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WBB ranked 6th in the country. Beat Duke in OT today. Although they did blow a 17 point lead. Likely to move up to #4 after losses by Utah and Iowa.

3rd ranked WSOC wins again 1-0 over Mississippi State to advance to make the final 8. (Number 1 FSU looks awfully good.)

2nd ranked WVB clinches the final Pac 12 Championship with wins over both So Cal schools.

Gerald hates having women's sports, but he wants to win the Director's Cup. Can't have it both ways.

…the ACC.

Sigh.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

My article is here.

Read that here.

Latest AP WBB ranking has 5 PAC12 teams in the top 10.

Conference of champions indeed.

Read that here.

Good for Solomon Thomas.

I probably should wait another week, or even until after the conference championship and/or bowl game, to start crunching the season-long stats, but my mind started to wander to putting into perspective where our starting level guys rank compared to their conference peers (the below goes a bit below starter level guys as for the ease of search I am looking at all players who make the basic threshold of the PFF search function). Using PFF as a gauge here's how it shakes out (percentile of conference starters listed parenthetically):

Collin Wright - 11 of 50 CB (.22)
Elic Ayomanor - 11 of 39 WR (.28)
Scotty Edwards - 14 of 37 S (.38)
Levi Rogers - 5 of 13 C (.38)
Tobin Phillips - 21 of 54 DI (.39)
Zahran Manley - 24 of 50 CB (.48)
Connor McLaughlin - 14 of 29 OT (.48)
Anthony Franklin - 32 of 54 DI (.59)
Alaka'i Gilman - 23 of 38 S (.62)
Jake Maikkula - 24 of 35 OG (.69)
Lance Keneley - 35 of 51 ED (.69)
Tiger Bachmeier - 27 of 39 WR (.69)
Jaxson Moi - 38 of 54 DI (.70)
Luke Baklenko - 21 of 29 OT (.72)
David Bailey - 37 of 51 ED (.73)
Benjamin Yurosek - 11 of 15 TE (.73)
Tevarua Tafiti - 39 of 51 ED (.76)
Zach Buckey - 43 of 54 DI (.80)
Ashton Daniels - 12 of 15 QB (.80)
Gaethan Bernadel - 31 of 38 LB (.82)
Wilfredo Aybar - 43 of 51 ED (.84)
Bryce Farrell - 33 of 39 WR (.84)
Sam Roush - 13 of 15 TEs (.87)
Justin Lamson - 13 of 15 QB (.87)
Spencer Jorgensen - 33 of 38 LB (.87)
Mudia Reuben - 34 of 39 WRs (.87)
Simione Pale - 31 of 35 OG (.89)
EJ Smith - 19 of 21 RB (.90)
Fisher Anderson - 27 of 29 OT (.93)
Trevor Mayberry - 33 of 35 OG (.94)
Mitch Leigber - 36 of 37 S (.97)
Tristan Sinclair - 37 of 38 LB (.97)
JShawn Frauston-Ramos - 49 of 50 CB (.98)
Pat Caughey - 53 of 54 DI (.98)
Jaden Slocum - 50 of 50 CB (1.00)

It didn't feel right to compare but among special teams players our guys ranked Anthony Franklin and Aaron Morris are both in the top five percent of grades. You already know Karty is #1. Flintoft is 5 of 14 (.36). In combined kick and punt return grades Farrell is of course dead last 20 of 20.

People can downplay PFF if they want but to me this comports with eye test/common sense pretty decently pretty much down the line. Pretty obvious to me Wright and Ayomanor are our stars and the guys you prioritize retaining/building around, along with Edwards, Franklin, Maikkula, Baklenko, and Bachmeier. I think I've posted a time or two how important it would be to have any among Rogers, Phillips, and McLaughlin back. People have been talking about a sixth year for Sinclair but to be honest a sixth year for Manley or a fifth year for Gilman would be more desirable.

Wright and Ayomanor could be conference freshman of the year type candidates if people notice they're eligible (heck, if Stanford even nominates them). In past years we'd be super excited about years ahead of these guys but in this day and age I am hoping for one more year of each. Hope we can fend off the NIL sirens.

Read that here. They signed a couple weeks back, just dropping the article now.

Read that here.

Read that here.

I have a friend coming up this weekend for the Notre Dame game (Stanford fans). Before I go to Stubhub and find them some, does anyone have two cheap/freebies that need a home? Please message me directly or add a comment to this thread and I'll DM you. Thanks!

Read that here.

I’ll bet money that Sinclair is back next season.

1. That was simultaneously a disappointing game yet also one totally typical of our season. It was disappointing because it was a winnable game that we didn't win (or even come all that close due to the frequency of getting in our own way), ostensibly our biggest rivalry game of the year yet one where we didn't come out with much fire outside a few notable performances, and our last real chance at a home win. [We are the only team in FBS not to have a home win this season. In the last 1,485 days we have won three games at home (one against very lowly Colgate). Nobody gets to enjoy home football games less than Stanford fans.] It was typical because this is how we typically play. That was our median performance of the season, a performance befitting our quality as a team. [With Sagarin now updated, the final results of our games this season have been befitting the #77 (at Hawaii), #209 (at USC), #184 (Sacramento State), #35 (Arizona), #135 (Oregon), #49 (at Colorado), #193 (UCLA), #40 (Washington), #26 (at Washington State), #193 (at Oregon State), and #125 (Cal) teams in the nation.] We are who we thought we were. At the same time, I do think we're seeing enough to put this team ahead of the 1960, 1983, and 2006 teams, and that wasn't a guarantee given how bad the roster is. We're treading water while we wait for some life rafts.

2. We have been modestly competitive this season against middling teams and that was again the case yesterday. The game could have gone differently were it not for the jaw-dropping amount of penalties (100 yards!) or if a few close officiating calls on massive momentum swingers went the other way. Alas, the penalty-prone Stanford team is not an anomaly. We are an extremely undisciplined team, 115th in penalty yards per game. This is the second game this season with 100 penalty yards and the fifth time with 8+ penalties. Shaw had 100+ penalty yards four times in 12 years. We shouldn't be obsessed with avoiding penalties nor should we play timidly, but it's time to acknowledge that against Sacramento State, UCLA, Washington, and Cal, penalties played a big role in losing and/or letting the game get out of control. I really do think Stanford could have been in this game with even just an average number of penalties. I don't want to dwell on that, though, because Cal was the better team and our performance was typical for us in many respects.

3. The best thing about this game for us (aside from our All-American of course) was some defensive fight. Cal's 2.45 points per non-garbage drive made the #52 offense in the country look like the #43 offense. Cal is the seventh best offense we've played in 11 games and, predictably, we did better against them than we have typically done this season. We also did slightly better on a yards per play basis than most teams do against Cal's offense, the fifth best defensive performance against them and below their average yards per play on the year (and well below our average allowed, but again that also has to do with Cal being a mediocre offense by our schedule's standards). This was our best defensive performance since the Washington game.

4. There was much less to like on offense. Our 1.36 points per non-garbage drive made the #124 defense in the country look like the #9 defense. Cal is fighting it out with Colorado and USC for the worst scoring defense on our schedule so being held to 15 points is profoundly pathetic and when you consider that nine of them were impressive kicks by our All-American that is really a horrendous offensive game. We have played six defenses better than Cal on a yards per play basis on the season yet only three defenses have stifled us worse than this in terms of yards per play. Bad offensive game.

Read that here. Spencer Jones and Brandon Angel are both out.

Just spotted the video from the Bahamas of the team practicing on the team's Facebook feed. The last frame showed Brandon stretching and leaning into the camera. I have no idea if he's doing more than stretching but he was clearly suited up for practice.

Read that here.

Read that here.

If the Utes can get their QB to stick around for a seventh year, surely we can get some of our guys to return for a fifth?

Read that here.

Read that here.