[French Rage]

I'm still watching all games, at home or on TV, beginning to end.  I'll still have my signs and streamers and yelling.  All that is always going to be there.  But people have a little less energy to expand on the board after a loss.  And honestly there aren't too many positives to recount in the last couple games.  So I think that explains the depressed attitude here the last couple of weeks.

After 3 games, we felt we had a team that could win and escape when needed, and maybe they would squeeze a playoff berth out of it.  That attitude is gone now, through injuries and OL/QB questions that weren't as resolved as we thought.  That said, I also don't think we're as bad as a 30pt home loss to Wazzou.  So the question is where in between are we?  Other years, we usually know early on how good we are, which perhaps leads to less mystery before each game.  Now, well, I have no idea where in the range we really are, so that should add some mystery to the season (it's up to the reader to decide if mystery is good).  And with our seemingly good opponents (ND, OU) being bad and seemingly bad ones (Colorado) being good, that's add more mystery.  So at the very least we will all be watching to see what xactly happens.

[French Rage]

I'm still watching all games, at home or on TV, beginning to end.  I'll still have my signs and streamers and yelling.  All that is always going to be there.  But people have a little less energy to expand on the board after a loss.  And honestly there aren't too many positives to recount in the last couple games.  So I think that explains the depressed attitude here the last couple of weeks.

After 3 games, we felt we had a team that could win and escape when needed, and maybe they would squeeze a playoff berth out of it.  That attitude is gone now, through injuries and OL/QB questions that weren't as resolved as we thought.  That said, I also don't think we're as bad as a 30pt home loss to Wazzou.  So the question is where in between are we?  Other years, we usually know early on how good we are, which perhaps leads to less mystery before each game.  Now, well, I have no idea where in the range we really are, so that should add some mystery to the season (it's up to the reader to decide if mystery is good).  And with our seemingly good opponents (ND, OU) being bad and seemingly bad ones (Colorado) being good, that's add more mystery.  So at the very least we will all be watching to see what xactly happens.

[CTcard]

3. Get a complete new offensive coaching team, all of whom need to be able to direct a balanced offense.  After 5 or so years of us flimflamming other teams with our Jumbo boreathon, the opposing DC's seem to have found a way to beat it.  We need to change and the time to start is now!

I don't think this is even close to a correct diagnosis of our troubles on offense.

On its broadest outlines, Stanford has been running more or less the same offense since Harbaugh showed up. That's 9.5 years now. [In a more detailed sense, Stanford has been changing its offense a lot year to year - but it would seem you are talking about the broad outlines.] As recently as last season, Stanford's offense was fantastic. Depending upon just which statistics you think are relevant (but confining the discussion to those that adjust for pace), Stanford had somewhere between the best and one of the best offenses in the country last year.

Opposing teams did not suddenly "figure out" the Stanford offense this season after not figuring it out for 9 seasons.

Beyond injuries and youth, the detailed diagnosis is not so clear to me. The idea I have seen discussed that seems to best fit the facts is that Stanford's complex offense is very effective when it can be run efficiently - which seems to primarily mean with experienced OL and QB. Otherwise, the complexity is a problem. It's just too much to handle for inexperienced players. So, that's why the ups and downs of the Stanford offense over the past decade seem to so closely match the experience at QB and OL.

Now, I would like to see us maintain the great highs that can be reached with an experienced team without trashing the seasons when the experience is lower. It should be possible to find adjustments that maintain some reasonable level of offense in the low-experience seasons while still practicing the complexities enough to eventually master them, but I don't pretend that is a simple and obvious adjustment.

4. Defense is generally OK.  We have two DL studs (but we are completely screwed if either one gets injured) and the secondary (when not injured) could be our best ever.  As for linebackers, PK was great two years ago but has stalled since then.  JA and MT are doing OK and SB and CT seem to have potential, but there are too many in that 3-deep that are not stepping up to the plate (as it were).

The defense has not generally done OK over the past two games.
The first three games were fairly good, but those were all offensively limited teams.

The defense was down two players as they slid into the hole. Granted your starting CBs are pretty important, but that was a big fall. It may be that we have to adjust our expectations of the basic quality all around given what we have just seen.



While we don't play much in the way of brick-wall defenses the rest of the way, we do face some pretty good offenses. That's a big turn-around from what we have seen so far.

[CTcard]

3. Get a complete new offensive coaching team, all of whom need to be able to direct a balanced offense.  After 5 or so years of us flimflamming other teams with our Jumbo boreathon, the opposing DC's seem to have found a way to beat it.  We need to change and the time to start is now!

I don't think this is even close to a correct diagnosis of our troubles on offense.

On its broadest outlines, Stanford has been running more or less the same offense since Harbaugh showed up. That's 9.5 years now. [In a more detailed sense, Stanford has been changing its offense a lot year to year - but it would seem you are talking about the broad outlines.] As recently as last season, Stanford's offense was fantastic. Depending upon just which statistics you think are relevant (but confining the discussion to those that adjust for pace), Stanford had somewhere between the best and one of the best offenses in the country last year.

Opposing teams did not suddenly "figure out" the Stanford offense this season after not figuring it out for 9 seasons.

Beyond injuries and youth, the detailed diagnosis is not so clear to me. The idea I have seen discussed that seems to best fit the facts is that Stanford's complex offense is very effective when it can be run efficiently - which seems to primarily mean with experienced OL and QB. Otherwise, the complexity is a problem. It's just too much to handle for inexperienced players. So, that's why the ups and downs of the Stanford offense over the past decade seem to so closely match the experience at QB and OL.

Now, I would like to see us maintain the great highs that can be reached with an experienced team without trashing the seasons when the experience is lower. It should be possible to find adjustments that maintain some reasonable level of offense in the low-experience seasons while still practicing the complexities enough to eventually master them, but I don't pretend that is a simple and obvious adjustment.

4. Defense is generally OK.  We have two DL studs (but we are completely screwed if either one gets injured) and the secondary (when not injured) could be our best ever.  As for linebackers, PK was great two years ago but has stalled since then.  JA and MT are doing OK and SB and CT seem to have potential, but there are too many in that 3-deep that are not stepping up to the plate (as it were).

The defense has not generally done OK over the past two games.
The first three games were fairly good, but those were all offensively limited teams.

The defense was down two players as they slid into the hole. Granted your starting CBs are pretty important, but that was a big fall. It may be that we have to adjust our expectations of the basic quality all around given what we have just seen.



While we don't play much in the way of brick-wall defenses the rest of the way, we do face some pretty good offenses. That's a big turn-around from what we have seen so far.

[BostonCard]

I love Stanford football because I love Stanford football, not (solely) because I love watching a winning team.  Many years of fandom before Harbaugh came along drilled that into me.  Of course, I love when Stanford wins, get pissed when Stanford loses, and can become a touch despondent when we don't look so good losing as has been the case the last two weeks.  But thick or thin I am still a fan, I will still watch and live comment here for the game against Notre Dame, and am still stubbornly optimistic that we will somehow pull out a win against another team that is struggling this year.  Despite the occasional setback, I still think we are in the midst of a golden age of Stanford football, and that even if this year isn't great, the long-term outlook for the team is outstanding.  He may drive me nuts sometimes punting from the opponents 40 yard line on 4th and short, but I still love Shaw and hope he sticks around for a long time.  I doubt that there is a coach who could do better here out there, and there almost certainly isn't one who could do better and would stay for the long term.

So Go Stanford!

[BostonCard]

I love Stanford football because I love Stanford football, not (solely) because I love watching a winning team.  Many years of fandom before Harbaugh came along drilled that into me.  Of course, I love when Stanford wins, get pissed when Stanford loses, and can become a touch despondent when we don't look so good losing as has been the case the last two weeks.  But thick or thin I am still a fan, I will still watch and live comment here for the game against Notre Dame, and am still stubbornly optimistic that we will somehow pull out a win against another team that is struggling this year.  Despite the occasional setback, I still think we are in the midst of a golden age of Stanford football, and that even if this year isn't great, the long-term outlook for the team is outstanding.  He may drive me nuts sometimes punting from the opponents 40 yard line on 4th and short, but I still love Shaw and hope he sticks around for a long time.  I doubt that there is a coach who could do better here out there, and there almost certainly isn't one who could do better and would stay for the long term.

So Go Stanford!

[martyup]

I feel like this guy.

[martyup]

I feel like this guy.

[JohnR34231]

I feel like this guy.

You mean like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXIL_JQZFQU

[JohnR34231]

I feel like this guy.

You mean like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXIL_JQZFQU

[martyup]

[quote author=martyup link=topic=15903.msg175600#msg175600 date=1476417836]
I feel like this guy.

You mean like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXIL_JQZFQU
[/quote]

Yes, but

there's one thing I know.
The blues they send to meet me
won't defeat me. It won't be long
till happiness steps up to greet me.

[martyup]

[quote author=martyup link=topic=15903.msg175600#msg175600 date=1476417836]
I feel like this guy.

You mean like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXIL_JQZFQU
[/quote]

Yes, but

there's one thing I know.
The blues they send to meet me
won't defeat me. It won't be long
till happiness steps up to greet me.

[OutsiderFan]

Here's the captain of the ship's take on things:
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=17775358

[OutsiderFan]

Here's the captain of the ship's take on things:
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=17775358

[martyup]

[martyup]

[thunder_chik]

We will, we will ROCK THEM!  ;D

[thunder_chik]

We will, we will ROCK THEM!  ;D

[Phogge]

I second Stanfordindians attitude. I respectfully disagree with the assertion that some of us "don't know" football. Some have played. Some have played and coached and at least one has worked at the highest level (over 660 NFL games). Trained eyes pick up things: alligator arms at times by a promising redshirt freshman, the crucial absence of a blocking back and the mystery of why his replacement isn't playing up to 2015 ability, the drop off of the ILB's and the hope that Barton will overcome with experience, yada, yada, yada.

Aside from the decades old dominance of $C the coast schools have been up and down, forever. UDub is up, Oregon is down, so be it. We're five games in and nobody knows how the two old rivals will play today. And that's the fun of college football.

[Phogge]

I second Stanfordindians attitude. I respectfully disagree with the assertion that some of us "don't know" football. Some have played. Some have played and coached and at least one has worked at the highest level (over 660 NFL games). Trained eyes pick up things: alligator arms at times by a promising redshirt freshman, the crucial absence of a blocking back and the mystery of why his replacement isn't playing up to 2015 ability, the drop off of the ILB's and the hope that Barton will overcome with experience, yada, yada, yada.

Aside from the decades old dominance of $C the coast schools have been up and down, forever. UDub is up, Oregon is down, so be it. We're five games in and nobody knows how the two old rivals will play today. And that's the fun of college football.

[martyup]

We need to ride into ND Stadium like Mongo into Rock Ridge.

[martyup]

We need to ride into ND Stadium like Mongo into Rock Ridge.

[martyup]

And punch the Irish right in the kisser.

[martyup]

And punch the Irish right in the kisser.

[martyup]

No more offensive linemen playing like this.

[martyup]

No more offensive linemen playing like this.

[martyup]

Better now.

[martyup]

Better now.