[81alum]

I know less about the 1979 team than any other since I enrolled at Stanford. I was living 3,000 miles from campus, before we had the internet or satellite TV, and Stanford's 5-5-1 record certainly didn't attract much national media attention.

So, here's my question: What happened at quarterback that year?  I know Turk Schonert set what was then a Stanford record for completion percentage and led the nation in passing. But John Elway played in nine games and threw nearly 100 passes, an awful lot of action for a backup. Was Schonert injured for a couple of games? Did Elway have some kind of package of plays he came in to run?

Obviously I am wondering if this has some kind of resonance with a potential Hogan/Chryst situation.

I remember 1979 well.  We were all terribly depressed at the beginning of the year for two giant disappointments.  Walsh had left, and Darrin Nelson was injured in the off season and was going to miss the whole season.  On top of that, our second highly effective quarterback in two years had graduated--we had lost Guy Benjamin and now Steve Dils.  Everyone wanted to see the success that Walsh had started continue, but a lot of us had hardly heard of Rod Dowhower except that we were told to expect him to continue the offense as before.

The offense did suffer a major setback, and we lost a couple of games against weak opposition early.  It was simply taking time to replace Nelson and Dils.  As it turned out,  Vincent White and Mike Dotterer at running back and Schonert as the QB developed wonderfully and had superb seasons.  Schonert , who had only thrown 9 passes in his career, turned out to be excellent.  He had touch and could put enough loft under the ball to throw the long ball effectively.  Most impressive, Stanford was 1st that year in pass completion percentage nationally--as Dowhower continued Walsh's short passing strategy.

Elway had thrown passes before UCLA, I think, but maybe I just missed the earlier home games.  He was more a rumor to us casual fans than anything else.  A couple of my friends were managers on the team (you know, the guys who do the laundry and pack the equipment) and they said that there was this new quarterback who threw so hard that a couple of guys had already dislocated fingers.  As I recall, Dowhower brought Elway in to the UCLA game around the 2nd quarter as a "change of pace" quarterback even though Schonert had been excellent--I think he had already thrown a couple of touchdowns. 

Elway ran the no huddle from the shotgun.  Elway's passes were amazing.  Every one looked like it was on a wire.  Lighting fast bullet passes forty yards long with seemingly no arc at all.  Passes that moved that fast and straight did not allow the defense any time to close or react.  The problem was that Elway had not yet learned any touch--he could not seem to put any air under the ball, and his passes were too hot for receivers to handle some of the time.  The "Elway cross" was not necessarily the right kind of pass for a swing pass, for example, nor was it the right kind of pass for a bomb or a fade.  As a result, Elway was widely admired but not as effective as Schonert that first year.  Schonert had a higher completion percentage and a much higher yards per attempt for the year.  In fact, what we were seeing was a sign of things to come.  Elway had one of the best arms of any QB in history, but it was almost a waste to try to use it on a Walsh style west coast offense.  Schonert was actually better suited to the existing offense than Elway.

We wound up winning that game on a 56 yard field goal that was so high that most of us could not tell if it was headed fair or foul.  While it floated through the air the clock ticked to 0.  Then it hit the left post and ricocheted over for the win.

That year everyone was amazed at Elway's arm, but Schonert had a much better QB rating.  It was going to take some time to rebuild the whole offense around Elway's strengths when we had a whole offense geared for someone else.

Maybe this should be a lesson.

Here are some highlights of the 1979 Stanford Arizona State game that shows both Schonert and Elway.  Elway throws an interception on his first effort and disappears, though.  But Schonert and Margerum have spectacular days.  One of the things I like about this video is the crowd noise.  You can tell that the crowd was loud and excited even though it was a rainy day in the old stadium.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaRHow5PUIw

[81alum]

I know less about the 1979 team than any other since I enrolled at Stanford. I was living 3,000 miles from campus, before we had the internet or satellite TV, and Stanford's 5-5-1 record certainly didn't attract much national media attention.

So, here's my question: What happened at quarterback that year?  I know Turk Schonert set what was then a Stanford record for completion percentage and led the nation in passing. But John Elway played in nine games and threw nearly 100 passes, an awful lot of action for a backup. Was Schonert injured for a couple of games? Did Elway have some kind of package of plays he came in to run?

Obviously I am wondering if this has some kind of resonance with a potential Hogan/Chryst situation.

I remember 1979 well.  We were all terribly depressed at the beginning of the year for two giant disappointments.  Walsh had left, and Darrin Nelson was injured in the off season and was going to miss the whole season.  On top of that, our second highly effective quarterback in two years had graduated--we had lost Guy Benjamin and now Steve Dils.  Everyone wanted to see the success that Walsh had started continue, but a lot of us had hardly heard of Rod Dowhower except that we were told to expect him to continue the offense as before.

The offense did suffer a major setback, and we lost a couple of games against weak opposition early.  It was simply taking time to replace Nelson and Dils.  As it turned out,  Vincent White and Mike Dotterer at running back and Schonert as the QB developed wonderfully and had superb seasons.  Schonert , who had only thrown 9 passes in his career, turned out to be excellent.  He had touch and could put enough loft under the ball to throw the long ball effectively.  Most impressive, Stanford was 1st that year in pass completion percentage nationally--as Dowhower continued Walsh's short passing strategy.

Elway had thrown passes before UCLA, I think, but maybe I just missed the earlier home games.  He was more a rumor to us casual fans than anything else.  A couple of my friends were managers on the team (you know, the guys who do the laundry and pack the equipment) and they said that there was this new quarterback who threw so hard that a couple of guys had already dislocated fingers.  As I recall, Dowhower brought Elway in to the UCLA game around the 2nd quarter as a "change of pace" quarterback even though Schonert had been excellent--I think he had already thrown a couple of touchdowns. 

Elway ran the no huddle from the shotgun.  Elway's passes were amazing.  Every one looked like it was on a wire.  Lighting fast bullet passes forty yards long with seemingly no arc at all.  Passes that moved that fast and straight did not allow the defense any time to close or react.  The problem was that Elway had not yet learned any touch--he could not seem to put any air under the ball, and his passes were too hot for receivers to handle some of the time.  The "Elway cross" was not necessarily the right kind of pass for a swing pass, for example, nor was it the right kind of pass for a bomb or a fade.  As a result, Elway was widely admired but not as effective as Schonert that first year.  Schonert had a higher completion percentage and a much higher yards per attempt for the year.  In fact, what we were seeing was a sign of things to come.  Elway had one of the best arms of any QB in history, but it was almost a waste to try to use it on a Walsh style west coast offense.  Schonert was actually better suited to the existing offense than Elway.

We wound up winning that game on a 56 yard field goal that was so high that most of us could not tell if it was headed fair or foul.  While it floated through the air the clock ticked to 0.  Then it hit the left post and ricocheted over for the win.

That year everyone was amazed at Elway's arm, but Schonert had a much better QB rating.  It was going to take some time to rebuild the whole offense around Elway's strengths when we had a whole offense geared for someone else.

Maybe this should be a lesson.

Here are some highlights of the 1979 Stanford Arizona State game that shows both Schonert and Elway.  Elway throws an interception on his first effort and disappears, though.  But Schonert and Margerum have spectacular days.  One of the things I like about this video is the crowd noise.  You can tell that the crowd was loud and excited even though it was a rainy day in the old stadium.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaRHow5PUIw