[SUBuddha]

The coaches have been blamed for failing to develop talent as well. Aren’t many of these the same coaches that helped develop players to exceed expectations? Look how much we got out of players who looked like gods on the college field that have failed to live up to their expectations in the pro’s. Seems to me those players were developed and motivated by their college coaches, albeit in a less competitive situation than the pro’s, to be so good that we all expected them to blow the NFL away. Maybe our coaches got the most out of those players and their pro coaches deserve some blame for not continuing that growth.

Some say, although less often on this board than other places I get sports news, that Shaw was riding Harbaugh’s coattails with his recruits. Our recruiting has never been better. We still get kids who claim to value hard work and the “grind”.

I watched the game thinking everyone looked asleep or slow, like many of you. They went out a day earlier than usual to help avoid that. Should the coaches now have to go 2-3 days early to avoid this? Any of you that travel know that West-East is brutal. It is tough to fall asleep earlier than you are used to and you have to get up earlier (0445 in this case). This leads to much less sleep than is usual. Not an excuse, but it is a reality.

Here is my issue overall, all of the coaching in the world will not change one thing. Players choosing to realize this is not a walkover game and actually putting in effort. What I saw Saturday was a team that no matter what their coaches did were not energetic, not awake and not hungry. No matter what a coach says to you, if you think you are supposed to win the effort is just not the same. People may not like it, but in the “greatest upset ever” I saw a team that was hungry to prove something and a team that just thought of Stanford as a joke and did not put in the effort that they needed.

NU had everything to gain Saturday, they were amped up from the get go. Stanford wasn’t. You can blame the coaches all you want, but at some point the players have to motivate themselves for a “nothing” game. Should the offense have expanded the play book Saturday? Probably, that does not change the fact that Stanford should of, had the team put forth the effort, been able to run it up the gut on an overmatched NU D-line. I cannot read minds, but I actually think there was a strong message from the coach to the team by sticking with the plays they ran. “You think you are better than them, go prove it. Run our bread and butter and make it work.” Oh yes, yes that did not work for us against MSU I hear it now from many of you. You know what, NU is not MSU. If everyone was doing their job the power runs and short passes should have led to 30+ points.

Here is what I saw Saturday. Complacent players blowing their assignments. You can only coach the kids to do a job, at some point they have to do the job. I saw one good pass block by McCaffery, however, I saw at least 6 missed pickups by the running backs the rest of the game. I saw multiple dropped passes and dropped interceptions. Hogan was throwing high and hard, he does that every time he gets rushed. Perhaps if he was getting some better blocks he would have been more accurate. On the plays where he had good pass pro he was spot on.
For me it all comes down to this, the coaches do not play on the field. Maybe we are getting so many talented recruits that they feel like they do not have to get up for it because they have the gifts to it without the extra motivation. I don’t know.

I do know to lay all of the blame on Hogan and Shaw is patently unfair, and in my mind a bit chicken excrement. A football game is not the end of the universe, nor is it a reason to go on a personal vendetta and attack a single individual on twitter every chance you get, as I have seen some here do.

Finally, keep in mind as passionate as we all are bout Stanford, Stanford sports and the university reputation, it is a freaking game folks. These are coaches working long hours and young men out there risking injury for their love of the game and your entertainment.

[SUBuddha]

The coaches have been blamed for failing to develop talent as well. Aren’t many of these the same coaches that helped develop players to exceed expectations? Look how much we got out of players who looked like gods on the college field that have failed to live up to their expectations in the pro’s. Seems to me those players were developed and motivated by their college coaches, albeit in a less competitive situation than the pro’s, to be so good that we all expected them to blow the NFL away. Maybe our coaches got the most out of those players and their pro coaches deserve some blame for not continuing that growth.

Some say, although less often on this board than other places I get sports news, that Shaw was riding Harbaugh’s coattails with his recruits. Our recruiting has never been better. We still get kids who claim to value hard work and the “grind”.

I watched the game thinking everyone looked asleep or slow, like many of you. They went out a day earlier than usual to help avoid that. Should the coaches now have to go 2-3 days early to avoid this? Any of you that travel know that West-East is brutal. It is tough to fall asleep earlier than you are used to and you have to get up earlier (0445 in this case). This leads to much less sleep than is usual. Not an excuse, but it is a reality.

Here is my issue overall, all of the coaching in the world will not change one thing. Players choosing to realize this is not a walkover game and actually putting in effort. What I saw Saturday was a team that no matter what their coaches did were not energetic, not awake and not hungry. No matter what a coach says to you, if you think you are supposed to win the effort is just not the same. People may not like it, but in the “greatest upset ever” I saw a team that was hungry to prove something and a team that just thought of Stanford as a joke and did not put in the effort that they needed.

NU had everything to gain Saturday, they were amped up from the get go. Stanford wasn’t. You can blame the coaches all you want, but at some point the players have to motivate themselves for a “nothing” game. Should the offense have expanded the play book Saturday? Probably, that does not change the fact that Stanford should of, had the team put forth the effort, been able to run it up the gut on an overmatched NU D-line. I cannot read minds, but I actually think there was a strong message from the coach to the team by sticking with the plays they ran. “You think you are better than them, go prove it. Run our bread and butter and make it work.” Oh yes, yes that did not work for us against MSU I hear it now from many of you. You know what, NU is not MSU. If everyone was doing their job the power runs and short passes should have led to 30+ points.

Here is what I saw Saturday. Complacent players blowing their assignments. You can only coach the kids to do a job, at some point they have to do the job. I saw one good pass block by McCaffery, however, I saw at least 6 missed pickups by the running backs the rest of the game. I saw multiple dropped passes and dropped interceptions. Hogan was throwing high and hard, he does that every time he gets rushed. Perhaps if he was getting some better blocks he would have been more accurate. On the plays where he had good pass pro he was spot on.
For me it all comes down to this, the coaches do not play on the field. Maybe we are getting so many talented recruits that they feel like they do not have to get up for it because they have the gifts to it without the extra motivation. I don’t know.

I do know to lay all of the blame on Hogan and Shaw is patently unfair, and in my mind a bit chicken excrement. A football game is not the end of the universe, nor is it a reason to go on a personal vendetta and attack a single individual on twitter every chance you get, as I have seen some here do.

Finally, keep in mind as passionate as we all are bout Stanford, Stanford sports and the university reputation, it is a freaking game folks. These are coaches working long hours and young men out there risking injury for their love of the game and your entertainment.