September 30, 2006
Postgame Stanford: Can A 31-0 Win Be Ugly?
The short answer is yes. Here is some detail:
- 17 points scored by our offense against the dead last worst defense in the country that gives up 39 points a game
- 0 points scored by our offense at halftime, and only 7 points in 3 quarters, against the worst defense in the country
- 390 yards on offense against a defense offering up 470 yards a game
- 175 yards rushing against a defense offering up 300+ yards a game
- 5 turnovers, 7 sacks, and 7 punts for Stanford, and only 17 points scored by our offense
- 160 yards gained by Stanford and only 17 points scored by our offense
- 5 turnovers against the worst defense in the country
- 5 punts, 5.6 yards per pass, 4.8 yards per rush against the worst defense in the country
- 5 trips to the redzone and only 2 touchdowns against the worst defense in the country
These are just some of the stats, some of the facts, and remember Stanford's awful stats have come against the likes of Navy, San Jose State and Washington State. Today's game stats could have been worse. Stanford, for some inexplicable reason, having had such success putting pressure on BO and our offense with bliztes like Rice and Washington had, suddenly gave up on that tactic in the second half and allowed our offense to get comfortable and pick up steam. We got lucky by that dumb move on their part.
Nevertheless, our play on the field looked disorganized, chaotic, unsure, poorly prepared and just poorly coached. It was a continuation of the last 2 games, Rice and Washington. How we can make 2 of the absolute worst teams in the country look competitive (in Stanford's case for 3 quarters) is truly a feat. We like that Svoboda finally grew some stones and took shots downfield and in the endzone, but why so much passing against a team offering 300+ yards on the ground? We warned against that; it seemed like an overreaction to criticism by the media during the week. And why did we call so many rushing plays up the middle for little yardage when they couldn't beat our guys to the corners or the lanes? It seems that Svoboda is looking at a different game than we are every time. Its not going to be pretty when a good team and good coaching staff get a look at all the film now available on this team and this coaching staff, as we warned after the Rice game.
Our defense looked good yes. But before we get all excited, lets remember that Stanford came in as the 75th ranked offense in the country after playing the poor quality teams we mentioned. They had all of 9 ponts against Navy. They lost their 2 top receivers to injury, and it showed. Stanford was robbed by the officials on one play that gave us a turnover when they were mounting a drive that could have made the game close, and their receiver allowed an interception at the goal line that thwarted another drive. And their kicker missed a makeable FG wide right. Let's get a true assessment of our defense against a real opponent. Arizona may or may not be that opponent, with their loss against Washington and their offense sputtering. But they surely won't be the disaster Stanford is. It was a disappointing ugly win, again. More later …



















2 Comments on Postgame Stanford: Can A 31-0 Win Be Ugly?
October 2, 2006
john roach @ 8:57 pm:
dorell is in way over his head. let’s get rick neuheisel. i think he’s working at burger king right now.
October 5, 2006
Jethrowe @ 8:50 am:
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