1. What a day for Stanford football! We wake up to find that we’ve been spared calamity in the conference realignment musical chairs, giving us genuine reason to hope we can compete for relevance in future years rather than kneecapping the Troy Taylor era just as it’s starting, and then go to bed happy having watched that era get off to a good start. All the vibes from the off-season mattered for culture and setting the foundation, but in the big picture yesterday was the first salvo that really mattered in Taylor’s campaign to restore respectability to Stanford football. It won’t make a dent in national perception but that only comes from piling up some wins and this gets us our first one. Most importantly, it gives the players a joyful and successful business trip to Hawaii that will help build confidence for a young team, and it gives the fans something fun to wash the taste of the failed former regime from our mouths.
2. Fun. That’s the word. Fun. What a concept. The play designs on the Yurosek and Farrell touchdowns looked like they could have come from the Kansas City Chiefs rather than the Shawfense we’ve been saddled with for so long. The tempo saved fans from falling into the catatonic state we’re used to. And, of course, we won, which hasn’t happened often the last few years. We still will probably not win often this year and we should continue to keep in mind that we need to be patient with this rebuild. Nonetheless, patience needs to be rewarded if the players are going to believe or if the fans are going to reciprocate the new staff and rejuvenated players’ energy, and this was a start.
3. I need to restrain myself from too many stats in the first few weeks of a season as small sample sizes, teams feeling each other out, and teams revealing true selves rather than off-season sketches all make initial stats dubiously insightful the first month of the season. Still, with the caveat that we shouldn’t draw too much from a couple data points, we have the helpful perspective at this early stage of seeing how Stanford did against a common opponent compared to one of the teams most comparable to us nationally. Like us, Vanderbilt is expected to be one of the worst Power Five (four more months!) teams in the nation and is trying to build something respectable. We have a lot more talent, but they are further into the rebuild. We did quite well against Hawaii in comparison to Vanderbilt. From the eye test, having watched both games, last night’s game was far less competitive and dramatic and there was no doubt who the better team was. Statistically, both sides of the ball outshined the Commodores (special teams perhaps not given the Vandy touchdown return). Our defense was a lot better, giving up 5.07 yards to play to Vandy’s 6.52, and the offense was better too, gaining 5.80 yards per play to Vandy’s 5.30. And of course there’s the scoreboard. Eventually “better than Vanderbilt” will be an insult but this season it would be very welcome given the bombed out crater Shaw left.
4. The guys who replaced Shaw and his staff had a good day. We shouldn’t gloss over that this was Taylor’s first ever game as a major college football head coach, it was April’s first game as a defensive coordinator, and it was every single offensive coach’s first game as a full, major assistant. They probably had nerves just like their players. I am sure they got great satisfaction from this and I hope they rewarded themselves with a sunrise on Waikiki this morning. As for their performance, Taylor was varied and dynamic in his play calling, though if we’re being fair those who loved to criticize Shaw’s game day management have plenty of grist from Taylor’s debut too (some third down calls that didn’t seem optimal, not taking an injured/gassed Filkins out until a play too late, losing a timeout because he didn’t know what was challengeable, etc.). April had a really nice debut, but he also has more talent to work with and Bailey would make anybody look better. Most importantly and what Taylor is clearly most proud of, the players (despite being so young and inexperienced) played with poise and resilience. Definitely something to build on.
5. Aside from Taylor getting his first win, there were two main stories. The first is the starting debut of Ashton Daniels. I had been following tea leaves closely enough that I wasn’t surprised Daniels got the start, but I was floored he played the whole game (ok, Lamson got a few plays in the victory formation). I have mixed views on this. On balance, I’m fine with it because he acquitted himself nicely and gave us a stability that lent itself to having the ultimate result be as positive as I’ve described above. But I think it might be a mistake if we go through the season without seeing what Lamson and/or Patu can do under the bright lights, and the first game is by far less awkward to alternate QBs than as the season progresses (especially since opponents get better). I can’t imagine the game plan against USC can be anything other than Daniels gets the nod and is QB1, period. That said, I only view the clarity of Daniels as QB1 as a mistake if he is mediocre this season and we don’t get good insights into what we have in the others. Based on Taylor’s talk for weeks of “separation” and how Daniels played, this may just not be that close of a call. Daniels was above-average in his debut, 15th of 37 QBs so far in Total QBR. By Total QBR, it was better than seven of McKee’s performances last year. PFF thought Daniels was great, edging out Yurosek for our best grade, better than Bailey too. We may have found QB1 earlier than most of us imagined. Let’s see how he does under really bright lights next week. Hawaii was a nice opponent to start off against, not good at pass defense. Then again, I don’t think highly of USC’s defense either.
6. The other big story was the stars. Stanford doesn’t have many established star players but the guys who qualify couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. Among the 37 teams that have played, Yurosek is second in the nation in receiving (first among TEs), Bailey has the most sacks or tackles for loss of any player in America, and Karty has the second most made field goals. Big statements to start our stars’ years. I hope Bailey can play and is full go against USC. It was a huge relief he came back after being hobbled (and got yet another sack!), but I’ve seen enough football to know that those kind of sequences can turn into doubtful or even out for the next week.
2. Fun. That’s the word. Fun. What a concept. The play designs on the Yurosek and Farrell touchdowns looked like they could have come from the Kansas City Chiefs rather than the Shawfense we’ve been saddled with for so long. The tempo saved fans from falling into the catatonic state we’re used to. And, of course, we won, which hasn’t happened often the last few years. We still will probably not win often this year and we should continue to keep in mind that we need to be patient with this rebuild. Nonetheless, patience needs to be rewarded if the players are going to believe or if the fans are going to reciprocate the new staff and rejuvenated players’ energy, and this was a start.
3. I need to restrain myself from too many stats in the first few weeks of a season as small sample sizes, teams feeling each other out, and teams revealing true selves rather than off-season sketches all make initial stats dubiously insightful the first month of the season. Still, with the caveat that we shouldn’t draw too much from a couple data points, we have the helpful perspective at this early stage of seeing how Stanford did against a common opponent compared to one of the teams most comparable to us nationally. Like us, Vanderbilt is expected to be one of the worst Power Five (four more months!) teams in the nation and is trying to build something respectable. We have a lot more talent, but they are further into the rebuild. We did quite well against Hawaii in comparison to Vanderbilt. From the eye test, having watched both games, last night’s game was far less competitive and dramatic and there was no doubt who the better team was. Statistically, both sides of the ball outshined the Commodores (special teams perhaps not given the Vandy touchdown return). Our defense was a lot better, giving up 5.07 yards to play to Vandy’s 6.52, and the offense was better too, gaining 5.80 yards per play to Vandy’s 5.30. And of course there’s the scoreboard. Eventually “better than Vanderbilt” will be an insult but this season it would be very welcome given the bombed out crater Shaw left.
4. The guys who replaced Shaw and his staff had a good day. We shouldn’t gloss over that this was Taylor’s first ever game as a major college football head coach, it was April’s first game as a defensive coordinator, and it was every single offensive coach’s first game as a full, major assistant. They probably had nerves just like their players. I am sure they got great satisfaction from this and I hope they rewarded themselves with a sunrise on Waikiki this morning. As for their performance, Taylor was varied and dynamic in his play calling, though if we’re being fair those who loved to criticize Shaw’s game day management have plenty of grist from Taylor’s debut too (some third down calls that didn’t seem optimal, not taking an injured/gassed Filkins out until a play too late, losing a timeout because he didn’t know what was challengeable, etc.). April had a really nice debut, but he also has more talent to work with and Bailey would make anybody look better. Most importantly and what Taylor is clearly most proud of, the players (despite being so young and inexperienced) played with poise and resilience. Definitely something to build on.
5. Aside from Taylor getting his first win, there were two main stories. The first is the starting debut of Ashton Daniels. I had been following tea leaves closely enough that I wasn’t surprised Daniels got the start, but I was floored he played the whole game (ok, Lamson got a few plays in the victory formation). I have mixed views on this. On balance, I’m fine with it because he acquitted himself nicely and gave us a stability that lent itself to having the ultimate result be as positive as I’ve described above. But I think it might be a mistake if we go through the season without seeing what Lamson and/or Patu can do under the bright lights, and the first game is by far less awkward to alternate QBs than as the season progresses (especially since opponents get better). I can’t imagine the game plan against USC can be anything other than Daniels gets the nod and is QB1, period. That said, I only view the clarity of Daniels as QB1 as a mistake if he is mediocre this season and we don’t get good insights into what we have in the others. Based on Taylor’s talk for weeks of “separation” and how Daniels played, this may just not be that close of a call. Daniels was above-average in his debut, 15th of 37 QBs so far in Total QBR. By Total QBR, it was better than seven of McKee’s performances last year. PFF thought Daniels was great, edging out Yurosek for our best grade, better than Bailey too. We may have found QB1 earlier than most of us imagined. Let’s see how he does under really bright lights next week. Hawaii was a nice opponent to start off against, not good at pass defense. Then again, I don’t think highly of USC’s defense either.
6. The other big story was the stars. Stanford doesn’t have many established star players but the guys who qualify couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. Among the 37 teams that have played, Yurosek is second in the nation in receiving (first among TEs), Bailey has the most sacks or tackles for loss of any player in America, and Karty has the second most made field goals. Big statements to start our stars’ years. I hope Bailey can play and is full go against USC. It was a huge relief he came back after being hobbled (and got yet another sack!), but I’ve seen enough football to know that those kind of sequences can turn into doubtful or even out for the next week.
