1. The plight of being a Stanford fan with a brain these days is seeing heart and head rent by a deeply unfortunate tug of war. We all love Stanford football and experiencing the first consecutive wins in exactly 400 days is a joyous occasion. I'm very happy for the players. Yet these two lucky, ugly wins against mediocre or worse teams and the very winnable games against Washington State, BYU, and Cal produce a very high likelihood there will be a clear narrative of improvement for the powers-that-be to hang complacency on if they want to, which they probably will. There's something poignant, albeit depressing, about this. Shaw has faced the hardest schedule in America thus far this season and now gets to rack up some wins against teams who beating doesn't suggest anything impressive, especially not the way Shaw beats them. Meanwhile, the fans with brains who know there's no truly competitive future with Shaw at the helm get put on the rack for questioning the Great Man.
2. This win was an extremely ugly win between bad teams. Somebody had to win but both teams played like the dregs of Power Five football they are. Both teams were penalized far above the national average (Stanford in the bottom 33rd percentile for penalty yards and Arizona State in the bottom 6th percentile). A game with two defenses that rank in the bottom 13th percentile of points per drive defenses nationally somehow managed to have nine punts and less than 30 total points (the median scoring offense, our non-world beating former offensive coordinator's Rice team, scores 30 a game alone). Each team had a fumble and an interception. Neither team grades in PFF's top 80 grades for pass rush and yet both teams gave up four sacks. U-G-L-Y. But I'm a Stanford fan and would rather my team win ugly than lose. We should make no mistake, though, in thinking this is a sign of progress for Stanford football. We eeked out an ugly victory at home against another bad team. Hence the pull between heart and head.
3. I will have none of it if Shaw tries to talk this up as a team win. It most definitely was not. We got outgained by over a yard per play and had almost identical points per drive against a bad team at home. We won for two reasons and two reasons only: Josh Karty and our edge defenders. I said last week we've become a kicker team. This is the second week in a row in which Karty led the C-House chant. That is deeply awesome for him but embarrassing for everybody else. He accounted for every single one of our points. That's never how you draw it up. But I can't say we won only because of him as the defense executed a bend but don't break game and saved the offense's bacon for the second week in a row. Both watching last night and dissecting play-by-play and PFF grades this morning it is crystal clear that Cooper, Herron and Keneley won this game along with Karty.
4. To be precise, we bent but didn't break for the last 40 minutes of the game. We were breaking badly in the first 20 minutes but then buckled down. I wouldn't be surprised if it tracked essentially exactly with the play when Ernest Cooper IV made his collegiate debut. What a revelation. You can just see the explosiveness. He and Bailey are a different breed than the rest of our players. I can't believe I'm saying this but there isn't a team in America that has better true freshmen edge players, and we haven't even seen Tafiti yet. Cooper only played 18 snaps and in that time had a stop on a reception for two yards with a hard stick (talk about making your presence known immediately in your college career), a tackle for loss on 2nd and 4, a sack on 1st and 10, and a tackle for loss on 1st and 10. He was the reason Arizona State had to punt twice, including a key fourth quarter drive, and made them work for yardage on a drive that ended in a missed field goal. What a debut. But it wasn't just him, the edge defenders were the best I've seen a Stanford front seven position group in I don't know how long. It may even be the best in 6+ years. Herron had a key sack (now #47 in America and #5 in the Pac-12 in sacks per game) and two key QB hurries. Keneley's big plays were the reason for the punt to start the fourth quarter. Even DiCosmo had 3-4 really good plays. I said during the week that Arizona State has an atrocious offensive line and it was time for Herron to hunt, and while the pitiful opponent had a lot to do with our pass rush, guys had to show up and for there to be pass rush aside from Herron is encouraging.
5. Big picture, by far the thing to be excited about in Stanford football is watching our front seven grow the rest of this season and the next couple of years. It's not just the edge guys but also Moi being great for a true freshman (ups and downs in this game but to bat a pass leading to an interception and to get two half tackles for loss is big-time for a true freshman). We may be seeing evidence for growth not just in the edge pass rush but in run defense, which has been on an upward trajectory over the last three weeks to newfound mediocrity. We shouldn't overstate this as yesterday's performance, even aided by four sacks, was more yards per carry than Oklahoma State, Utah, and USC gave up against Arizona State (but better than Northern Arizona, Eastern Michigan, and Washington), but along with pass rush it's a sign of some life. The front seven is eventually going to be really good if coaching doesn't hold it back.
6. I usually cover special teams later but it would be a crime to bury Karty! Tying an all-time Stanford single game record is of course a big deal. He's automatic. What a weapon, as Shaw says. Karty is now one of only three kickers in America with 12+ attempts and no misses. PFF hasn't updated the kicking grades yet but even before the game they had Karty the #6 kicker. In addition to the front seven maybe the other thing to watch for Stanford the rest of the season is a Groza Award campaign for Karty. I don't know if I'd vote for Karty ahead of NC State's Christopher Dunn but when you're talking about whether your guy is first, second, or third best in America that's where you want to be. Elsewhere on special teams, Sanborn had net punts of 44 (to the 15), 36 (to the 8), and 49 (to the 32). Some meat left on the bone but a nice game. Barrow had a nice return but is not yet a weapon (fifth of six qualifying Pac-12 returners). I do think he's better at it than Farrell and am happy about the switch. Kyu Kelly almost caused disaster with the muffed punt he caused, the type of play that could have cost the game (honestly one of several plays overall in which that could describe Kelly's day, although he also had multiple big-time plays).
2. This win was an extremely ugly win between bad teams. Somebody had to win but both teams played like the dregs of Power Five football they are. Both teams were penalized far above the national average (Stanford in the bottom 33rd percentile for penalty yards and Arizona State in the bottom 6th percentile). A game with two defenses that rank in the bottom 13th percentile of points per drive defenses nationally somehow managed to have nine punts and less than 30 total points (the median scoring offense, our non-world beating former offensive coordinator's Rice team, scores 30 a game alone). Each team had a fumble and an interception. Neither team grades in PFF's top 80 grades for pass rush and yet both teams gave up four sacks. U-G-L-Y. But I'm a Stanford fan and would rather my team win ugly than lose. We should make no mistake, though, in thinking this is a sign of progress for Stanford football. We eeked out an ugly victory at home against another bad team. Hence the pull between heart and head.
3. I will have none of it if Shaw tries to talk this up as a team win. It most definitely was not. We got outgained by over a yard per play and had almost identical points per drive against a bad team at home. We won for two reasons and two reasons only: Josh Karty and our edge defenders. I said last week we've become a kicker team. This is the second week in a row in which Karty led the C-House chant. That is deeply awesome for him but embarrassing for everybody else. He accounted for every single one of our points. That's never how you draw it up. But I can't say we won only because of him as the defense executed a bend but don't break game and saved the offense's bacon for the second week in a row. Both watching last night and dissecting play-by-play and PFF grades this morning it is crystal clear that Cooper, Herron and Keneley won this game along with Karty.
4. To be precise, we bent but didn't break for the last 40 minutes of the game. We were breaking badly in the first 20 minutes but then buckled down. I wouldn't be surprised if it tracked essentially exactly with the play when Ernest Cooper IV made his collegiate debut. What a revelation. You can just see the explosiveness. He and Bailey are a different breed than the rest of our players. I can't believe I'm saying this but there isn't a team in America that has better true freshmen edge players, and we haven't even seen Tafiti yet. Cooper only played 18 snaps and in that time had a stop on a reception for two yards with a hard stick (talk about making your presence known immediately in your college career), a tackle for loss on 2nd and 4, a sack on 1st and 10, and a tackle for loss on 1st and 10. He was the reason Arizona State had to punt twice, including a key fourth quarter drive, and made them work for yardage on a drive that ended in a missed field goal. What a debut. But it wasn't just him, the edge defenders were the best I've seen a Stanford front seven position group in I don't know how long. It may even be the best in 6+ years. Herron had a key sack (now #47 in America and #5 in the Pac-12 in sacks per game) and two key QB hurries. Keneley's big plays were the reason for the punt to start the fourth quarter. Even DiCosmo had 3-4 really good plays. I said during the week that Arizona State has an atrocious offensive line and it was time for Herron to hunt, and while the pitiful opponent had a lot to do with our pass rush, guys had to show up and for there to be pass rush aside from Herron is encouraging.
5. Big picture, by far the thing to be excited about in Stanford football is watching our front seven grow the rest of this season and the next couple of years. It's not just the edge guys but also Moi being great for a true freshman (ups and downs in this game but to bat a pass leading to an interception and to get two half tackles for loss is big-time for a true freshman). We may be seeing evidence for growth not just in the edge pass rush but in run defense, which has been on an upward trajectory over the last three weeks to newfound mediocrity. We shouldn't overstate this as yesterday's performance, even aided by four sacks, was more yards per carry than Oklahoma State, Utah, and USC gave up against Arizona State (but better than Northern Arizona, Eastern Michigan, and Washington), but along with pass rush it's a sign of some life. The front seven is eventually going to be really good if coaching doesn't hold it back.
6. I usually cover special teams later but it would be a crime to bury Karty! Tying an all-time Stanford single game record is of course a big deal. He's automatic. What a weapon, as Shaw says. Karty is now one of only three kickers in America with 12+ attempts and no misses. PFF hasn't updated the kicking grades yet but even before the game they had Karty the #6 kicker. In addition to the front seven maybe the other thing to watch for Stanford the rest of the season is a Groza Award campaign for Karty. I don't know if I'd vote for Karty ahead of NC State's Christopher Dunn but when you're talking about whether your guy is first, second, or third best in America that's where you want to be. Elsewhere on special teams, Sanborn had net punts of 44 (to the 15), 36 (to the 8), and 49 (to the 32). Some meat left on the bone but a nice game. Barrow had a nice return but is not yet a weapon (fifth of six qualifying Pac-12 returners). I do think he's better at it than Farrell and am happy about the switch. Kyu Kelly almost caused disaster with the muffed punt he caused, the type of play that could have cost the game (honestly one of several plays overall in which that could describe Kelly's day, although he also had multiple big-time plays).
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