01-13-2015, 12:55 PM
(01-13-2015, 08:44 AM)SeattleTree link Wrote:Not only are the Trees unranked in ESPN's way-too-early Top 25, but ESPN's Pac-12 Blog has the Trees 7th in the conference next season. Hopefully the team can use that as motivation to prove a few people wrong next season.
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12
That ranking was for the recently completed season. And perfectly reasonable in my opinion.
Do I have concerns about the defense for next season, CTcard? Of course I do. But consider the inexperience or lack of proven talent at offense and defense for the rest of the Pac-12 North. I also think the conference schedule lays out favorably for Stanford next year. In 2015 we have five--as opposed to four this past year--conference games at home: UA, UCLA, UW, Oregon and C.al. Just as importantly, three of our four conference road games are against teams that were in the lower tier of the conference in 2014: OSU, WSU and CU. U$C at the Coliseum will be a tough game to win, of course.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Stanford to finish, say, 7-2 and win the division if Hogan and Shittu return and folks stay healthy.
Nota bene: If Stanford were in the Pac-12 South, my prediction would not be so bold.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)