All eight Ivy League football teams will be honoring Buddy Teevens this season by wearing a “BT” sticker on the back of the helmets.

The initial 2026 Rivals100 was just revealed. Take a look at the coverage:

Top 10 Countdown for 2026 class
Meet the initial five-stars in 2026
Tuesdays with Gorney: Thoughts on the 2026 rankings
Who's the top player at each position in 2026 class?
2026 Rivals100

Read that here.

Will the Regents make Ucla pay-up to even the playing field?

Saw someone on another board suggest Stanford should create an AD for Football. I thought, "OMG, yes!" and wanted to add on to the suggestion here.

Stanford should hire an AD for Football who reports directly to the Provost or University President. Even putting aside who that person might be or what they might do, simply having the position will elevate football in stature and importance within the university in a way that will make it clear to everyone.

The Football AD would take over ALL aspects of overseeing the Football program, probably taking some responsibilities off the Head Coach in the process, particularly when it comes to dealing with administration. At a time with NIL and transfers, and media rights driving the business, how much sense does it really make to leave this up to the football coach? He's a football coach, not trained in business and marketing.

The Football AD would be responsible for benchmarking performance, learning best practices from other schools, interfacing with school executives and basically be the equivalent of an NFL team President, including hiring and firing Head Coach. In this new structure, there would be associate directors for:

Recruiting - kind of the equivalent of NFL college scouting for high school recruiting
College personnel - kind of the equivalent of pro personnel, to keep tabs on and coordinate transfers
Football operations - responsible for all aspects of day-to-day operations to support what the Head Coach wants to do
Player services - NIL, academic support, career counseling, and networking
Business operations - includes marketing the program, monetizing, and growing its value

LifeTime Cardinal can't have any direct coordination with Stanford, but they can certainly agree to be collaborative.

There is so much meat on this bone in terms of what dedicated people responsible for football only can be tasked to do, that just thinking about it makes me realize how truly insane it is to have football be run by a Head Coach and overseen by an AD with dozens of other sports to manage.

1. Well that was no fun. In case anybody had any doubt, it's official: this is a rebuild from a very lowly state and Taylor won't be able to turn it around overnight. It's possible that given the hollowed out roster the team is even worse than Shaw's worst teams. [Certainly this game and the massive 3.53 yard per play differential even with half of it played in garbage time was less competitive than the 2022 USC game (2.51 yard per play differential) and the 2019 USC game (2.99 yard per play differential). It's really a shame that such a venerable rivalry is for now ending with so many of the recent games being such stinkers.] We just looked completely undeserving of being on the field against a good team, and we play many good teams this year. Looking more broadly at the rebuild, a game like this sets a baseline for how low we've fallen. Improvement from very lowly baselines is possible but not assured. A lot of work to do.

2. There's always diminished utility in stats early in a season and in this case that's even more true because the entire second half was garbage time. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that everything Stanford did well was when it didn't matter and USC wasn't playing the A team. That makes it even more disturbing that even with all the garbage time letting us off the hook (anybody saying Lincoln Riley lacked class must have missed that the Heisman winner didn't pad stats in the least and USC took its foot all the way off the gas for an entire half), we gave up 1.56 more yards per play than Jose State State and gained 0.71 fewer yards per play than the Spartans. It was fair last week to say the evidence pointed to us being a better team than Vanderbilt, but if we're trying to triangulate results - fraught at this early stage but more reliable each week - it's just as fair to say we're worse than San Jose State. That is sobering but not at all shocking as the Cardinal and Spartans were viewed as fairly comparable going into the season.

3. From a macro perspective, this failure seemed familiar to me as a fan of the 2002-2007 teams, albeit especially lopsided and hopeless of a final result: outmatched offense that can't get anything going and as a result puts far too much on the defense, which may be talented and/or well enough coached to compete gamely in some contests but in general is going to look bad with short fields, constantly being on the field, and watching points get put on the board against the other units. The 6.43 yards per carry the defense allowed was a wake-up call that we haven't fully figured out run defense even with the vaunted Wisconsin approach, though the insufferable announcers made a good point that the combination of our offensive ineptitude and Riley's pace created a very difficult situation for the defense. I still think run defense is likely to be stronger for us than pass defense. In this game the pass defense did a tick worse than San Jose State did. I don't want to judge on video game numbers by Caleb Williams per se as he's Caleb Williams, but so far I think there are signs of significant vulnerability in our pass defense. Albany did as well in pass defense against Hawaii as we did.

4. But to me the biggest problem with our team is the offense. Three points against the starting USC defense (ten points and 5.29 yards per play total inclusive of garbage time) is bad. It's the least anybody has scored on them in two years and second least in six years. Even the inflated yards per play is a level that's bottom quarter of USC opponent offenses in recent years. I've seen a lot of commentary that last night was the arrival of the championship-contending USC defense and I just don't buy it. USC still has a long way to go to prove it has a good defense. I fear last night said more about us than it said about them. I think this 2023 Stanford offense is really, really bad. The overarching problem is talent and experience (tough one-two punch!), leading to difficulty stringing together good plays and sustaining drives. There was one glimmer of hope last night, which was a 5.1 yards per carry run game. That's encouraging but a product of garbage time, both breaking some runs when it didn't matter and not having USC come after the QBs much for yards per carry-stunting sacks. It's a thin reed to hold on to in light of the overall comprehensive failure.

ARROW UP

0 Bernadel - Starter at 1 ILB spot. Solid tackling. Interestingly, the front 7 are full of really good tacklers (at least in first 2 weeks).
2 Filkins - Split rushing attempts with Smith. Nothing in the passing game. PR1
3 Farrell - Starter. Only 2 targets and a rushing attempt. KOR1
4 Manley - Played EVERY snap. He hasn't been awful in coverage.
5 Humphreys - Led the wideouts in snaps and targets.
6 Wright - Played EVERY snap. ( started at slot corner!) The player hasn't been as great as everyone wants to think. There is more there just needs to clean it up.
8 Lamson - QB2. Tough competitor. Useful runner. Had a couple misfires and some drops. Let's see what happens after a week of practice with the 1's
8 Sinclair - Starter at 1 ILB spot. I mean we just don't have anyone else.
10 Jorgensen - Still top backup at ILB and that's about all I can say about that.
13 Ayomanor - Separated himself in G2 as WR2 in snaps. Targeted 3 times and had an ugly drop.
13 Aybar - OLB3 in snaps. I haven't seen anything from the player in 2 weeks.
14 Daniels - QB1 wasn't really looking the part before the injury. And as mentioned in last week's ARROWS...

fborg81 said:

I’d be more worried about AD in the pocket behind this OL than moving forward with a plan.

Click to expand...

20 Slocum - Starter at CB. Was replaced midway into the 2Q and was not seen again. Something to watch.
21 Edwards - Starter at S and played throughout. Just not ready for that type of competition.
22 Smith - Both he and Filkins broke off some chunk runs. 3 targets in the passing game.
23 Bailey - Led the position group in snaps. Will need to play much better against this type of opponent.
24 Bachmeier - Stole a bunch of snaps away from Reuben. No targets. Didn't touch the ball once.
26 Irvin - Freshman continues to see the field.
27 Porter - Subbed in for Slocum mid 2Q and played a bunch. Wasn't bad mostly v their 2's and 3's
29 Williams - 2nd year player saw extensive action at slot corner. Started the 2H and played throughout. Also wasn't bad against their 2's and 3's
32 Leigber - Subbed in for Edwards in the 2Q to get about 20 snaps. Hard to see the player as anything more than a ST player.
33 Gilman - Starter at SS
40 Phillips - Starter on the DL. Not much production.
51 Moi - Backup on DL. From what I was led to believe, I was expecting more.
55 Pale - RG1 pretty good in run game. Pretty bad in pass pro.
57 Rogers - OC1 was pretty good. Looks serviceable.
61 Mayberry - LG1 played through the 3Q. meh
67 Anderson - Subbed in for Pogoreic mid 2Q. Played until the 4th and was subbed out mid-series after a bad whiff in pass pro.
72 Uke - Got 1st action in the 3rd Q and looks to be the first sub at OG
74 Pogoreic - Starter at LT not what you want in pass pro from that spot.
76 Leyrer - Starter at RT was replaced after the Daniels TKO. Back in the 4Q at LT after Pogoreic was pulled. What a mess.
84 Yurosek - RB1
86 Roush - TE2 plays a ton looking for 1st catch just hasn't been much of a factor.
92 Keneley - Starter at OLB with Bailey. Not much.
94 Franklin - Starter with Phillips on DL. Looks like Stanford's best player inside after 2 games.
98 Buckey - I like this guy. Good depth player. Need another year of S/C.


ARROW DOWN
* I will assume that you saw the list of guys who did NOT travel and they will not be listed below.

0 Reuben - Only 2 targets and about 30 less snaps than week 1
9 Armitage - 1 snap in a blow out?
11 Patu - QB3 no snaps
11 Taifiti - Only a handful of snaps after early snaps LW
15 Butler - Snaps cut in half. No lead to protect. Only 1 carry. 1 bad drop.
17 Frausto-Ramos - The player traveled and did not see the field in this kind of game?
19 Starr - Did not see a snap at WR
35 Rose - Suspended for 1H but did not play a snap until very late.
44 Cooper - Only 1 snap in G2
47 Ellis - No snaps
57 Lytle - No snaps for the Wisconsin transfer until very late.
58 Bank - 10 Late snaps at RG and then pulled after a goal line penalty.
71 McLaughlin - Hate this arrow but the player did go from starter to backup. Continues to be best OL. Replaced Leyrer early 2Q. Led the team in snaps at OT
77 Berzins - Subbed in for Bank and got the last 5 snaps. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLAYER DOING ON PUNT COVER?? Already at a disadvantage with LS and P.
82 Raines - Snap count reduced from G1 in a garbage time game
85 Taylor - Nothing more than a handful of snaps
89 Ungar - Nothing

Read that here.

Read that here.

Somehow I missed that Dalton Schultz eschewed the Cowboys' $36M-over-3-years contract offer and ended up signing a 1-year deal ($9M) with the Texans.

Double-ouch! One on comp; one on team record/success.

And after today: 2 receptions for 4 yards . . . maybe make that a triple ouch, for personal stats!

P.S. Also just saw headline on Mel Tucker suspension for Michigan State. What a piece of work . . . (normally, I'd reserve judgment, but he apparently has admitted to the alleged misconduct, arguing it was "consensual"). Yikes!

Whoda thunk it?


Don't know what to make of this.

Read that here. Mostly football responses, but I got a couple from baseball and women's basketball as well.

Read that here.

And his Stanford commitment:

Read that here. Courtesy of Adam Gorney.

Read that here.

Read that here.

Ok, so apparently the chat had only been turned on for me to use. I hit all the correct labels and everything. But it didn't work last night because they had only given me the green light to access. I'll look over their instructions once more and make sure I understand everything fine. I'll provide another update once it's up and running and then we can go from there. Should be a good feature for us to use, though of course, I'll also keep the traditional board threads going as well for those that like that style better.

Read that here. I also got the chat feature up and running on Rivals, which you all should be able to see above. It'll be our first time implementing it, so be patient with me tonight as I get that all figured out. I'll drop that in here once I get that going.

Read that here.

Going into it, I knew Cal and Auburn would be a much more competitive and interesting game, so I DVR'd USC sodomizing Stanford and followed on ESPN's scoreboard, thinking I would watch anything that seemed interesting. Needless to say I didn't see much, and I sure AF am not going to watch it. I didn't even re-watch the Hawaii game, so not gonna watch that farce.

Was there anything at all to hang a hat on, like this...

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and punts from his opponent's 35 yard line.

Well, not exactly.

We cover the line!!!

29.5 points.

I'm guessing at the worst Karty kicks 3 fgs and we score a TD. We'll hold them under 40 points.

Everyone is proud of the way Shaw represented this program and turned them into a team that was in rose bowls to a team that is giving up 50 points in the half to usc.

I’ve never been more ashamed and frustrated with this university. Pathetic. Utterly pathetic.

I mean, six hours before kicking off the last time we see one of our two moats hated rivals in a conference game. The mf’s who had a much to do as anyone (save Larry f’n Scott) with the demise of the PAC-12. A previous pre-game thread got hijacked by a discussion of the previous coach! The heck with the past!

I’m tryna let that go, and hope…imagine…dream..about another great upset. Maybe Caleb throws his only three INT’s of the season today. Maybe Jackson Moi and Tobin Phillips get possessed by the spirit of Pannel Egboh, and David Bailey continues his campaign to be the last pac-12 D POY. Maybe our young QB has a terrific game…

C’mon! LFG! Somebody give me hope besides the bottle of Hibiki I’m gonna crack tonight…