Busy Here Today....

Hate when Shaw goes for the end zone fade from the 25 when we need less than 10 yards for the first down. Get the first down! Then the touchdown!

By hoyaparanoia on 09.21.19 4:32pm

Well this is better than last week at this point in the first quarter.

By treetogo on 09.21.19 4:32pm

Watched The Wisconsin Game Today

The offense looked like vintage Stanford. I formation with a fullback. Why have we lost the fullback in the backfield? Particularly if we have one who can also catch the ball? Instead we are shotgun with a delayed handoff to whoever is back with Costello.

By hoyaparanoia on 09.21.19 4:48pm

Wisconsin is my go-to comparison for the way stanford should run

Their offense is not fancy air raid or spread. They just line up and mash you up front. Efficient QB play has been holding them back from becoming a true elite power (except russell wilson year) but they seem to have a good QB this year. Their defense is even more impressive. The way those LBs play is just absolutely salivating. I would do anything to hire away some of their coordinators and assistants.

By layman on 09.23.19 1:01am

Just flicked on the radio stream (no way to watch) -- Oregon 21-Stanford 3

Can’t believe that we can’t put up more than 3 points. Seriously?

By g8tgod on 09.21.19 6:35pm

But now, Stanford is driving...

Just over 9 minutes left.

By g8tgod on 09.21.19 6:39pm

We're taking a FG, down 21-3

Come on. I know that makes it a two-possesion game, but it seems like you might as well go for the TD when you’re that close.

By g8tgod on 09.21.19 6:41pm

So...I guess we can't blame the D too much today

Wait…..who am I talking too????

By hoyaparanoia on 09.21.19 7:01pm

Welp, a good drink might help you all through all of this tonight.

By well you win some and lose others on 09.21.19 7:02pm

Umm, moral victory?

At least for the D. Thought we’d at least be able to score a TD on these guys.

By treetogo on 09.21.19 7:09pm

Was nice to have the students here

For almost three quarters.

By treetogo on 09.21.19 7:13pm

In A Few Seats

Guess we found a new way to lose. D, against the Ducks, was not horrible (based on recent samples). But just 6 points on offense is ridiculous.

By hoyaparanoia on 09.21.19 9:11pm

Just not much offensive talent

The injuries on the line are one thing, but the receivers aren’t getting any separation and with no I’m Mr. Whiteside the jump ball passes don’t work. Austin Jones looks like the real deal, but they’re doing what they did with McCaffrey as a freshman and only using him for direct snaps. Should work him into the regular offense.

By vk on 09.21.19 9:33pm

Silver lining

We clean house after a couple more clunkers on offense and get some new assistant coaches and change things up. Our scheme just doesn’t work anymore.

By stanford6thman on 09.21.19 10:47pm

Stanford/Shaw Are Not Very Good At Cleaning House

Circle the wagons, promote from within. Shaw’s post game comments were entirely predictable………we have the talent but are failing to execute. We played them even except for a handful of big plays……where we made mistakes. Much of which is true, but ultimately the failure to execute is, in itself, a systemic problem. When our talent level places us in a position where we have no margin for error, we do need almost perfect execution to win against most teams.

Hard to play Shaw ball where (1) we can’t run the ball enough as we are down too many points early, (2) our field position dominance does not exist either on defense or special teams, and (3) our QB is having problems finding and hitting receivers.

Watching the ND/Georgia game last night I was impressed by the offensive and defensive game plans the ND coaches had put together to deal with Georgia’s strengths. ND lost because they made too many mistakes, and because the Georgia QB threw some perfect passes to receivers who made great catches when ND elected to go with one on one coverage in order to pressure the QB. Fine strategy, but Georgia beat it. Yet is still offered ND the best chance of winning. Similarly on offense, lots of deception and very quick passes with very little traditional up the middle runs. ND moved when it had to, but came up short. Too many penalties, turnovers and timeouts taken due to crowd noise. BUT, they came with a plan. Not sure Shaw gameplans for specific opponents …… ever. As he said in the press conference, it is not about the opponent or being on the road etc,, it is just about us being Stanford and executing. OK. Good luck with that.

By hoyaparanoia on 09.22.19 9:55am

If I were Shaw I’d say the same thing

Stay the course, execute, eliminate penalties… even if inside he knows it’s gut check time and he should hire a real oc. He’s not going to fire anybody in season, so what’s the point of bashing his own hires and his own philosophy mid season. At the end of a losing season with no bowl game, let’s see if his actions change. Maybe I’m just drinking the cool aid, but come on he’s got to see his system is just not working anymore

By stanford6thman on 09.23.19 2:58am

Way too late to the somber party

Just caught the game on replay after a busy weekend. Glad I didn’t stay up for this one. Would have ruined my weekend. Observations I gleaned:

• Football starts with the trenches. The reason we couldn’t score on offense is because our OL is just really bad. Injuries have played its part and its unfair to blame the freshman OL for everything that is going wrong. But it illustrates what lack of depth, especially at key positions like the lines, can do to any team (also losing seniors like herbig, chaffin). Also fire kevin carberry. Dude may be genuinely nice but its just not working.

• I see the receivers getting a lot of blame for not getting separation but I see it more as costello not having the trust in them to throw 1-1 balls unlike last year with irwin, JJ and smith. Last year’s passing attack was not based on separation but rather tall guys going up there and making plays on jump balls. It also doesn’t help that this year’s OL can neither open holes in run game nor protect the passer (I mean 3 man pressures were getting home to costello). So costello doesn’t have time to set his feet to throw the long ball, defenses are are rushing 3, dropping 8 in underneath coverage with just a safety over the top. No wonder he looks flummoxed.

• On the other side, what a difference a good performance from the D-Line can give. Considering how ineffective our offense was, it would have been easy to see the defense fold. But they were really stout up front against a decent OL (they had preseason 1st team P12 players). Casey Toohill looks like the last of old remnants from the 2015 rose bowl team and it showed in the way he has played. Was pleasantly surprised with Thomas schaffeur and mike williams at times.

• Flip side for the defense, that defensive backfield looks atrocious. The safeties were routinely out of position, the corners cannot tackle in space, take poor angles and bite hard on fakes. This doesn’t look a well oiled machine that is playing with the schematic structure of the defense. Inexperience is an aspect of it but it is still alarming how even the veterans seem to be so poorly coached.

• Finally, on the coaching side of things, I don’t know how you are supposed to call a game with that many mistakes and poor trench play. Sure call more screens, get austin jones more touches, get michael wilson more deep 1-1 balls, etc. But when the other side knows based on your formation, this is the play they are going to run, it’s time to revitalize your offense. Firing tavita is only half the solution since I think shaw is our actual OC with tavita being the puppet who will gameplan with shaw’s playbook. Get an OC who is a good QB coach and hand him the keys to the offense. Get the best OL coach (old school one) out there and really drill the fundamentals. On defense, get a good ILB coach who is a good recruiter and jump on derek mason if he gets fired from vanderbilt.

By layman on 09.23.19 12:53am

Excellent points, as usual

By Jeff Tarnungus on 09.23.19 3:24am