[OutsiderFan]

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.

[OutsiderFan]

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.