1. Mandatory shoutout to our boys- if there's one thing I hope we can all take away from 2017 it's that this was without question one of the most resilient groups of young men in the county this season. They weathered injury, early season losses, and the disappointment of falling out of the national spotlight entirely. And yet they somehow battled back, found themselves squarely in the thick of the Pac-12 race, and nearly came away with their fourth conference crown in six years despite being significantly undermanned and out-gained. Hats off to these guys, that was all heart and determination last night. And what a spectacle it was.
2. A lot of people are going to be second guessing that fourth down call or the referee miscues or the completely avoidable self-inflicted penalties. Don't. Just one short week ago we were making a mockery of all the Domers that were blaming their loss to us on the refs and the field conditions. Be better than that. USC has been the class of the Pac-12 all season long. Last night, they were once again the best team on the field. We gave the Trojans a heck of a game but at the end of the day, we lost to a better team. There's no shame in that. And less than 24 hours later, while I would have loved a different outcome, I'm totally at peace with it.
3. Bryce Love: LEGEND. This guy limps off the field after seemingly every run but still somehow finds a way to play through the pain, get back in the game, and help his brothers out as best he can. He may not win the Heisman but he will deservedly carry on our prestigious legacy of runner-ups and collect some nice hardware in the process (did somebody say Doak Walker?). Last night, he gained the respect of everyone in the country. For the first time, Stanford had the primetime spotlight to themselves and people finally got to see how much of an absolute warrior Bryce Love is. The outpouring of respect across all media outlets today has been been a pleasant silver lining in the wake of a tough loss.
4. And since we're on the topic of silver linings- K.J. Costello. Or K.J. "Boss"tello as I will now refer to him as moving forward. What a freaking gamer. This kid has so much moxie, so much arm talent, and so much determination to make a play when the chips are down that watching him has quickly become the most exciting part of watching Stanford in the latter half of the season. Simply put, he's made Stanford football exciting again. It's been a long time since we had the kind of game changer under center who could not only keep us in games but get us back into games once we got behind. That's been the Achilles heel of Stanford's offense the past few seasons- great at playing with a lead, absolutely atrocious at coming from behind. I mean why else would David Shaw choose to field the kickoff EVERY SINGLE GAME?! With Bosstello under center and the 4/5-star talent we've been able to assemble around him, the future is incredibly bright for this offense.
5. 3rd down defense bit us and bit us hard in this one. But then again, that shouldn't come as any surprise; that's largely been our weakness all season long and last night's game was merely the final chapter in a season full of uncharacteristic third down struggles. Justin Reid suffered from perhaps his worst game in his three year career at the Farm. For a guy that's probably been giving a lot of thought to turning pro, perhaps he should consider how last night's tape is going to look in the eyes of draft analysts. While he may have one more game to right the ship, his penultimate audition for the NFL left a lot to be desired.
6. On the subject of NFL decisions, I can't help but wonder if last night's painstakingly close loss is a motivator or deterrent for all the players we have sitting on the fence with their decisions. Phillips and Love have to be considered locks at this point (I mean what more can they even do at this point?) but for guys like Reid, Okereke, Meeks, and Schultz, I can't help but wonder what kind of role last night's championship game will play (if any) in their decision to come back for one more year and compete for greater heights.
7. Cam Scarlett is a heck of a kick returner and not too shabby as a solid RB2 option either. He may not wow like Love but with Scarlett and Speights (who I expect will surpass him on the depth chart this offseason), our backfield is in better hands than many of us give credit. Especially when you consider the O-line they'll be running behind- Little (7-8 starts), Herbig (20 starts), Burkett (27 starts), Hall (24 starts). Move Wedington over to RB and all of a sudden you've got your speed back, power back, or a solid balance of both depending on that the circumstances dictate. Can you tell I'm excited about next years offense?
8. Add one more piece of excitement to the mix- our pass catchers. Boy did those guys step up last night and reel in some impressive 50/50 balls! JJAW, Irwin, Smith, and Parkinson give us arguably our best receiving corps since 2010/11. Should Schultz decide to come back for one more year, that would just be the icing on the cake. Perhaps the biggest reason for optimism, however, is that we now have a signal caller who's equipped to help these guys unlock their full potential. That just wasn't happening with Burns and Chryst, who's limitations as a passer hamstrung our pass catchers. But with Bosstello distributing bullets all across the field, I have no question that 2018 will mark the resurgence in our long dormant passing attack.
9. With the regular season now officially behind us, our worst fears have now been confirmed- the SDSU game cost us a spot in the NY6. Magnifying the loss any further at this point, while pointless, is quite inevitable. Win that game and we're looking at a Cotton Bowl berth versus Penn State. Great game, great opponent, and a great way to cap off our season. Having said that... anyone catch the score of that Big 12 Championship? Because I sure did. And one thing I can tell you is that I'm now 99.9% sure the Huskies will jump the Horned Frogs in the final playoff standings, elevating everyone in the Pac-12 up a slot and giving us a great shot at an Alamo Bowl berth versus 10-3 TCU. Win that game and we're looking at a 10-win season, Top 10 finish, and a ton of momentum heading into 2018.
10. I know this season is going to be looked at as what could have been, a rhetoric we're all too familiar with as Stanford fans, but I encourage you to adopt a different view. Last year, we capped off the regular season at 9-3 with a shot at a 10th win (our sixth in seven years). But by that point, we had fallen so far off the national radar that our six game winning streak to close out the season went largely unnoticed, our bowl candidacy was in shambles after getting passed over in favor of two teams with inferior records (Wazzu and Utah), and there was an undeniable feeling of disappointment despite the ability to win 10 games (a great season by most accounts). This season we also finished 9-3 but it just felt so so different. And I meant that in a good way. Unlike last season, we knocked off two Top 10 opponents in three weeks to give us the kind of massive signature wins that were lacking last year. When we switched quarterbacks this year, there was so much more confidence that we finally found our guy. As opposed to last season, when we all wanted to buy into Chryst but the weak competition just left too much doubt to really feel good about it. And last but not least, there's Bryce Love and the magic ride he took us all on this season en route to nearly 2,000 rushing yards. 2017 may not go down as the kind of storybook seasons that 2012 and 2015 did but that doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate it in it's own right. If we can find a way to close out the year with a bowl win against a big time opponent and achieve our seventh 10-win season in eight years, I can't help but feel like this season should be remembered not only as a success, but a testament to the resilience and perseverance of this team.
2. A lot of people are going to be second guessing that fourth down call or the referee miscues or the completely avoidable self-inflicted penalties. Don't. Just one short week ago we were making a mockery of all the Domers that were blaming their loss to us on the refs and the field conditions. Be better than that. USC has been the class of the Pac-12 all season long. Last night, they were once again the best team on the field. We gave the Trojans a heck of a game but at the end of the day, we lost to a better team. There's no shame in that. And less than 24 hours later, while I would have loved a different outcome, I'm totally at peace with it.
3. Bryce Love: LEGEND. This guy limps off the field after seemingly every run but still somehow finds a way to play through the pain, get back in the game, and help his brothers out as best he can. He may not win the Heisman but he will deservedly carry on our prestigious legacy of runner-ups and collect some nice hardware in the process (did somebody say Doak Walker?). Last night, he gained the respect of everyone in the country. For the first time, Stanford had the primetime spotlight to themselves and people finally got to see how much of an absolute warrior Bryce Love is. The outpouring of respect across all media outlets today has been been a pleasant silver lining in the wake of a tough loss.
4. And since we're on the topic of silver linings- K.J. Costello. Or K.J. "Boss"tello as I will now refer to him as moving forward. What a freaking gamer. This kid has so much moxie, so much arm talent, and so much determination to make a play when the chips are down that watching him has quickly become the most exciting part of watching Stanford in the latter half of the season. Simply put, he's made Stanford football exciting again. It's been a long time since we had the kind of game changer under center who could not only keep us in games but get us back into games once we got behind. That's been the Achilles heel of Stanford's offense the past few seasons- great at playing with a lead, absolutely atrocious at coming from behind. I mean why else would David Shaw choose to field the kickoff EVERY SINGLE GAME?! With Bosstello under center and the 4/5-star talent we've been able to assemble around him, the future is incredibly bright for this offense.
5. 3rd down defense bit us and bit us hard in this one. But then again, that shouldn't come as any surprise; that's largely been our weakness all season long and last night's game was merely the final chapter in a season full of uncharacteristic third down struggles. Justin Reid suffered from perhaps his worst game in his three year career at the Farm. For a guy that's probably been giving a lot of thought to turning pro, perhaps he should consider how last night's tape is going to look in the eyes of draft analysts. While he may have one more game to right the ship, his penultimate audition for the NFL left a lot to be desired.
6. On the subject of NFL decisions, I can't help but wonder if last night's painstakingly close loss is a motivator or deterrent for all the players we have sitting on the fence with their decisions. Phillips and Love have to be considered locks at this point (I mean what more can they even do at this point?) but for guys like Reid, Okereke, Meeks, and Schultz, I can't help but wonder what kind of role last night's championship game will play (if any) in their decision to come back for one more year and compete for greater heights.
7. Cam Scarlett is a heck of a kick returner and not too shabby as a solid RB2 option either. He may not wow like Love but with Scarlett and Speights (who I expect will surpass him on the depth chart this offseason), our backfield is in better hands than many of us give credit. Especially when you consider the O-line they'll be running behind- Little (7-8 starts), Herbig (20 starts), Burkett (27 starts), Hall (24 starts). Move Wedington over to RB and all of a sudden you've got your speed back, power back, or a solid balance of both depending on that the circumstances dictate. Can you tell I'm excited about next years offense?
8. Add one more piece of excitement to the mix- our pass catchers. Boy did those guys step up last night and reel in some impressive 50/50 balls! JJAW, Irwin, Smith, and Parkinson give us arguably our best receiving corps since 2010/11. Should Schultz decide to come back for one more year, that would just be the icing on the cake. Perhaps the biggest reason for optimism, however, is that we now have a signal caller who's equipped to help these guys unlock their full potential. That just wasn't happening with Burns and Chryst, who's limitations as a passer hamstrung our pass catchers. But with Bosstello distributing bullets all across the field, I have no question that 2018 will mark the resurgence in our long dormant passing attack.
9. With the regular season now officially behind us, our worst fears have now been confirmed- the SDSU game cost us a spot in the NY6. Magnifying the loss any further at this point, while pointless, is quite inevitable. Win that game and we're looking at a Cotton Bowl berth versus Penn State. Great game, great opponent, and a great way to cap off our season. Having said that... anyone catch the score of that Big 12 Championship? Because I sure did. And one thing I can tell you is that I'm now 99.9% sure the Huskies will jump the Horned Frogs in the final playoff standings, elevating everyone in the Pac-12 up a slot and giving us a great shot at an Alamo Bowl berth versus 10-3 TCU. Win that game and we're looking at a 10-win season, Top 10 finish, and a ton of momentum heading into 2018.
10. I know this season is going to be looked at as what could have been, a rhetoric we're all too familiar with as Stanford fans, but I encourage you to adopt a different view. Last year, we capped off the regular season at 9-3 with a shot at a 10th win (our sixth in seven years). But by that point, we had fallen so far off the national radar that our six game winning streak to close out the season went largely unnoticed, our bowl candidacy was in shambles after getting passed over in favor of two teams with inferior records (Wazzu and Utah), and there was an undeniable feeling of disappointment despite the ability to win 10 games (a great season by most accounts). This season we also finished 9-3 but it just felt so so different. And I meant that in a good way. Unlike last season, we knocked off two Top 10 opponents in three weeks to give us the kind of massive signature wins that were lacking last year. When we switched quarterbacks this year, there was so much more confidence that we finally found our guy. As opposed to last season, when we all wanted to buy into Chryst but the weak competition just left too much doubt to really feel good about it. And last but not least, there's Bryce Love and the magic ride he took us all on this season en route to nearly 2,000 rushing yards. 2017 may not go down as the kind of storybook seasons that 2012 and 2015 did but that doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate it in it's own right. If we can find a way to close out the year with a bowl win against a big time opponent and achieve our seventh 10-win season in eight years, I can't help but feel like this season should be remembered not only as a success, but a testament to the resilience and perseverance of this team.
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