Read that here.

Was riding one of those electric scooters young people like to rent.


The reason this really got my attention is that I bought my son one of these to get around his campus and downtown Chicago his senior year in college. A lot cheaper than having him take Uber everywhere. He was actually a little paranoid about getting hit and bought a $150 helmet to go with it. He sold the scooter and the helmet to the guy at the UPS store when he found out it was going to cost $400 to ship it home.

Yeah, well, enjoy it while you can.

Last year we didn't win the NC. That was because of 3 point shooting against UConn.

Haley was 0-5. Lexie was 0-4. That was beyond unusual. Normally we would have hit at least 4 of those shots.

Read that here.

Read that here. Fun to write about Stanford baseball again. It's been a little while.

Check out this article on UW's Kalen DeBoer and the part about his pre-game chat with Coach Shaw. Somehow, the new head coach for a division rival lit up your team in a national title game and you had no idea that he was on the team until the pregame conversation?! Shaw is essentially the anti Sean McVay. Pertinent part of the article is as follows:

_____________________

On the field prior to Saturday's game between Washington and Stanford, first-year Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer and Cardinal coach David Shaw got to talking. These types of chats are common before games: pleasantries, handshakes, etc. The two had never coached against each other before, but there was mutual respect for what they knew of each other.

"I've been hearing his name for years and, honestly, about the things that are important: integrity, his approach to the game, as a teacher and mentor of young people. Those things that I really care about," Shaw said. "And on top of that, he's a really good football coach."

What Shaw didn't realize before that conversation, though, was that they had gone up against each other in the past. It was 1996. Shaw was an assistant coach at NAIA Western Washington and DeBoer was a senior wide receiver for tiny Sioux Falls, a private school in South Dakota with about 1,000 students. The teams met in the NAIA Division II national championship game in Tennessee.
"I was blown away," Shaw said. "I had no idea he was a player on that team. I remember that game well."
He wasn't just any player, either. DeBoer was the team's star receiver and caught 10 passes for 131 yards in Sioux Falls' 47-25 win, with a touchdown reception and a 54-yard touchdown run on a reverse. It was the first national title in school history and laid the foundation from which DeBoer would later, as head coach, build an NAIA football dynasty.

Right here:

Here is the Q&A I did with the ASU Rivals site.

Watch that here.

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Injury update from Shaw: Michael Wilson will miss an extended period of time. David Bailey and Jack Leyrer are doubtful for Saturday. Levani Damuni is questionable. Showing progress, but questionable for this week. Walter Rouse, Levi Rogers, and Barrett Miller are questionable, but trending in the right direction.

Read that here.

So happy for the team as great to beat ND on national tv. A bit bummed as probably means we will remain blind to the obvious decay of the program.

Tired of our fans downgrading the pac-12 whenever they want to make Shaw/Stanford look bad. The general opinion on Stanford boards before the season started was that Stanford would be lucky to be better than 1-5 at this stage of the season because the early schedule was so stacked . Well, but for a mental lapse by #22, they would be 3-3.

Saying we hope this win makes the players feel good but that it doesn't help Shaw to keep his job actually comes across as just rather dishonest way to jab Shaw.

Tired of so many threads being high jacked to become anti- Shaw rants. Lets' talk more about the players. Like freshman Anderson having to step in. And that Shaw needs to be giving Patu at least one series per game. And it looks obvious that McKee does not throw the short sharp angle pass accurately enough to call it so often.

I am not blind to Shaw's faults. He needs to hire an offensive coordinator. It is so easy to predict when he likely will go conservative. He generally restricts the offensive potential way too much. Recruiting has dropped off too much.

Finally, if you are truly fans of Stanford football act like fans.

Firing this up. Live on Pac-12 Networks.

Read that here.

At the "official online store of Stanford Athletics" you can buy gear and designate an athlete. However, only three three sports are part of the NIL option; football, women's volleyball and women's soccer. No idea why the choices are limited....

I asked David Shaw today about Tobe Umerah's status and he described Umerah's status as not entirely medically retired but that he stepped away from the team because of injury issues and is pursuing his degree. I assume the reason Shaw didn't completely close the door with medical retirement is that there's hope Umerah might come back down the road. It's a very disappointing development for everyone involved.

7:30 on ESPN

A buddy just texted me: "ND’s coach just used execution 4x in a 2 sentence answer on what they need to do to get their first win."

ND had a false start on their first set of downs.

1. A win! Against a real team! It feels nice to finally get back in the win column and I'm very happy for the players and coaches, for whom this quite evidently came as a tremendous relief after all of the futility of the last few years. For me, the win was more bittersweet than I would like. I never ever want to be in the position of rooting against Stanford but would be lying if this win, either in real-time or now thinking about it this morning, struck me as good for the long-term health of the program. My hope is it's neutral, a nice, overdue moment of joy for people who have toiled and earned this but ultimately not something that changes anything fundamental for the program. There's a chance it's a negative if it reinforces the more complacent instincts of those who matter, but that's speculative and premature to comment on and not what we should focus on. The focus should be on enjoying the win and trying to build on it. Those of us fed up with Shaw and his staff are fed up because we care about results. Now that we've finally gotten a good result we can't begrudge those focused on building on it and continuing to get results.

2. This was the second week in a row in which we had our best game statistically in a calendar year. That's not momentum yet but it's moving in the right direction. Last night was only a 0.18 yard per play deficit for us, which is the most competitive FBS game we've had by that measure since last year's Oregon game (in which we had a slightly worse deficit) and UCLA game (somewhat better but a loss). Of course, that you have to go back to September 2021 for a game in which we were more efficient than an opponent is a good illustration of how bad the program is. Fundamentally, last night tells the same story as the Oregon State loss: we played a very good game by our standards and it still wasn't good. That's where we are, win or lose, and it's imperative celebrating the win not lose sight of this.

3. This game was won for two reasons, one that is a credit to us and one that is reflective of tremendous luck. To our credit, the defense was a revelation. Ohio State this year and Cincinnati last year are the only defenses that gave up fewer points to the Irish. Giving up 4.93 yards per play is 0.67 better than the average (and amazingly better than Ohio State did) and 1.36 better than our average. Holding a team to under five yards a play is the first time that's happened since last year's Vanderbilt game, but that's Vandy and Notre Dame is a real offense that came into the game with the #31 Offensive FEI in the nation. In my view this is Stanford's best defensive performance since at least the season opener against Northwestern in 2019, but that offense stunk so a good case can be made it's the best Stanford defensive performance since at least the 2018 Pitt game. The best defensive game in nearly four years is a big accomplishment and big deal.

4. But the other thing that won this game was sheer luck. That will go down as one of the luckiest/unluckiest (depending who you're rooting for) fumble games ever. There were five fumbles in that game and Stanford recovered four of them. We also recovered a blocked punt, an extremely lucky development to avoid a scoop and score (and Notre Dame ended up not scoring at all off that turnover). Finally, there was a pivotal play in the game in which the ruling on the field was that McKee fumbled yet inexplicably the call was overturned on replay, squelching Notre Dame's comeback. Say what you will about how close the knee down/fumble were (I thought essentially simultaneous), to overturn a call of fumble on the field based on that video cannot be explained and robbed Notre Dame. This game will go down as the Fumble Game. Nonetheless, I find it very karmically appropriate it happened this way. Just days after Shaw gave a magnanimous and wise answer about being screwed out of the Stepfan Taylor touchdown in 2012, the break goes our way. We're even, Domers. It is also good karma for our bad turnover luck earlier this season. Sometimes the bounces go your way and sometimes they don't and that's just football. A win is a win.

5. We were in a position to capitalize on the breaks we got because the defense gave such a great performance. After we recovered the punt block, the defense buckled down and made Notre Dame run eight plays to go just 27 yards, including a clutch fourth down stuff at the 5 yard line. After the fumble we recovered in the second quarter, we punted without incident and then the defense forced a three and out. Especially when you account for how the offense did when it got the ball off a turnover or lucky bounce, we did better than Notre Dame in those situations and that made the difference. But the defense was really the star. Giving up 4.41 yards per carry was our best run defense in seven games. Part of that is Notre Dame having a mediocre run game, but for us to even be average in run defense is a triumph for us. I've seen many fans talk about how bad Pyne is but that doesn't ring true for me. That was by far the worst he's done since becoming QB1. On the season he's got the #42 passer rating in the country (McKee is #57) and #64 yards per attempt (McKee is #50). Last night we held Pyne to a passer rating ten points below what even qualifies for top 100 and a yards per attempt almost a yard below that threshold. In Tommy Rees' three years as offensive coordinator, that is one of Notre Dame's four worst passing games, and 2020 Alabama and 2021 Cincinnati forced two of those. Give our guys credit. They terrorized Notre Dame's passing game, relatively speaking. Between the game plan not to let Mayer beat us, whatever else Anderson dialed up, and the effort and execution that led to six pass breakups (compared to one against Oregon State and USC and three against Washington), that was a hell of a job shutting Notre Dame's passing game down.

6. Given such good defensive performance, many players deserve special mention. McGill was having a quiet night....until he wasn't. A fourth quarter tackle for loss, pass interference (shows up as a bad play but it could have gone either way, like the game winner, and the point is he was in the mix contesting), fumble recovery, and clinching pass breakup on 4th and 7 were hero plays when we needed them. Likewise, Herron didn't make his presence known except when he did, and they were gargantuan plays, a sack to force a fumble that we recovered and a sack on 2nd and 4 on Notre Dame's attempt at a winning drive. Don't look now but Herron is #52 in America in sacks. Casey Toohill is the only Cardinal to be top 100 in the last half decade. Mangum-Farrar had easily the night of his life with about four good run stops (one on 4th and 2 near the goal-line!) and a pivotal pass breakup on 3rd and 7 when the game was in the balance. Kelly came back from injury and had two pass breakups. Bonner bounced back from his and Fields' (who again helped a lot in run defense) screw-up last week and gave great coverage, a big yardage-losing tackle for loss, and a run stop. Franklin (a few run stops, a pass batted down, and the fumble recovery) and Moi (batted a pass to force a punt, a few run stops) both had career nights. Williamson's overall grade wasn't great because he got torched for the 41 yard touchdown (which lowered Williamson's season grade enough that Bonner is actually now our top-ranked defender by PFF), but he had a tackle for loss in the red zone and a forced fumble at a crucial juncture. This was truly a team defense performance. If we played like that every week we'd be a good team. The hope to hold on to going forward is that this isn't a fluke. Maybe the defense is coming into its own to at least be mediocre. (Doesn't help Bailey may be out for a bit though.....fingers crossed on that)

An incredible football game.
An incredible football atmosphere.

How can anybody watch that game and think Stanford dropping football would be no big deal?
Those students - the regular students, not the athletes - have a memory that will last a lifetime.
And that's before the post-game parties go off the hook.

And I know it's been a decade now, but how fun were the post-game field storms at height of Harbaugh Era? (And 2011, too)?
And I know Stanford isn't the SEC, but I'll bet those students lucky enough to have attended Stanford 2009-2011 have some pretty awesome college memories associated with Stanford football.

Hell, I remember vividly when Stanford beat #1 UW in my day with Elway at the helm. It was an incredibly fun experience for everyone on campus.

Ben - the Wilner rumor mill says both Clegg and Lyons (both 4-star commits) are being heavily recruited by Utah. Have you heard any rumblings on your end? You're more attuned to this than Wilner.

Before I deleted the recording I took a look at the last 2-3 minutes of the game. On that fateful 3rd won debacle with Daniels, leaving aside that Shaw put him in there, I was shocked that they ran that type of play i.e. the read option. That slowed the play too much. Watching the play develop. Daniels should have just taken the sanp and sprinted to his left and had Filkins as a blocker. Also, Yourosek, puts a block on his man and then releases as if he were to be going out for a pass. WTF? It was his man that tackled Daniels for a loss. If Daniels just took off, Filkins and Yurosek blocked, it was a good chance he picks up the first down. Did Yurosek make a mistake or was it just a stupid paly design?

Also, on the play that OSU scored and cost us the game, everybody was correct on their criticisms of both Bonner and Fields. But I notices something else weird. Bailey (whom I really like) is seen not rushing the passer at all. Instead he just stands several yards from the LOS in the middle of the field and does essentially nothing. There was an OSU player as a possible check down to Bailey's left, but Bailey is nowhere near him and we have another defender closer to the OSU guy, so I don't know what Bailey was doing. He had a clear path to the QB (OL was already tied up) and at minimum could have applied enough pressure to force an errant pass if not get a sack.

We have mental breakdowns and apparently the guys aren't being coached up.

Read that here.

Write up on McGill is here.


Write up on Karty is here.

Read that here.