost all stayed outside the stadium. I can’t really blame them. I am normally a highly attentive diehard but I focused on the gridiron less than I ever remember doing, deciding that conversations outside the stadium with friends (shoutout Jackie Brown!) were worth missing kickoff and conversations in the stadium with freshmen dorm mates were worth missing plays here and there and there again. If that was my attitude, no wonder the multitudes decided to stay at tailgates, stroll the campus, or play with their kids. The team has not shown it’s worth much opportunity cost or excitement, and this was fairly pointless to play an overmatched Elon (oh so many jokes this weekend asking who/what/where/why is Elon). I basically felt like the game was a pleasant backdrop for conversations among those of us reunion attendees fond about football and gameday tradition. A place to be like a class lunch or class panel, much less appointment necessity than a class party or class tailgate. It gave me something to think about that the Classes Without Quizzes made me feel more connected to the school than the football game did. The crowd (a misnomer if there ever was one) yesterday really drove home that the school needs to get serious about football or else it is probably too embarrassing and wasteful to bother.

2. But we did win handily. More to like than has been our norm. It was the second best scoreboard performance relative to opponent of the Pritchard era and only the second time he’s had a top 100 kind of outcome (outcomes so far befitting #104, #146, #146, #54, #250, #166, and #91). Looking at net yards per play versus an opponent’s norm, this game was on par with 2022 Colgate as genuine domination and better than 2024 Cal Poly despite the score. The offense doing 2.43 yards per play better than Elon’s average allowed is essentially identical to the Colgate game’s 2.42. The defense doing 1.00 yards per play better than Elon’s norm is right in between how we did against Cal Poly and Colgate (and obviously much better than the Sacramento State fiasco). In other words, this game reinforced that we are one of the worst power teams in the country but at the same time was better than most games recently. On the season, we are Sagarin #99 and are in the negative 1.2x net yard for play range, pretty similar to our typical 2020s levels of performance. Having so many reunion conversations with friends close to the program who are being fed lines about our impending investments and dissatisfaction with the status quo, I get a picture we are resigned to the current mire and hope for improvements over the horizon. The horizon has felt like a mirage for quite a while now.

3. Each side of the ball for us had a fun bright spot. On offense, it was getting 200+ yards rushing and our most yards per carry in a game in five years. It’s Elon, but they’re a stout FCS run defense. Based on how we’ve been playing, I did not consider run success at all a given. This was a nice confidence boost for the line and career best stat padding for Ford. The passing game was less impressive, only modestly ahead of our averages, worse than we did against both Hawaii and Georgia Tech. Somewhat jarring to not be able to carve up an FCS pass defense. On defense, it was utter domination of an atrocious passing team. Not a fair fight. 1.9 yards per attempt is one of the funniest stats you’ll ever see. Other than the 2014 Army game, which only had five pass attempts, I can’t recall anything quite like it. The 2017 Oregon game had a better defensive passer rating due to interceptions. This was a serious contender for modern records in Stanford pass defense when the opponent actually passed. Far less happy was run defense giving up similar stats to Elon’s run game as what we accomplished in that phase. Giving up 220 yards on 6.5 yards per carry is a horrid failure. Our run defense was worse than Wofford, Maine, Sacred Heart, Rhode Island, Davidson, and Glenville State. Were it not for New Hampshire, we would have done worse than everybody an FCS team has played two thirds into the season. Shameful.

4. Warren seemed ok, turning in his best Total QBR since Georgia Tech but not one of his standout performances. He’s now 83rd on the season in Total QBR, not holding us back but also not a difference maker. The big statistical star was of course Ford. Happy for him and hope it’s not his last century mark game. I don’t think this fun fact will last but for what it’s worth Ford is now tied with Cole Tabb for 11th in the nation in rushing touchdowns (Ashton Daniels is fourth). Irvin had a few first downs and the touchdown but the fumble made the margin less wide than it should have been. Quiet day for the receivers. PFF thought Prongos was supernova dominant and that House and Williams were good. [Moving the chains (first down) leaderboard: Ford (14), Irvin (3), Hall (2), Nico Brown (2), Onovughe (2), Blackburn (2), Hampton (2), Holt]

5. The defense didn’t have anybody really superlative by either my box score tracking or PFF but had a number of solid performances. Bryant, Davis, Mattingly, Tafiti, Marceau-Olayinka, and Kaminski graded well. Bryant is lately playing like one of our better players. Davis has had a nightmare year, so it was nice to see him affect the scoreboard by making the tackle on third and forever to force an unsuccessful field goal attempt, get a tackle for loss, and defend a pass. It was a nice reward for BMO’s not always rewarded disruption that he twice forced a punt via hurries. Bachhuber, Staples, Rowell, and Galvan had grades that are really tough to stomach against FCS opposition, though Staples and Rowell had several plays each that showed up in the box score (as did Shovlin).

6. What the heck Emmet Kenney? A missed 35 yard chip shot and a missed extra point are horrible looks, and it’s far from the first time this season we’ve had reason to question place kicking reliability. Pretty frustrating for a player of his station in the program. Disappointing career trajectory for him. Those four gimme points off the board plus the Irvin touchback fumble are reminders that the game was even less close than the score. Should have been a cover and more dominant vibes. Winning by 35-38 would have felt a lot better. This team just can’t seem to generate real momentum in the micro or the macro. Flintoft had net punts of 44 to the 37 (good), 30 to the 26 (quite bad), 38 to the 46 (mediocre) and 41 to the 16 (solid). Butler had a return of 13 to give up 12 yards of field position and Davis had a 37 yard return to gain 13 yards of field position. The special teams standout was Thorpe and the punt return unit with a 17 yard return to get to midfield, a 33 yard return to get into Phoenix territory, and a 9 yard return, as well as a fair catch that may have saved a few yards. Eckhardt and Kuo had coverage tackles.

7. Game balls: Micah Ford, Darrius Davis, Liam Thorpe, Tavita Thompson

8. Hard to say any game is big for a program that attracts a homecoming “crowd” like we just did and is just hoping to get to four or five wins that would still place us among the dregs of recent college football. Still, by our standards, Friday night upcoming is one to circle on the calendar. This may be our most winnable game left, certainly one of the two obvious candidates remaining to get another win to get to the modal outcome of a repeat four win season. We can have legitimate hope of stealing one from the cross-country traveling and late night playing NC State. After our blowout frequency and magnitude, it would be wild to get to .500. It could happen. This would be a good time for Pritchard and the squad to show they are capable of playing like an FBS team two games in a row. They’ve yet to show that.]]> 1. It was great to be on campus for a win on a beautiful day amidst the reunion throngs. It was not great that the state of the program is such that the throngs almost all stayed outside the stadium. I can’t really blame them. I am normally a highly attentive diehard but I focused on the gridiron less than I ever remember doing, deciding that conversations outside the stadium with friends (shoutout Jackie Brown!) were worth missing kickoff and conversations in the stadium with freshmen dorm mates were worth missing plays here and there and there again. If that was my attitude, no wonder the multitudes decided to stay at tailgates, stroll the campus, or play with their kids. The team has not shown it’s worth much opportunity cost or excitement, and this was fairly pointless to play an overmatched Elon (oh so many jokes this weekend asking who/what/where/why is Elon). I basically felt like the game was a pleasant backdrop for conversations among those of us reunion attendees fond about football and gameday tradition. A place to be like a class lunch or class panel, much less appointment necessity than a class party or class tailgate. It gave me something to think about that the Classes Without Quizzes made me feel more connected to the school than the football game did. The crowd (a misnomer if there ever was one) yesterday really drove home that the school needs to get serious about football or else it is probably too embarrassing and wasteful to bother.

2. But we did win handily. More to like than has been our norm. It was the second best scoreboard performance relative to opponent of the Pritchard era and only the second time he’s had a top 100 kind of outcome (outcomes so far befitting #104, #146, #146, #54, #250, #166, and #91). Looking at net yards per play versus an opponent’s norm, this game was on par with 2022 Colgate as genuine domination and better than 2024 Cal Poly despite the score. The offense doing 2.43 yards per play better than Elon’s average allowed is essentially identical to the Colgate game’s 2.42. The defense doing 1.00 yards per play better than Elon’s norm is right in between how we did against Cal Poly and Colgate (and obviously much better than the Sacramento State fiasco). In other words, this game reinforced that we are one of the worst power teams in the country but at the same time was better than most games recently. On the season, we are Sagarin #99 and are in the negative 1.2x net yard for play range, pretty similar to our typical 2020s levels of performance. Having so many reunion conversations with friends close to the program who are being fed lines about our impending investments and dissatisfaction with the status quo, I get a picture we are resigned to the current mire and hope for improvements over the horizon. The horizon has felt like a mirage for quite a while now.

3. Each side of the ball for us had a fun bright spot. On offense, it was getting 200+ yards rushing and our most yards per carry in a game in five years. It’s Elon, but they’re a stout FCS run defense. Based on how we’ve been playing, I did not consider run success at all a given. This was a nice confidence boost for the line and career best stat padding for Ford. The passing game was less impressive, only modestly ahead of our averages, worse than we did against both Hawaii and Georgia Tech. Somewhat jarring to not be able to carve up an FCS pass defense. On defense, it was utter domination of an atrocious passing team. Not a fair fight. 1.9 yards per attempt is one of the funniest stats you’ll ever see. Other than the 2014 Army game, which only had five pass attempts, I can’t recall anything quite like it. The 2017 Oregon game had a better defensive passer rating due to interceptions. This was a serious contender for modern records in Stanford pass defense when the opponent actually passed. Far less happy was run defense giving up similar stats to Elon’s run game as what we accomplished in that phase. Giving up 220 yards on 6.5 yards per carry is a horrid failure. Our run defense was worse than Wofford, Maine, Sacred Heart, Rhode Island, Davidson, and Glenville State. Were it not for New Hampshire, we would have done worse than everybody an FCS team has played two thirds into the season. Shameful.

4. Warren seemed ok, turning in his best Total QBR since Georgia Tech but not one of his standout performances. He’s now 83rd on the season in Total QBR, not holding us back but also not a difference maker. The big statistical star was of course Ford. Happy for him and hope it’s not his last century mark game. I don’t think this fun fact will last but for what it’s worth Ford is now tied with Cole Tabb for 11th in the nation in rushing touchdowns (Ashton Daniels is fourth). Irvin had a few first downs and the touchdown but the fumble made the margin less wide than it should have been. Quiet day for the receivers. PFF thought Prongos was supernova dominant and that House and Williams were good. [Moving the chains (first down) leaderboard: Ford (14), Irvin (3), Hall (2), Nico Brown (2), Onovughe (2), Blackburn (2), Hampton (2), Holt]

5. The defense didn’t have anybody really superlative by either my box score tracking or PFF but had a number of solid performances. Bryant, Davis, Mattingly, Tafiti, Marceau-Olayinka, and Kaminski graded well. Bryant is lately playing like one of our better players. Davis has had a nightmare year, so it was nice to see him affect the scoreboard by making the tackle on third and forever to force an unsuccessful field goal attempt, get a tackle for loss, and defend a pass. It was a nice reward for BMO’s not always rewarded disruption that he twice forced a punt via hurries. Bachhuber, Staples, Rowell, and Galvan had grades that are really tough to stomach against FCS opposition, though Staples and Rowell had several plays each that showed up in the box score (as did Shovlin).

6. What the heck Emmet Kenney? A missed 35 yard chip shot and a missed extra point are horrible looks, and it’s far from the first time this season we’ve had reason to question place kicking reliability. Pretty frustrating for a player of his station in the program. Disappointing career trajectory for him. Those four gimme points off the board plus the Irvin touchback fumble are reminders that the game was even less close than the score. Should have been a cover and more dominant vibes. Winning by 35-38 would have felt a lot better. This team just can’t seem to generate real momentum in the micro or the macro. Flintoft had net punts of 44 to the 37 (good), 30 to the 26 (quite bad), 38 to the 46 (mediocre) and 41 to the 16 (solid). Butler had a return of 13 to give up 12 yards of field position and Davis had a 37 yard return to gain 13 yards of field position. The special teams standout was Thorpe and the punt return unit with a 17 yard return to get to midfield, a 33 yard return to get into Phoenix territory, and a 9 yard return, as well as a fair catch that may have saved a few yards. Eckhardt and Kuo had coverage tackles.

7. Game balls: Micah Ford, Darrius Davis, Liam Thorpe, Tavita Thompson

8. Hard to say any game is big for a program that attracts a homecoming “crowd” like we just did and is just hoping to get to four or five wins that would still place us among the dregs of recent college football. Still, by our standards, Friday night upcoming is one to circle on the calendar. This may be our most winnable game left, certainly one of the two obvious candidates remaining to get another win to get to the modal outcome of a repeat four win season. We can have legitimate hope of stealing one from the cross-country traveling and late night playing NC State. After our blowout frequency and magnitude, it would be wild to get to .500. It could happen. This would be a good time for Pritchard and the squad to show they are capable of playing like an FBS team two games in a row. They’ve yet to show that.]]> <![CDATA[FB -- Elon Game Thread]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26358.html Sat, 17 Oct 2026 19:29:26 -0400 martyup]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26358.html ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[FB -- Other Games Week 7]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26357.html Sat, 17 Oct 2026 19:03:51 -0400 martyup]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26357.html
[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.tenor.com%2Fm%2F...ipo=images]
And . . . Texas goes down to Florida.  Looks like the teams that beat us will be #1 and #2, pending the results of their games later.
Crazy day of college football.  Alabama is about to lose to Tennessee.  Duke is on the verge of losing to North Carolina.  Indiana's winning streak is broken by tOSU.]]>
[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.tenor.com%2Fm%2F...ipo=images]
And . . . Texas goes down to Florida.  Looks like the teams that beat us will be #1 and #2, pending the results of their games later.
Crazy day of college football.  Alabama is about to lose to Tennessee.  Duke is on the verge of losing to North Carolina.  Indiana's winning streak is broken by tOSU.]]> <![CDATA[Handshake agreement for 24-team playoff]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26356.html Fri, 16 Oct 2026 22:45:28 -0400 BostonCard]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26356.html https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/5019...4-team-cfp

Never mind that it could mean that some players would play up to 18 games (12 regular season games, a conference championship, and then five rounds of playoff games if they don’t get a first round bye), this was what got it done:

Quote:Also on Friday, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel that the average additional payment that ESPN will pay for the expanded playoff is $345 million annually for the next five years. That is in addition to the average of $1.3 billion annually over that time ESPN is already paying.

BC
On further read, thank goodness, the maximum a player could play is only 17 games, since they are doing away with conference championship games.

BC]]> https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/5019...4-team-cfp

Never mind that it could mean that some players would play up to 18 games (12 regular season games, a conference championship, and then five rounds of playoff games if they don’t get a first round bye), this was what got it done:

Quote:Also on Friday, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel that the average additional payment that ESPN will pay for the expanded playoff is $345 million annually for the next five years. That is in addition to the average of $1.3 billion annually over that time ESPN is already paying.

BC
On further read, thank goodness, the maximum a player could play is only 17 games, since they are doing away with conference championship games.

BC]]> <![CDATA[2026 Stanford vs. Elon Predictions Thread]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26355.html Wed, 14 Oct 2026 23:35:55 -0400 george]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26355.html <![CDATA[Fri reunion events]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26354.html Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:16:32 -0400 amytmueller]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26354.html
Stanford Football: Past, Present, and Future
Andrew Luck
8:45 AM-9:30 AM
Gunn-SIEPR Building, Koret-Taube Conference Center, Room 130
Start the morning with Andrew Luck and Stanford Football: Past, Present, and Future. Luck will reflect on his journey from standout Stanford quarterback to NFL Pro Bowler to his current role as the program’s first General Manager. He’ll offer insights into the evolution of college football, the challenges and opportunities facing Stanford today, and his vision for the program’s future. Attendees can expect behind-the-scenes perspectives on program building, recruiting, NIL, and leadership in a new era of the sport. Blending personal stories with strategic outlook, Luck will share why this role is more than just a job—it’s a mission close to his heart. Luck promises a thoughtful, engaging discussion for anyone who cares about the past, present, and future of Stanford Football.

Mark Marquess "9" Celebration
9:00 AM-10:30 AM
Arrillaga Family Sports Center, Kissick Auditorium
Join fellow alumni in remembering beloved Stanford baseball coach Mark "9" Marquess. Through stories, reflections, photos, and remarks from special speakers, we will celebrate Coach Marquess's remarkable legacy as a Stanford student-athlete and his more than 40 years leading Stanford Baseball. This gathering offers an opportunity to honor his impact on generations of players, alumni, and the Stanford community.]]>
Stanford Football: Past, Present, and Future
Andrew Luck
8:45 AM-9:30 AM
Gunn-SIEPR Building, Koret-Taube Conference Center, Room 130
Start the morning with Andrew Luck and Stanford Football: Past, Present, and Future. Luck will reflect on his journey from standout Stanford quarterback to NFL Pro Bowler to his current role as the program’s first General Manager. He’ll offer insights into the evolution of college football, the challenges and opportunities facing Stanford today, and his vision for the program’s future. Attendees can expect behind-the-scenes perspectives on program building, recruiting, NIL, and leadership in a new era of the sport. Blending personal stories with strategic outlook, Luck will share why this role is more than just a job—it’s a mission close to his heart. Luck promises a thoughtful, engaging discussion for anyone who cares about the past, present, and future of Stanford Football.

Mark Marquess "9" Celebration
9:00 AM-10:30 AM
Arrillaga Family Sports Center, Kissick Auditorium
Join fellow alumni in remembering beloved Stanford baseball coach Mark "9" Marquess. Through stories, reflections, photos, and remarks from special speakers, we will celebrate Coach Marquess's remarkable legacy as a Stanford student-athlete and his more than 40 years leading Stanford Baseball. This gathering offers an opportunity to honor his impact on generations of players, alumni, and the Stanford community.]]> <![CDATA[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26353.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 10:19:30 -0400 82lsju]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26353.html Quote:Robert E. Hall, the Robert and Carol McNeil Endowed Professor in Economics and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Emeritus, and professor emeritus of economics in the School of Humanities and Sciences, is the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Hall was recognized with the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his contributions to the “microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilization,” alongside economist Michael Woodford
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/1...qqu_85_388]]> Quote:Robert E. Hall, the Robert and Carol McNeil Endowed Professor in Economics and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Emeritus, and professor emeritus of economics in the School of Humanities and Sciences, is the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Hall was recognized with the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his contributions to the “microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilization,” alongside economist Michael Woodford
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/1...qqu_85_388]]> <![CDATA[Sunday afternoon thoughts - Notre Dame]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26352.html Sun, 11 Oct 2026 16:33:39 -0400 msqueri]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26352.html 1. What is there to say at this point? I'm compulsive in my Stanford mania (there can only be clinical terms for those of us who subject ourselves to this) so I'll find some words. But those who've asked me "what's the point" and "why dissect numbers when the only thing that matters is____" (some cite culture, some cite institutional apathy) are not wrong. My diving into the minutiae should not be taken as me losing sight of the forest for the trees. Our forest is a hellscape of felled and rotted husks. There is no one thing where this program is presentable, much less serious. We need to be stripped to the studs and built up just as much if not more than all the times we said that when the team was coached by Shaw, Taylor, or Reich. Tens of millions of dollars thrown at the problem with this culture and coaching would be wasteful. An army of transfers will hopefully make us look better but best case scenario absent fundamental rethink of leadership may be rising to a Colorado/Boston College/Rutgers kind of laughingstock. I don't envy Andrew Luck or Tavita Pritchard right now. All they know to do is "the next right thing," and what else could one do in this situation? The powers-that-be at Stanford and the donors who wield some influence need to unsentimentally asseess whether our leadership is fit for purpose. The things we've tried the last year and the last two years and the last five years plainly aren't.

2. We're halfway through the season so there's time to fundamentally change the current snapshot. We can debate where this season ranks in the rogues' gallery of worst ever seasons once the clock hits zero in the SMU game. To the extent we're talking now, those who mock musing this might be the worst ever, merely due to there having been zero and one win seasons, may want to consider things like strength of conference and margin of defeat. This team is building a resume. We now have the worst back-to-back humiliations for us going back a hundred years. Before this month started less than two weeks ago, Stanford had lost by 50 points only four times since World War II. We've now done it in consecutive weeks. We've had games in consecutive weeks worse than any single game in the 1960, 1983, and 2006 seasons that combined for two wins. The 2026 team is now SP+ #124, entering the chat with 2021 Kansas and 2022 Colorado as the worst power teams in the modern college football era. Closest thing to exculpatory: Sagarin actually moved us up on the basis of yesterday's results across the nation, now #98, which would still be among our worst teams but not front of the desultory pack.

3. Stats and eye test unify in a game like this, as in too many games recently, to roundly reject Stanford as even belonging on the field. This game had the maximum amount of garbage time calculable by the BCF Toys definition, as the entire second half fell beyond eight times the remaining loser possessions plus one being less than the deficit. If BCF Toys allowed garbage time to start in the first half, our mathematical elimination came with 1:06 remaining in the first half when we punted on 4th and 2 from our 32. That ugly picture means Stanford scored zero points per non-garbage drive and gave up 4.625 based on the strict criteria and 5.29 in essence. This was the first time since the first game of the New World Order, 2021 Kansas State, where we got shut out in meaningful play. This is now four times in seven games we've been rocked by a pick the score kind of margin, and a fifth was a 28 point loss to a fairly middling Duke team. The negative 3.49 yards per play margin means that the three least competitive games of our last 23 have all been in the last five games. Pritchard's level of failure is almost impossible to overstate.
4. The defense put up more of a fight from a scoreboard perspective than it did last week against Wake Forest, earlier this year against Miami, or last year against Notre Dame. That is really a damning by faint praise stat. We gave up more than eight yards per play, the ninth most in this 66 game era and second time plumbing those depths this season. For those who need a silver lining in every cloud, Notre Dame thrashes opponents through the air so, believe it or not, we were under their averages in yards, yards per attempt, and passer rating and at the median in passing touchdowns. We defended their passing game comparably to pretty good pass defense North Carolina. I was going to say that it's seemed at times this year that we are relatively less awful in pass defense than other phases, though upon checking the midpoint national rankings in pass efficiency defense I see that we are 130th (our best major category is pass efficiency offense....#112!). Regardless of what level of ineptitude one assigns to the pass defense, it's swamped by the joke we saw in run run defense, the worst game for us in all major statistical run defense respects since the 2023 Notre Dame game (Notre Dame has had two games in that interval romping like this). This is where I want to see pride and effort from the defense going forward. Aside from #1 in America in yards per carry Louisville, we play a lot of craptastic run games going forward. A team has to be able to stop the run against Elon, Cal, SMU, and Virginia Tech. Show some pride. You're getting paid professional salaries for god's sake.

5. The offense has now had 4.6 yards per play or less in four of the last five games. Notre Dame is one of the top defenses in the country and we actually gained half a yard per play more than the Irish norm allowed. A hopeless optimist could argue that's a bright spot - it's the most competitive we've been this year relative to a defense's quality aside from the Georgia Tech game. But it came with Notre Dame not playing its two best defensive players. Can't put much lipstick on a pig that can't score a point in meaningful play against a team with its two most luminary superstars in street clothes. The real bottom line for the offense is how typical ineptitude is for us - this is the 23rd fewest yards per play we've had in this 66 game era. That's a read it again stat: for five and a half years, a third of the time we've done worse on a per play basis than a game we couldn't score a single non-garbage point. The passing game was smack dab on Notre Dame's season-long yards per attempt allowed average, kind of grouped in a feckless bunch with Rice, Michigan State, and Purdue, a middling performance for our passing game relative to opponent on the year. It seems to me Notre Dame has played bad passing offenses and, especially with Leonard Moore out, is not a stellar pass defense. Plus we only had five passing first downs. Not a passing game to write home about for us. Our run game is hapless against everybody (dead last 138th in yards per carry). That said, Notre Dame is spectacular in run defense and we actually did better than everybody they've faced other than North Carolina. That is an area of progress compared to our norm that was not visually apparent in a game we only rushed for two first downs. What I want to see is the guys up front play with some pride and really open up holes against Elon, which is far from assured in a game pitting the dead last FBS run game against a top four FCS run defense.]]> 1. What is there to say at this point? I'm compulsive in my Stanford mania (there can only be clinical terms for those of us who subject ourselves to this) so I'll find some words. But those who've asked me "what's the point" and "why dissect numbers when the only thing that matters is____" (some cite culture, some cite institutional apathy) are not wrong. My diving into the minutiae should not be taken as me losing sight of the forest for the trees. Our forest is a hellscape of felled and rotted husks. There is no one thing where this program is presentable, much less serious. We need to be stripped to the studs and built up just as much if not more than all the times we said that when the team was coached by Shaw, Taylor, or Reich. Tens of millions of dollars thrown at the problem with this culture and coaching would be wasteful. An army of transfers will hopefully make us look better but best case scenario absent fundamental rethink of leadership may be rising to a Colorado/Boston College/Rutgers kind of laughingstock. I don't envy Andrew Luck or Tavita Pritchard right now. All they know to do is "the next right thing," and what else could one do in this situation? The powers-that-be at Stanford and the donors who wield some influence need to unsentimentally asseess whether our leadership is fit for purpose. The things we've tried the last year and the last two years and the last five years plainly aren't.

2. We're halfway through the season so there's time to fundamentally change the current snapshot. We can debate where this season ranks in the rogues' gallery of worst ever seasons once the clock hits zero in the SMU game. To the extent we're talking now, those who mock musing this might be the worst ever, merely due to there having been zero and one win seasons, may want to consider things like strength of conference and margin of defeat. This team is building a resume. We now have the worst back-to-back humiliations for us going back a hundred years. Before this month started less than two weeks ago, Stanford had lost by 50 points only four times since World War II. We've now done it in consecutive weeks. We've had games in consecutive weeks worse than any single game in the 1960, 1983, and 2006 seasons that combined for two wins. The 2026 team is now SP+ #124, entering the chat with 2021 Kansas and 2022 Colorado as the worst power teams in the modern college football era. Closest thing to exculpatory: Sagarin actually moved us up on the basis of yesterday's results across the nation, now #98, which would still be among our worst teams but not front of the desultory pack.

3. Stats and eye test unify in a game like this, as in too many games recently, to roundly reject Stanford as even belonging on the field. This game had the maximum amount of garbage time calculable by the BCF Toys definition, as the entire second half fell beyond eight times the remaining loser possessions plus one being less than the deficit. If BCF Toys allowed garbage time to start in the first half, our mathematical elimination came with 1:06 remaining in the first half when we punted on 4th and 2 from our 32. That ugly picture means Stanford scored zero points per non-garbage drive and gave up 4.625 based on the strict criteria and 5.29 in essence. This was the first time since the first game of the New World Order, 2021 Kansas State, where we got shut out in meaningful play. This is now four times in seven games we've been rocked by a pick the score kind of margin, and a fifth was a 28 point loss to a fairly middling Duke team. The negative 3.49 yards per play margin means that the three least competitive games of our last 23 have all been in the last five games. Pritchard's level of failure is almost impossible to overstate.
4. The defense put up more of a fight from a scoreboard perspective than it did last week against Wake Forest, earlier this year against Miami, or last year against Notre Dame. That is really a damning by faint praise stat. We gave up more than eight yards per play, the ninth most in this 66 game era and second time plumbing those depths this season. For those who need a silver lining in every cloud, Notre Dame thrashes opponents through the air so, believe it or not, we were under their averages in yards, yards per attempt, and passer rating and at the median in passing touchdowns. We defended their passing game comparably to pretty good pass defense North Carolina. I was going to say that it's seemed at times this year that we are relatively less awful in pass defense than other phases, though upon checking the midpoint national rankings in pass efficiency defense I see that we are 130th (our best major category is pass efficiency offense....#112!). Regardless of what level of ineptitude one assigns to the pass defense, it's swamped by the joke we saw in run run defense, the worst game for us in all major statistical run defense respects since the 2023 Notre Dame game (Notre Dame has had two games in that interval romping like this). This is where I want to see pride and effort from the defense going forward. Aside from #1 in America in yards per carry Louisville, we play a lot of craptastic run games going forward. A team has to be able to stop the run against Elon, Cal, SMU, and Virginia Tech. Show some pride. You're getting paid professional salaries for god's sake.

5. The offense has now had 4.6 yards per play or less in four of the last five games. Notre Dame is one of the top defenses in the country and we actually gained half a yard per play more than the Irish norm allowed. A hopeless optimist could argue that's a bright spot - it's the most competitive we've been this year relative to a defense's quality aside from the Georgia Tech game. But it came with Notre Dame not playing its two best defensive players. Can't put much lipstick on a pig that can't score a point in meaningful play against a team with its two most luminary superstars in street clothes. The real bottom line for the offense is how typical ineptitude is for us - this is the 23rd fewest yards per play we've had in this 66 game era. That's a read it again stat: for five and a half years, a third of the time we've done worse on a per play basis than a game we couldn't score a single non-garbage point. The passing game was smack dab on Notre Dame's season-long yards per attempt allowed average, kind of grouped in a feckless bunch with Rice, Michigan State, and Purdue, a middling performance for our passing game relative to opponent on the year. It seems to me Notre Dame has played bad passing offenses and, especially with Leonard Moore out, is not a stellar pass defense. Plus we only had five passing first downs. Not a passing game to write home about for us. Our run game is hapless against everybody (dead last 138th in yards per carry). That said, Notre Dame is spectacular in run defense and we actually did better than everybody they've faced other than North Carolina. That is an area of progress compared to our norm that was not visually apparent in a game we only rushed for two first downs. What I want to see is the guys up front play with some pride and really open up holes against Elon, which is far from assured in a game pitting the dead last FBS run game against a top four FCS run defense.]]> <![CDATA[our opponents]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26351.html Sun, 11 Oct 2026 13:34:09 -0400 82lsju]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26351.html
- GT beat Duke 28-25 in Atlanta, I guess the 7:30pm PT kick-off time vs us did GT no favors
- Louisville best FSU 44-20, we play at Louisville on Oct 31
- WF beat NCSU 38-14 in Raleigh, NCSU is now 3 and 3 and has a bye this week before playing us at home on Fri Oct 23 at 7:30pm PT
- Cal beat VT 25-20 in Berkeley, we play VT in Blacksburg on Nov 14 and Cal in Berkeley on Nov 21
- SMU had a bye, we play them at home on Nov 28
- Miami had a bye
- Hawaii lost to UA 30-12 and dropped to 1-5
- Elon lost to Wofford 16-0, we play Elon on Saturday Oct 17, kick-off is 4:30pm PT

Elon is 4-3 with wins over Glenville State, Davidson, Sacred Heart, and Maine.  The have lost to Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Wofford.  Their most recent game was a 16-0 loss to Wofford

https://elonphoenix.com/news/2026/10/10/...oming.aspx

https://www.espn.com/college-football/bo.../401866661

Wofford was greatly helped by winning the turnover batter five to zero (two fumbles and three ints)]]>
- GT beat Duke 28-25 in Atlanta, I guess the 7:30pm PT kick-off time vs us did GT no favors
- Louisville best FSU 44-20, we play at Louisville on Oct 31
- WF beat NCSU 38-14 in Raleigh, NCSU is now 3 and 3 and has a bye this week before playing us at home on Fri Oct 23 at 7:30pm PT
- Cal beat VT 25-20 in Berkeley, we play VT in Blacksburg on Nov 14 and Cal in Berkeley on Nov 21
- SMU had a bye, we play them at home on Nov 28
- Miami had a bye
- Hawaii lost to UA 30-12 and dropped to 1-5
- Elon lost to Wofford 16-0, we play Elon on Saturday Oct 17, kick-off is 4:30pm PT

Elon is 4-3 with wins over Glenville State, Davidson, Sacred Heart, and Maine.  The have lost to Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Wofford.  Their most recent game was a 16-0 loss to Wofford

https://elonphoenix.com/news/2026/10/10/...oming.aspx

https://www.espn.com/college-football/bo.../401866661

Wofford was greatly helped by winning the turnover batter five to zero (two fumbles and three ints)]]> <![CDATA[Congrats to the McCaffreys]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26350.html Sat, 10 Oct 2026 20:04:22 -0400 JJJ]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26350.html offer to Roman?]]> offer to Roman?]]> <![CDATA[Notre Dame Game Thread]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26349.html Sat, 10 Oct 2026 15:31:22 -0400 newguy]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26349.html
that looked like a pass.]]>
that looked like a pass.]]> <![CDATA[Record thru Week 5 of the 34 first-year FBS head coaches]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26348.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 21:14:28 -0400 cctop]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26348.html
Pat Fitzgerld and Jim Mora -- both names thrown about on this board for our vacancy -- are sitting right alongside us at 2-3.

https://www.on3.com/news/first-year-head...e-changed/

[Image: first-year-coaches-week-6.png]]]>
Pat Fitzgerld and Jim Mora -- both names thrown about on this board for our vacancy -- are sitting right alongside us at 2-3.

https://www.on3.com/news/first-year-head...e-changed/

[Image: first-year-coaches-week-6.png]]]> <![CDATA[Last years's golf women's team featured in article on Golf analytics]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26347.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 17:45:37 -0400 Leftcoast]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26347.html
https://scoreboard.clippd.com/articles/u...ens-season

Here's a taste:

Quote:Women's college golf has seen its share of dynasties. With its third championship in five years and fourth since 2015, Stanford has unquestionably earned that label. For a team that took more losses in regular-season match play (2) than across all stroke play tournaments combined (1) in 2025-26, the only hurdle seemed to be if they could successfully navigate all three final matches at the NCAA DI Championship. It turned out to not be a problem as Coach Anne Walker’s team earned another ring, and both she and Assistant Coach Brooke Riley earned WGCA national coaching honors.
]]>
https://scoreboard.clippd.com/articles/u...ens-season

Here's a taste:

Quote:Women's college golf has seen its share of dynasties. With its third championship in five years and fourth since 2015, Stanford has unquestionably earned that label. For a team that took more losses in regular-season match play (2) than across all stroke play tournaments combined (1) in 2025-26, the only hurdle seemed to be if they could successfully navigate all three final matches at the NCAA DI Championship. It turned out to not be a problem as Coach Anne Walker’s team earned another ring, and both she and Assistant Coach Brooke Riley earned WGCA national coaching honors.
]]> <![CDATA[OT - John Urschel]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26346.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:42:01 -0400 rogpodge]]> https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-26346.html https://x.com/thesportsontap/status/2107543383489015820

John Urschel update - he has preliminarily proved why Gaussian elimination growth factors aren't exponential, which would cause the algorithms to output junk.]]> https://x.com/thesportsontap/status/2107543383489015820

John Urschel update - he has preliminarily proved why Gaussian elimination growth factors aren't exponential, which would cause the algorithms to output junk.]]>