Read that here.

I made a post last week proclaiming even if Stanford loses the rest of its games, I will fight anyone who claims last year's team was better than this year's. I now give you the empirical proof, following the win in Pullman that puts Stanford on pace to also be better in the W column.

Stanford is now yielding 3.9 YPC after two very good weeks against the run, and a pretty good one against UCLA (allowed just 4.1 YPC on 51 rushes - not bad for a undermanned team). This is good for #48 in FBS and #5 in the Pac-12. In 2022, Stanford was #130 and allowed a truly comically awful 6.3 YPC. I don't know for how many years I called for Lance Anderson's head because I could see the trend of not stopping the run getting worse.

A week after holding Washington to 91 yards rushing on 3.4 YPC, USC gave up over 300 yards and 7.4 YPC to the Huskies. Yes, Stanford has a better run and overall defense than USC and it isn't even arguable.

Stanford obviously can't run the ball, ranking #113 in FBS at 3.2 YPC (same as 2022), but the rush differential (my favorite stat to judge a football team's quality) of -.7 YPC in 2023 is a monumental improvement over the ghastly -3 YPC in 2022.

Stanford also has just about the same passing efficiency in 2023 (119.9) as 2022 (120.1).

Stanford has allowed a slightly better pass efficiency to opposing teams in 2023 vs. 2022, but, Stanford is just -.3 turnover per game in 2023 vs. -.8 per game in 2022.

Stanford hasn't improved running the ball or throwing it much (largely attributable to OL play), but it is obvious Taylor has figured out a way to make that same 3.2 YPC more productive than Shaw did, with his strategic use of Lamson as a runner. The OL is worse than 2022 by anyone's measure, but the production is greater by just using the run smarter.

I'll say it again. Taylor is doing more with less than Shaw had and it isn't even arguable. The 2023 Stanford team is now officially better than the 2022 team. That's really all you really wanted to see this season, right?

Ben or anyone else,

Do we know which players are on the dressed traveling squad for WSU? Or more precisely who isn't? it would be interesting to know if Elic traveled.

2025 guard/wing Carly Amborn out of Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo, CA and Jason Kidd Select has committed to Stanford. Recently got offered. @!ZAR! mentioned this in the recruiting notes thread as well. Just figured this should get its own thread, too. I’ll a get write up done on her soon. Same with Ijiwoye.

UPDATE: I’ve been told she goes to San Domenico in San Anselmo, CA. Sounds like she just transferred there.


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Alrighty, the Stanford men’s basketball recruiting notes thread for October is here. The August thread is here and the June/July thread is here. More recent stuff ended in the June/July threads, so check both to see what happened in September. Not a ton of stuff, but still some notes were added.

At this point, the staff is still in search of their first commit for 2024. No doubt Jerod Haase’s job security is being brought up on the recruiting trail, which doesn’t help things. That said, there are some targets who they are still in the mix for.

The first one I’ll mention is 3-star power forward Jaxon Johnson out of Sandy, Utah. Stanford made his top four along with BYU, Utah, and USC. He has already taken official visits to Utah and BYU. I am scheduled to interview him Tuesday afternoon, so I’ll ask him then about an official visit date. It’s always tough to get Utah kids out of the state and if he’s LDS and planning to serve a mission, then he’d in all reality be a 2026 kid. History tells us he’s likely to stay in-state, but maybe things will go differently this time.

4-star point guard Trent Perry apparently visited over the weekend thanks to @JRMV and his keen eyes. I’ve marked it as an official visit in the database. Today, Perry announced that his top six is USC, Colorado, TCU, Oregon, Gonzaga, and Stanford, so obviously the visit went well enough. I have messaged Perry about doing an interview and am hoping to hear back from him. This was not his first time visiting Stanford, so that part is encouraging and Jerod Haase no doubt likes to emphasize how important point guards are to the system that he runs. Perry has been a major target of the staff for a long time and is one who on paper they should be able to land. UCLA not making his top six is significant since they have been considered the front runners by many for a long time. Looks like a couple of guys are going to have to change their Future Casts now.

3-star point guard Elijah Crawford is another one who they are on. Crawford is supposed to be taking an official visit this upcoming weekend. He also took an official visit to Boston College in June, was supposed to be at South Carolina for an official visit this past weekend and is supposed to be taking an official visit to UCF on October 20th. So that’s the collection of schools that he seems to be most prioritizing right now. Kind of an interesting list. Stanford standing out both geographically and academically, though Boston College is a really good school and also an ACC school, so some crossover there. Crawford is keeping a low profile right now and has been hard to get a hold of, but I’ll keep trying. Kinda hard to read where he’s leaning, but Stanford does appear to be in there.

4-star point guard Jase Richardson took an official visit in July and also took official visits to Michigan State and Cincinnati in September. Stanford definitely in the mix, but Cincinnati and Michigan State are pretty tough competition. His dad is Jason Richardson, the former Golden State Warriors star, so Michigan State has a bit of an advantage since his dad played there. He currently lives in Miami, Florida so all of those schools are far from home. I’ll see if I can learn more about how things sit with him, but for now, Stanford appears to be in it.

4-star shooting guard Andrew Crawford will make his decision in mid-October and he is apparently down to Colorado and Stanford. So either he stays in-state or comes to The Farm. He hasn’t been easy to get a hold of, but it does help to know who his top two schools are. As the date to his decision gets closer, I’ll see if I can feel it out and see where things are heading there. Certainly a good sign that he’s down to two and Stanford is one of them.

4-star shooting guard GiCarri Harris is still on the board, but all signs are pointing to Purdue. Multiple Future Casts are in for the Boilermakers. His dad Glenn Robinson played there. But if for some reason he doesn’t go to Purdue, then I would say Stanford has as good of a shot as any of the other schools. He did take an official visit last October, so maybe things will open up there. But for now, I would guess he goes to Purdue.

That’s pretty much the group for 2024. For 2025, the staff has offered five guys who are rated as 5-stars and then three guys who are rated as four stars. Two are non-rated and one is a 3-star. For that full list, just click here. Everyone on that list is in play, but I will say that with this looking like a make or break year for Haase, it’s kinda hard to go too in-depth on 2025 recruiting. I know we keep saying every year it’s a make or break year, but I really believe that if they don’t make the tournament this year, he’s gone.

Read and watch that here.

Read and watch that here.

Watch that here. It's rolling live.

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Read that here.

The Stanford women’s basketball recruiting notes thread is here. The August thread is here and the June/July thread is here. Also, check out the men’s basketball June/July thread here as well as @Bobbk dropped some WBB notes in there.

Starting with what Bob posted, 2024 5-star forward Joyce Edwards will be visiting this upcoming weekend while 2024 5-star post Kate Koval will be announcing her decision on October 4th. 2024 4-star wing Harper Peterson visited over the weekend as well. So, big thanks to Bob for that info. I’ve done all I can to get info on visits, but for now, let’s just say Stanford is trying to remain tight lipped for now. They have their reasons, which I respect.

Stanford does have a pair of commits for 2024 already in 4-star point guard Shay Ijiwoye and 4-star forward Kennedy Umeh. I’ve already done an analysis on Umeh and will do one on Ijiwoye soon. Just gotta find the time to hammer that out. And then of course, 2025 5-star point guard Hailee Swain is committed to Stanford as well. She’s fired up.

As far as others who are still in the mix for 2024, 5-star guard Kayleigh Heckel is still on the board as is 5-star guard Mikalya Blakes.

For 2025, 5-star wing Jazzy Davidson is the only other kid I have right now, I so I need to see if I can glean more on that class. They were on Sienna Betts, but bridges have been burned there because of how things went down with her sister Lauren. And then for 2026, 4-star point guard Devin Cosgriff out of Oakland (Bishop O’Dowd) is one who they are on as well.

If there is anything I got wrong or need to add, feel free to correct me, Bob!

Read that here.

Read that here.

Not what we do here, but first, a couple of unrelated comments about last week's game.
- Penix is excellent. Not sure if it was the game chat, or subsequent threads that followed, who was calling him overrated. I strongly disagree with that. 12-5 record at Indiana!! Had 2 ACL's done. 18-2 at UW.
- Hated the conversion after TD decisions by CTT. Specifically kicking the PAT after scoring and cutting the lead to 2 - twice.

MID-SEASON REMINDER, 'ROSTER ARROWS' IS A REAL TIME LOOK AT A PLAYER'S STATUS ON THE DEPTH CHART - NOT RELATIVE TO A PLAYER'S PERFORMANCE.

ARROW UP

0 Bernadel - Played every single snap. I wonder when the last time that happened at Stanfordwith an ILB? It says more about the depth at the position, but still....Another solid effort. April sent him after the QB more than usual which, of course, is a smarter play here.
2 Filkins - He gave it a go and got the start but just not able to do much to help the team.
3 Farrell - WR3 out there a bunch without a TE2 on the field much. I want someone to love me as much as CTT loves Farrell on high leverage short-yardage plays both on the ground and in the air.
4 Manley - All things considered, probably the best game of the year.
6 Wright - Starter with Manley. Both guys have been extremely durable and play just about every snap. Quite frankly, he hasn't covered well over the last month. Adds value in the run game and support at the LOS though. But this roster just has nobody to replace struggling cover guys.
8 Sinclair - Starter at ILB. Not good again after the great effort vs UCLA.
11 Tafiti - Starter at the field OLB spot. Really starting to like this player. Put in a BUY order.

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14 Daniels - QB1 had a helluva game. CTT is doing a very nice job here.
14 Aybar - You can see the development here too. Has taken over the other OLB position as snap count doubled the starter Keneley.
17 Frausto-Ramos - Starter at NB but split the position with Leigber throughout the night. Freshman has to play the toughest position on defense and has struggled. Tough ask. The back 7/8 cover issues on this team are LOUD.
21 Edwards - I don't have any problems with this young safety. Love his competitive spirit.
22 Smith - Got the majority of the snaps on this night after it was evident Filkins wasn't right. Not much production. Not much protection either. It's amazing how bad the RB group is as a whole in pass protection. Arrow Down on Coach Agnew.
24 Tiger - Love this guy. WR2 is a baller.
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26 Irvin - In there for 15 snaps before heading to the locker room.
32 Leigber - NB2 on this night for 20 snaps. Not too good.
33 Gilman - SS played every snap. Nice game.
34 Hampton - 10 snaps in first career action.
40 Phillips - Logged the 3rd most snaps on the DL. Got moved around a little too much by the UW IOL but the guy has some sneaky good pass rush to his game.
44 Cooper - Only 7 snaps but at least the staff knows who he is. Had a nice hustle, chase down tackle.
51 Moi - Locked in as a starter now. Just not much production. The DL group as a unit struggled in this one.
57 Rogers - The personal foul penalty was as big as any other single thing that happened in the game. That being said, Levi have you heard about Lifetime Cardinal? Actually I have no idea what it is myself but if it helps make the decision to stay easier I'm all for it.
61 Mayberry - Funny, the starting LG has not given up a sack this year. If there has ever been a stronger case that sacks are more a QB stat......
69 Maikkula - Starter at RG. I was impressed. Man, this staff must really like Pale. The first-time starter is a technician in pass pro. Easily fit about 20 more lbs of good weight on his frame.
71 McLaughlin - Under siege from the edge all night. Not good. But… Daniels did leave a clean pocket which caused the LT to hold his guy and, on a separate play, you can see how and why he was beaten on the clip below.

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78 Baklenko - Frosh starter at LT. 4th different player to give that position a try. I mean he wasn't Little or Peat out there as a freshman in pass protection and it was a difficult ask to begin with. We'll see...
82 Raines - 20 snaps. Probably hasn't slept much since Saturday.

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83 Harris - Freshman made his first appearance for 3 snaps and caught a big one!
86 Roush - TE1 left the field for 1 snap. Has been asked to block some pretty damn good edge guys in pass pro and has struggled. Was actually pretty good in that role before Yurosek got hurt. Regardless, I like the guy in the passing game. He is a load to tackle.
91 Caughey - 20 snaps were not good after a nice game last week.
94 Franklin - Starter on the DL led the group in snaps. Has not been great over the last month.
97 Rowell - Only 2 snaps this week, but out there ahead of Armitage and his effort vs UCLA was noted by the staff. BTW, he had 1 tackle - that's as many as Phillips and Moi combined for in 70 snaps.

ARROW DOWN

0 Reuben - Big arrow going down with a season low 12 snaps.
9 Armitage - Didn't see the field.
10 Jorgensen - Just 5 snaps - lowest total since Hawaii.
20 Slocum - Didn't see the field. He definitely played himself to the sidelines, but to be frank, I would rather he be out there than 17.
23 Bailey - 1 snap in the 2Q.
35 Rose - Big arrow down. Did not see the field.
67 Anderson - Player was dressed. Did not see the field.
72 Uke - Looks buried.
76 Leyrer - Staff wants to see others.
77 Berzins - Staff wants to see others.
87 Thompson - Has returned kicks and is out there on other ST's but many others were getting snaps at WR ahead of him.
92 Keneley - Lowest snap count by far this season. Aybar has moved forward.
98 Buckey - Lowest snap count this season.

Read that here. I think most of you know this already as I posted this on the board a little while back. But in case you didn't know, now you do.

Looks like they've now updated to add/complete inputs including pics for the Freshman & Walk-ons, but 2 recent in-Transfers from Northwestern (Freshman TE Chico Holt and the Sophomore long snapper Payton Warford ) still have no pics and only placeholder abbreviated bios.

For those who do track weights to determine strength/conditioning results, don't know if those now listed updated/current or older/previous. Ya gotta do the math.
SID's Roster from GoStanford site:

This story was in the SJ merc yesterday... indicating that after 10 years of no match-ups, Stanford will be traveling to SJSU on Nov 30th of 2024 for their first of six match-ups through 2035. The home games will be Sept 13, 2025, Nov 25, 2028, Sept 2, 2034. Games at SJSU other then 2024 will be Nov 21, 2026, Sept 1, 2035.

I would think additional games will be added in the coming years to assist with keeping travel costs down... as well as stirring the rivalry between the schools football programs once again.

Writing is confusing. Amazing that she will be playing again. Horrible injuries.

Read that here.

Literally. Several players had jewelry stolen from their lockers during the game against UCLA at the Rose Bowl:


A unexpected downside of NIL or just a sign of the times?

Daniels, Gilman and Roush

Read and watch that here.

1. The epitome of a moral victory. We competed toe to toe with the highest ranked team in the conference, a legitimate (albeit ambitious) national title aspirant and could have come out with a victory if a few things broke differently. This stands in marked contrast to the carnage that ensued the other times we played touted opponents and thus creates a palpable sense among fans - and one hopes players, coaches, and recruits - that we are on the right track. This kind of heartbreak late game sequence sits a lot better in the first year of a challenging rebuild than it would any other time, but fortunately we are in the first year of a challenging rebuild. While our typical performances this year have been clearly the worst team in the Pac-12 and one of the worst Stanford teams ever, two of the last three and three of the last five have been considerably better, downright respectable. [Based on newly updated Sagarin rankings, the final results of our games this season have been befitting the #92 (at Hawaii), #206 (at USC), #156 (Sacramento State), #46 (Arizona), #148 (Oregon), #43 (at Colorado), #189 (UCLA), and #46 (Washington) teams in the nation.] This feels like progress.

2. This one was especially refreshing, in some ways more so than the Colorado and Arizona games, because it was such a team accomplishment. I genuinely think equal credit goes to the players and coaches. For the players, it was a balanced game in terms of execution, with both offense and defense playing relatively well and giving us a chance against a far superior team. They played well enough that we could have conceivably won had any number of things gone differently - a bit less beleaguered pass protection, not giving up a devastating amount of field position on special teams (between the failed and entirely elective/debatable onside kick, numerous significant Husky punt returns, etc.), not committing a large number of personal fouls, not giving up an 88 yard touchdown, not dropping a wide open critical fourth down pass on a well-designed and timed trick play. This is always the case in competitive games that a lot of things could have changed the result so we shouldn't belabor the point. The main takeaway is that we were competitive against a very good team. For the coaches, it was a fantastic game plan and a great example of how manipulating time of possession can be advantageous. Some fans overdo that concept but there's no doubt that against some opponents/talent mismatches it's the way to go. Our coaches played this masterfully. No matter how you slice it Washington demonstrated itself to be the clearly superior team, but we had a plan to neutralize their advantages and then the players executed that plan, hanging in deep into the fourth quarter. Kudos to players and coaches alike.

3. In terms of the final score, that was a shootout. It's the most points Washington has scored against a Power Five opponent other than Cal; meanwhile, Stanford tied with Oregon for the most points anybody has scored against Washington (!). Point total aside, we really competed. Our defense gave up 7.08 yards per play, which is a lot but we knew we'd give up a lot to this offense. It's actually the third least Washington has mustered (though all three of those were the last three weeks so this is an offense trying to rediscover its most dominant form) and well over a yard per play better than we did against USC or Oregon. On offense, I am still waiting for a 6+ yard per play game for us so shouldn't get too carried away, but it was very good by our standards, the most we've had against any Power Five defense other than the miserable Colorado D and the third most effective any offense has been against Washington. The Huskies had a bit of a depleted secondary but nonetheless I think this was a nice performance by our offense. My favorite stat for both sides is how we did on a points per non-garbage drive basis. The defense held Washington to 3.23 points per drive, which compares favorably to our season average heading in of 3.31 and quite favorably to the Washington offense's average of 3.70. The offense scored 2.36 points per drive, significantly better than both our average heading in of 1.88 and especially Washington's average of 1.57. In other words, we played the #5 offense in the nation like they were the #13 team and we played the #23 defense like they were the #85 defense (to visualize, as if they were Arizona State). Nice!

4. Breaking it down further, I was especially impressed with two things, our run defense and our passing offense. On run defense, we held Washington to their second worst run game (though the two worst have been back to back weeks so their struggles play in to some extent), almost a yard per carry worse than their average. It was definitively the stingiest we've been against anybody other than Hawaii, besting our Colorado performance in that department, and considering Hawaii is #132 of 133 teams in yards per carry and Colorado is dead last #133 while Washington is a far more respectable #65, this performance last night night was clear, massive evidence of improvement in our run defense. There were also big signs of progress in the passing game. We were slightly ahead of our statistical averages in both yards per attempt and passer rating despite Washington being one of the better pass defenses we've faced (second or third, after UCLA and comparable with Oregon). This is the signature passing game of our season to date, much more balanced and replicable than the Colorado miracle. The other phases I haven't mentioned, pass defense and run game, had bright spots but were less impressive. Our pass defense held Washington under their season averages in yards per attempt and passer rating but the truth is that the Husky passing game has been trending downward for weeks and being without a fully healthy McMillan is a significant detriment. I also suspect the famously tough Penix is playing through pain and furthermore that the last two weeks have been emotional slogs and potential trap games coming out of the iconic win over Oregon (and relatedly the as-ever-annoying Tim Brando's comments about the Stanford mausoleum being a deflating atmosphere for Washington were probably true). With all this swirling, Penix and his receivers had their best game in over a month, despite a lot of drops, so this was nothing really to write home about for our pass defense. [My man Wright continues to be very much not a lockdown guy.] As for our run game, it was the second most effective it's been all season against a Power Five opponent (behind just the USC game) but this strikes me as a testament to two things, Washington's softness against the run (six of their eight opponents rushed better than we did) and Daniels' remarkable rushing game. [By the way, that Daniels showed pocket presence, scrambling ability, and even some ability to succeed on designed run plays puts a nail in the the coffin on any QB competition. Clearly Lamson is just a situational guy unless injury strikes.] There's still no reason to think we have a run game, but at least we can be opportunistic.

5. The most negative thing I will say team-wide is that we have a discipline problem. #117 in penalty yards per game is insane for a Stanford team. We are almost always above average in limiting penalties and I am honestly unsure if there has ever in history been a Stanford team this undisciplined. I know for a fact that at no point since the turn of the century has Stanford been worse than 90-something in penalty yards per game. A little of this could be attributed to bad breaks from officiating but it's mostly about dumb post-snap personal fouls and such. I think self-awareness of this is why Taylor was so visibly vitriolic in his reaction to Rogers' very costly late hit. It's so odd to see Stanford be so sloppy on penalties and it's been both sides of the ball and a consistent theme. The national median in penalty yards per game is 51 and here we are having done worse than that against Hawaii, Sacramento State, Colorado, UCLA, and Washington. This isn't officials being out to get us, this is indiscipline.

Rob Cassidy has that here. Stanford is one of the five programs he thinks that most needs to make a statement this men's hoops season.

Ben, any intel you can extract about Elic Ayomanor would be really valuable. Most of us assumed he had a major injury; posted on TOS that he sounds more week to week according to Taylor?