[stupac2]

Whether or not SDSU is a very legitimate threat or merely a somewhat legitimate one underscores what a poor choice it was to schedule them in the first place. At the end of the year -- should Stanford win -- it's unlikely many beyond college football junkies will give much credit for winning. On the other hand, losing the game would be an embarrassment. Agreeing to play in San Diego makes the decision all the worse. Very poor work by the AD's office in my opinion. If the team has ambitions to make it to the playoff, leadership needs to do more work maximizing its odds.

(Before you ask, what's the big deal, another example of such poor scheduling was the Army home-and-home a few years back. That was a worse decision because of the team's triple-option approach, which is bad for defensive linemen's knees. Sure enough, Henry Anderson got hurt. And I suspect given the line's depth problems throughout that year, that a healthy Anderson swings a game -- and potentially puts the 2013 team in the playoffs.)

Stanford's MO with scheduling has always been to play good academic schools, to get the team to places around the country where diaspora alumni can see them, and to not pay anyone. Those things are all problems if you want to make the playoff. It probably also cost us the playoff in 2015. Kind of incredible that adopting Alabama-style schedule could've put is in twice in the past few years...

[stupac2]

Whether or not SDSU is a very legitimate threat or merely a somewhat legitimate one underscores what a poor choice it was to schedule them in the first place. At the end of the year -- should Stanford win -- it's unlikely many beyond college football junkies will give much credit for winning. On the other hand, losing the game would be an embarrassment. Agreeing to play in San Diego makes the decision all the worse. Very poor work by the AD's office in my opinion. If the team has ambitions to make it to the playoff, leadership needs to do more work maximizing its odds.

(Before you ask, what's the big deal, another example of such poor scheduling was the Army home-and-home a few years back. That was a worse decision because of the team's triple-option approach, which is bad for defensive linemen's knees. Sure enough, Henry Anderson got hurt. And I suspect given the line's depth problems throughout that year, that a healthy Anderson swings a game -- and potentially puts the 2013 team in the playoffs.)

Stanford's MO with scheduling has always been to play good academic schools, to get the team to places around the country where diaspora alumni can see them, and to not pay anyone. Those things are all problems if you want to make the playoff. It probably also cost us the playoff in 2015. Kind of incredible that adopting Alabama-style schedule could've put is in twice in the past few years...