[CTcard]

First games are kind of funny. They can be aberrations, but they can also reveal trends that will play out during the season. One example that stands out in my mind is a game against Colorado in 1993, the second season of Walsh II. Colorado was not far removed from its national championship, and we beat them in a 41-37 shootout. Fans and media thought it was the sign of an excellent offense gunning down a national power, but it turned out that Colorado wasn't any good, and the high scoring game was, in fact the mark of a weak defense, which would become one of the hallmarks of that team.

I agree about first games, and the oddness increases substantially when the first game also involves travel across the country and a very early start time.

I would shade the Colorado game lessons just a bit - and perhaps be so rude as to note that it was the third game of the season.

Colorado wasn't terrible in 1993, though not National Championship level. They ended up 8-3-1 on the season - a record we would have liked. Their defense also wasn't that awful. We scored the most points on them all year. They also gave up 35 to Miami (finished season #15 in both polls), 30 in their bowl game, and then no one over 21 - 20.8 ppg on the season. Which leads to the observation that in 1993 Stanford's offense was pretty good - if unbalanced, but the defense was bad. 

That Colorado game was Stanford's best performance in 93.

[CTcard]

First games are kind of funny. They can be aberrations, but they can also reveal trends that will play out during the season. One example that stands out in my mind is a game against Colorado in 1993, the second season of Walsh II. Colorado was not far removed from its national championship, and we beat them in a 41-37 shootout. Fans and media thought it was the sign of an excellent offense gunning down a national power, but it turned out that Colorado wasn't any good, and the high scoring game was, in fact the mark of a weak defense, which would become one of the hallmarks of that team.

I agree about first games, and the oddness increases substantially when the first game also involves travel across the country and a very early start time.

I would shade the Colorado game lessons just a bit - and perhaps be so rude as to note that it was the third game of the season.

Colorado wasn't terrible in 1993, though not National Championship level. They ended up 8-3-1 on the season - a record we would have liked. Their defense also wasn't that awful. We scored the most points on them all year. They also gave up 35 to Miami (finished season #15 in both polls), 30 in their bowl game, and then no one over 21 - 20.8 ppg on the season. Which leads to the observation that in 1993 Stanford's offense was pretty good - if unbalanced, but the defense was bad. 

That Colorado game was Stanford's best performance in 93.