[CTcard]

In 2014, with Lance Anderson, Stanford's defense was not nearly as effective against Oregon. 

This is actually something I have thought about a bit, with no great answers.

Overall, Stanford's 2014 defense was the best we have had lately. It had one game where it simply failed - Oregon.
Oregon gained 525 yards on 6.8 yds/play. These were both lower than their season averages, but not by much. These were both the most given up by us by a ton.
In addition, Oregon scored on their first four possesssions (3 TDs, 1 FG) and after an interception, on 3 of their first 4 drives of the second half.
That was not the defense we knew in 2014.

One thing that happened was injuries. Parry started, but my memory is that he couldn't really function and played few snaps. I also vaguely remember Lueders being gimpy, but I might be making that up or getting him confused with somebody else who was dinged up. This was the second game that Phillips played as he had to come in to support the DLine. The secondary was also in some turmoil. Harris had replaced Lyons the week before, but Lyons started again vs Oregon (but not again afterwards). Hoffpaiur was out for the game. 

That's not really enough to explain what happened.

I don't really believe that Mason had some mystical control of Oregon that Anderson lacked.

I don't think we have enough information to figure out anything more. Perhaps Anderson knows what happened, but sometimes it's hard to dig out reasons for individual bad days.


This year, both teams are dramatically different from last year. However it goes, I don't expect the game dynamics to be similar.

[CTcard]

In 2014, with Lance Anderson, Stanford's defense was not nearly as effective against Oregon. 

This is actually something I have thought about a bit, with no great answers.

Overall, Stanford's 2014 defense was the best we have had lately. It had one game where it simply failed - Oregon.
Oregon gained 525 yards on 6.8 yds/play. These were both lower than their season averages, but not by much. These were both the most given up by us by a ton.
In addition, Oregon scored on their first four possesssions (3 TDs, 1 FG) and after an interception, on 3 of their first 4 drives of the second half.
That was not the defense we knew in 2014.

One thing that happened was injuries. Parry started, but my memory is that he couldn't really function and played few snaps. I also vaguely remember Lueders being gimpy, but I might be making that up or getting him confused with somebody else who was dinged up. This was the second game that Phillips played as he had to come in to support the DLine. The secondary was also in some turmoil. Harris had replaced Lyons the week before, but Lyons started again vs Oregon (but not again afterwards). Hoffpaiur was out for the game. 

That's not really enough to explain what happened.

I don't really believe that Mason had some mystical control of Oregon that Anderson lacked.

I don't think we have enough information to figure out anything more. Perhaps Anderson knows what happened, but sometimes it's hard to dig out reasons for individual bad days.


This year, both teams are dramatically different from last year. However it goes, I don't expect the game dynamics to be similar.