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This is the perfect solution. The faster this happens, the better.

Emphasis on geographical divisions.

72 teams guarantees Stanford a spot (Stanford likely included up to 48 teams, as historically we are in the mid-40s for TV viewership and brand).

Today's betting line:

VT a 3 point favorite. Total points 54.5

Team release is here. I mentioned this in the thread about the women playing at the Chase Center. Women play on December 20th against Ohio State at the Chase Center. Men play on December 21st against Oregon at the Shark Tank in San Jose. Should be a fun weekend of hoops for Stanford!

Read that here.

Hey, gang.

Thought we could all stand to brainstorm a few questions for Ben to ask this week, because there seem to be gaps in coverage that have left a lot of us dissatisfied. And we can't make any OTHER reporters ask the questions we want to hear, but we can cyberbully Ben until he does.

Obviously he doesn't /actually/ have to ask any questions he doesn't wanna, but... post some stuff you'd like to hear about and let's see what happens!

I'll get us started.

1. David Bailey is having a breakout year. As of Sunday, Pro Football Focus had him as the #2 pass-rusher in the country. But he's also gotten fewer defensive snaps every week, including just 16 against Clemson. Can you talk a little bit about how the coaching staff thinks through the tradeoffs inherent in trying to keep him fresh in critical situations vs trying to maximize his contributions?

Obviously this sets up a question later in the season about "why do we drop our edges back in coverage so often?", but, y'know, gotta take baby steps.

Read that here.

Kyle Shanahan needs a "sanity check" guy on headsets.
His only job is to make sure Shanahan doesn't make ridiculously bad decisions, like he did at end of 1H today.
For anyone watching, on third and long from SF 8 yard line (or thereabouts), NE with 1 TO, Shanahan calls a pass play.

Run the effing ball; make NE use its last TO; and guess what? NE doesn't even get a chance to kick a FG at end of half, with they did (a 63-yarder, to boot, with yards to spare!).

Seriously, Shanahan, for as great an O-mind/playcaller as he is, has serious blind spots when it comes to basic game management.

If you eliminated those problems, I think it's potentially a Stanford victory.

QB. This was incredibly bad QB play. Not mediocre or poor, but incredible bad. Our first three drives ended with two Daniels' INT and a turnover on downs because of a Lamson fumble. At least the fumble was from a good defensive play. Both INTs were very bad decisions and executions. When you want to throw it out of bounds under pressure, you just have to pass the line of scrimmage not throw it way down field toward multiple defenders. The end zone INT, yes it was clearly interference with the defender holding Ayomanor's jersey (should be an easy call), was another very poor decision and poor execution (pass behind where it should have been). The QB play got no better in the 2nd half. Daniels gave up more points than he helped us score. We ran for nearly twice as many yards as we passed, averaging 4.6 yards per pass while running for 5.4 yards per carry. I'm sure Matt will have some great analysis on this tomorrow. Assuming Daniels is out and we know our one true QB is out 4-6 weeks, who is our 4th string QB. I think it's worth giving him a try over Lamson. If Brown were healthy, Daniels injury could help our win total. But Lamson ain't going to do it.

Penalties. I felt, but I know I'm prejudiced like the ESPN announcers were for Clemson, that Manley was called for PI over and over again. Sometimes deserved for sure, but other times just because he didn't turn toward the QB, doesn't mean he can't raise his arms and hit the receiver while both players reach for ball as the ball goes over his shoulder. Can you challenge penalties in college like you can in the pros? If so, we should have thrown out the challenge flag many times. Two important plays that come to mind are the PI against Ayomanor in the end zone that end in an INT and a tackle from the side against one of our DTs on a Clemson TD pass in the first half. The OT's arm was completely around our DT's neck pulling him to the ground. I saw it on a replay when they showed the Clemson QB passing the ball under pressure.

Coaching Decisions. Some of those 4th down decision were ridiculous. 4th and 1 makes sense potentially anywhere on the field, but 4th and 6 at the 15 yard line is a good time for a FG when we were down, I think, 13 at the time in the 3Q. I would say with Lamson in, should surprise defenses by passing more, but after watching him pass and stare at one receiver before he gets sacked, I understand why he runs nearly every time he's in.

Manley. If you watched the game, you know that he was the weakest part of a not that bad defense for the first 3Qs. We do need explore another option but with Green injured, I don't know who the options are but again, like QB, worth giving him a try. How can a 5th year player not yet be trained to turn his head when the receiver looks like the ball is coming?

Read that here.

Stanford is currently a +19 point underdog. Stanford could also get a taste of east coast weather on Saturday as well. High of 87 degrees with a 30% chance of showers currently forecast.

I'm not going to post this on the twitterverse.
Full game replay below. You can FF to the time stamps listed.

1Q 10:30 Clean pocket wide open WR
2Q 14:17 Exit stage right clean pocket
2Q 1:49 Exit stage right clean pocket - refuses to climb up
3Q 0:07 Late and high
4Q 9;33 watch the body language from 13 - that is a 4 pt miss
4Q 7:00 bad miss
4Q 1:00 by this time Elic has had it. Not a fan of receivers showing up QB's btw.


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Read and watch that here.

VT 27 Miami 17 3rd qtr.

Rutgers 14 Washington 3 halftime.

Crazy ass out here. Mostly no power. What a football town/campus!!! I love Stanford but this is what college football is all about, we all know what our reputation is about football, this is a great college town. I won’t even go into what a shit show about everything else is due to the hurricane. Looking forward to the game and the aura of a packed stadium.

released yet?... any changes from vs Syracuse?

... or maybe its been released/posted and I missed it?

Some of this data shows just how bad we’ve been…and may still be.

Bet MGM

Read and watch that here.

Troy Taylor, DL Anthony Franklin, and TE Sam Roush will speak to us. I’ll drop a link in here once it becomes available. Presser begins in 5 minutes.

Read that here.

What does this mean?

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Read that here.

Looks like weather won’t be an issue at game time; however, Stanford’s Friday practice scheduled for an outdoor facility may well be. Hopefully, they can make alternate plans