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An optimist's take - TrumpCard - 09-05-2015

The team played like crap today. It's one game. The team has 11 more regular season games and is capable of playing better than it did today in all of the remaining games. Shaw, Hogan, et al., will have better days. There are lots and lots of Stanford fans who feel the same as I do.  They are just silent right now. Instead, all the doubters and hand-wringers are gloating as though they are happy that the team lost.  If you are one of them, write to your heart's content, and then delete it before you post. No need to bring us down with you.  We all left Scout specifically to avoid such depressing discussion..

Re: An optimist's take - Rally - 09-05-2015

(09-05-2015, 08:44 PM)TrumpCard link Wrote:The team played like crap today. It's one game. The team has 11 more regular season games and is capable of playing better than it did today in all of the remaining games. Shaw, Hogan, et al., will have better days. There are lots and lots of Stanford fans who feel the same as I do.  They are just silent right now. Instead, all the doubters and hand-wringers are gloating as though they are happy that the team lost.  If you are one of them, write to your heart's content, and then delete it before you post. No need to bring us down with you.  We all left Scout specifically to avoid such depressing discussion..

I'm with you, and the silent majority.  But to be honest, this week won't be as much fun as last week was.

Re: An optimist's take - TrumpCard - 09-05-2015

(09-05-2015, 08:47 PM)ferrari link Wrote:I'm with you, and the silent majority.  But to be honest, this week won't be as much fun as last week was.

Exactly why the debbie downers should lay off.
I have naked pictures of all your wives so watch it.

Re: An optimist's take - Rally - 09-05-2015

(09-05-2015, 08:52 PM)TrumpCard link Wrote:[quote author=ferrari link=topic=12671.msg127046#msg127046 date=1441511223]


I'm with you, and the silent majority.  But to be honest, this week won't be as much fun as last week was.

Exactly why the debbie downers should lay off.
I have naked pictures of all your wives so watch it.
[/quote]

Speaking of Debbie, Debbie Reynolds, she of the demure dress and longing looks, had a two-way mirror in a closet door looking right at her bed.  I was shown it on a business inspection, years ago, when she no longer lived there.  So many people are nasty :)

Re: An optimist's take - Extra Point - 09-05-2015

Well said TrumpCard!


Re: An optimist's take - CornFed - 09-05-2015

Take that frown and turn it upside down!!!!! :)  :)  :)  :)  :)
C'mon you gloomy Guses.  You've had several hours to squelch your shock.  Just put on a happy face.  And put a sock in it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrdEMERq8MA


Re: An optimist's take - standfan - 09-05-2015

I don't disagree but the UCF game suddenly looms large. I'll be nervous all week as we wait to see how the team responds next Saturday to this setback.

Re: An optimist's take - oman - 09-05-2015

Very much bs in the opening post.  Just because some of you are optimistic doesn't mean I'm gloating.

The majority of fans are neither gloating nor optimistic. 

Re: An optimist's take - BostonCard - 09-05-2015

Nice post Trump.  It was a bad game, and a lot of negativity is to be expected.  But I do subscribe to your view that the team is not as bad as it played.  Hogan, McCaffrey, Rector, the tight ends, the offensive line, the coaches... we know they are all capable of better play, and I expect them to play better going forward.  That being said, I posted the "recalibrating" thread because although good teams are capable of bad games, really good teams (which is what we had hoped) rarely have games as bad as we had.  I am a Bayesian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_probability for non-statisticians) at heart, so my views on this team are influenced by both my prior beliefs, and the available data.

But as bad as I feel about today, I am still hopeful that we will have a great season.

BC

Re: An optimist's take - JohnR34231 - 09-06-2015

I think the optimist's case is

1. This was one bad game and not indicative of how we are going to play for the rest of the season.
2. Northwestern is a much better team than anyone thought they were going into the game.

Time will tell if either of these points has any validity.



Re: An optimist's take - OutsiderFan - 09-06-2015

(09-06-2015, 03:43 AM)JPRI link Wrote:I think the optimist's case is

1. This was one bad game and not indicative of how we are going to play for the rest of the season.
2. Northwestern is a much better team than anyone thought they were going into the game.

Time will tell if either of these points has any validity.

I think a pretty good argument can be made against Northwestern being much better than anyone thought.  They passed for 105 yards and their one scoring play was kind of an anomaly.  Moreover, what they did well (run the ball) was more of an affirmation of a feared Stanford weakness going into this season: undersized DL with little depth.  Yet even then Northwestern only scored 16 points.  If they really were that good, they would have won by more given how comprehensively awful Stanford was at everything on offense, and how young and inexperienced the Stanford secondary is.

Stanford was the team returning a 3-year starter at QB.  Stanford was the team returning 4/5 OL starters from the heralded 2012 recruiting class.  Stanford was the team that was suppose to have a much improved offense. 

The ONLY possible "mulligan" Stanford has is the early start time.  However, given the mind-numbingly conservative approach to the game plan and game management, it's really hard to put that much stock in the early kick-off theory.  My biggest concern is the wholesale lack of someone stepping up to give the team a kick in the pants when it needed it.  I saw no visible signs of any player or coach gathering the whole team together, a unit together, nobody displaying any fire on the sidelines or on the field, trying to wake the team up or set an example.

Re: An optimist's take - Fuzzy Dunlop - 09-06-2015

The problem with the view that this was "just one game" is that it ignores last season. The bad things that happened yesterday were largely identical to the bad things that happened in our losses (and even some of our wins) in 2014. There's just no reason to believe that Shaw has the ability to coach the players up or improve the team. Perhaps he can, but if you truly believe that, you're taking it on faith more than evidence.

Re: An optimist's take - JohnR34231 - 09-06-2015

(09-06-2015, 05:15 AM)Fuzzy Dunlop link Wrote:The problem with the view that this was "just one game" is that it ignores last season. The bad things that happened yesterday were largely identical to the bad things that happened in our losses (and even some of our wins) in 2014. There's just no reason to believe that Shaw has the ability to coach the players up or improve the team. Perhaps he can, but if you truly believe that, you're taking it on faith more than evidence.

Yeah, I think that was what was so discouraging about this loss. We had ourselves convinced that the last three games of 2014 were evidence that our offensive woes were behind us. Clearly this game showed that they aren't, and we don't have the defense this year that is going to be able to win games for us when the offense struggles. I agree that if you are optimistic about the rest of the year, you are basing it pretty much on faith.

Re: An optimist's take - 81alum - 09-06-2015

I suppose the optimist's view would be that the way we finished the season last year is the "real Stanford," and yesterday's game, which reminded me so very much of our offense against USC, Notre Dame, ASU, Oregon, and Utah--only worse--was the aberration. 

Next week could be our "Army" game.  I expect we will do well.  Hopefully our O-line will "jell" before we go play USC at their place.  And the QB will clean up his mechanics.  And the D-line will get healthy, hit the weight rooms, and add a dozen pounds of muscle apiece.  And the playcalling will confuse the SC defense, catching them off guard, pun intended.  And as evidence of these wonderful things unfolds, thousands of Stanford fans will rise from their seats in the Coliseum, and they will begin to whistle that cheerful ditty so aptly referenced earlier in the thread...





Re: An optimist's take - CornFed - 09-06-2015

The young men who are on this team possess high character and competitive fire.  This loss has to be embarrassing for them.  I'm sure they are disappointed, but I doubt that their resolve has been affected.  This is really a coaching moment of the highest order. 

Shaw has said repeatedly that leadership has to come from the players themselves and I buy that.  However, not all people have leadership capability and perhaps this team does not possess the natural leaders that past teams have had.  They need some guidance about where to go from here.  And that needs to be guidance incremental to the normal process of reviewing game film, adjusting the game plan, etc.  Inspiration is needed to help the players see the path to a successful season and to believe that a successful season is still attainable.  I believe it is.  These are, by any measure, highly talented players.  They need a path through this disappointment and into a warrior mindset.

Re: An optimist's take - jacketree - 09-06-2015

I suppose they could have forgotten to get off the bus, or thought it was in the bag, or just didn't care, none of which are good things; but Stanford is 8-7 over its last 15 games and looks exceedingly slow, confused and mediocre. Northwestern would finish in the bottom half of the Pac12, so where does that place Stanford? Time will tell, but after the season debut, I'd say among Wazzu and Colorado. I think they will get get better, but I don't foresee a rainbows and unicorns type of season.

Afraid Shaw may be in over his head. First three seasons may have been too easy for his own good. Wonder if his Dad will have a come to Jesus talk with him?

P.S.  Christ Our Risen Lord gets the autocorrect treatment?  Some brave programmers😇

Re: An optimist's take - Rally - 09-06-2015

(09-06-2015, 08:06 AM)CornFed link Wrote:The young men who are on this team possess high character and competitive fire.  This loss has to be embarrassing for them.  I'm sure they are disappointed, but I doubt that their resolve has been affected.  This is really a coaching moment of the highest order. 

Shaw has said repeatedly that leadership has to come from the players themselves and I buy that.  However, not all people have leadership capability and perhaps this team does not possess the natural leaders that past teams have had.  They need some guidance about where to go from here.  And that needs to be guidance incremental to the normal process of reviewing game film, adjusting the game plan, etc.  Inspiration is needed to help the players see the path to a successful season and to believe that a successful season is still attainable.  I believe it is.  These are, by any measure, highly talented players.  They need a path through this disappointment and into a warrior mindset.

Yep.  It doesn't take a "natural leader," whatever the hell that is.  It just takes a guy who has worked like hell, bled and suffered during an entire off season or two to get bigger, stronger, faster, better.  Who feels sick in the pit of his stomach over this.  Who looks at the team and wonders why.  Someone who wants it badly.  Who decides he's not going to take it anymore.  And loses it in the locker room.  Or at practice.  Or in the middle of a game.  Who says follow me or not, I don't give a shit.  I'm going up the mountain.  Come along if you've got the guts.  The only meaningful definition of a leader is one who others follow.  In a brutal game it calls for the type of leader who knows that winning a war isn't about giving your life for your country; it's about forcing some other dumb f*cker give up his.

Re: An optimist's take - martyup - 09-06-2015

I've been called a "serial optimist" on this board.  Yesterday's performance was very hard to swallow.  I do believe that we have elite talent on our team.  These boys will win some games.  But it takes more than talent to make a championship team.  It takes a collective will to win.  Once a team's talent and skills are in place, then it is a mental game.  If a team can harness that mental will that causes every player to give his maximum effort to win his assignment on every play, that team will optimize its chance for success.  The best coaches can bring that out in their players, season after season and from program to program.  Urban Meyer did it at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, and now Ohio State. 

Can David Shaw inspire his players to play at their optimum?  Five games last year and one game this season cause me to doubt that he can.  Sometimes players step up to be the motivators for their team.  I suspect that Shaw has benefited in past seasons from players stepping up and playing that role.  Shayne Skov was one such motivator.  IMO, the teams of 2012 and 2013 won games despite Shaw's conservative game plans by sheer will to win.

Assistant coaches can be strong motivators for a team.  Perhaps Shaw needs to hire a pants-on-fire assistant that can rally the troops.

If someone can step up and motivate this team, then I think we can win enough games to make a bowl.  If not, this team is in big trouble.

Re: An optimist's take - yvonne - 09-06-2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUhlRoBL8M

Re: An optimist's take - CornFed - 09-07-2015

Thanks, Yvonne.  I needed that.  :D