Well, Stanford has a bye this week. This is the hole in
Stanford's schedule that opened up when the Notre Dame game was
moved to the end of the season. Think for a moment about what
might have been . . . wouldn't you have loved to see Stanford
play Notre Dame at Stanford Stadium this weekend?
Wouldn't you have loved to see the Irish drag their
dinged-up egos and their tarnished gold helmets into town right
now? Does anybody have any doubt that Stanford would have
served up the last round at Davie's wake? But... Notre Dame
wanted the game moved so they could have a Thanksgiving weekend
trip to California every year, and that's what they got.
Thus, the bye this week. Stanford had the same bye in the
first week of October two years ago, and they'll have the same
bye two years from now. So be it. Here's hoping the
Fighting Leprechauns go even further into the tank by the time
they visit in November...
So, regretfully putting aside the delicious vision of thumping
Notre Dame, what about the bye week? Is it good to have a
bye this week, or not? Stanford is in a groove right now. I
almost hate to see them take a week off. On the other hand,
Washington State looks tougher than expected. Stanford's extra
week to prepare could be a big bonus. Also, the extra week
will allow Greg Schindler and any other injured players to get
healthy again. From the Stanford viewpoint, the bye has its
good points and its bad points, though neither the advantages nor
the disadvantages are hugely compelling.
But from the Washington State viewpoint, the emotional dynamics
this week will be compelling indeed. Washington State plays
Oregon State this Saturday in Pullman. The stars are lined
up for the Cougars this weekend. They're 4-0 and they're on a
roll. It's their homecoming game. They have a
traditional rival coming to town: this will be the 87th
game between the Cougs and the Beavers, which makes this the
Cougs' second longest-running rivalry. The opposing coach
is the despicable Dennis Erickson, who jilted Washington State
after only two seasons as the Cougs' coach, leaving behind the
wholesome wheat and lentil fields of the Palouse for the glitzy
beaches and babes of Miami. WSU's coach Mike Price has
special incentive to beat Erickson: the two of them are
long-time friends, having gone to high school together in
Everett, Washington. The Cougs will be looking for revenge
for last year's 38-9 drubbing by the Crips from Corvallis.
Oregon State suddenly looks vulnerable -- WSU is a 10 point
favorite, if you can believe that. The Cougs are still
getting no respect, despite their 4-0 start. They are looking for
a "statement" game -- and this game against the Sports
Illustrated cover boys from Oregon State is it. If they
win, they'll be ranked.
No, the Cougs won't be worrying about Stanford this week.
And they're bound to have a let-down when they visit Palo Alto
next week. By that time, they may even be looking ahead to
their next two games, both home games against top 10 opponents,
Oregon and UCLA. For Stanford, that's all good.
At least, that's all good in theory. But what about
history? How has Stanford done after having a bye
week? The record is mixed. Since 1980, Stanford's
record after a bye week is 7-7. Here's a history of
Stanford's performance after bye weeks.
1980 -- A 6-4 Stanford team, under first-year coach Paul Wiggin,
has a bye before the Big Game. Despite having six All Pac
10 players on offense, including All Americans John Elway, Ken
Margerum and Darrin Nelson, Stanford loses to a 2-8 Cal
team. Ugly . . . and an unfortunate sign of things to come
in the Wiggin years. The bye week obviously didn't help,
might have hurt.
1987 -- Stanford, coming off its Gator Bowl season, opens with a
road loss to Washington, then gets a bye. After the bye,
Stanford loses at Colorado. Stanford then loses at home to San
Jose State and UCLA (49-0 -- remember that?), before rallying to
win 5 of the last 7 games, ending up 5-6. The bye didn't
seem to make any difference.
1989 -- In Denny Green's first year, Stanford opens with road
losses at Arizona and at then-doormat Oregon State (ouch).
After a bye, Stanford defeats Oregon, 18-17. Stanford then
loses its next five games, including losses to weaker opponents
such as San Jose State, Utah and Washington State, and ends up
3-8. The bye week probably helped.
1991 -- Stanford opens with losses to Washington and
Arizona. After a bye, Stanford defeats Colorado, 28-21, on
the huge Stanford Centennial celebration weekend. Vardell
runs and runs, in a way that would become familiar later that
year. After a loss to Notre Dame, Stanford reels off seven
wins in a row and is 8-3 before losing the Aloha Bowl. The
bye may have helped get Stanford on track. Of course,
replacing Jason Palumbis with Steve Stenstrom two weeks after the
bye may have helped too.
1992 -- Stanford opens with a loss to Texas A&M on August 26
in one of those pre-season "classic" games.
Stanford then has a bye before beginning its regular
schedule. Stanford wins the next five games, but probably
would have done so without having a bye. That was just a
good team, ending up 10-3 with a #9 ranking. The bye
probably made no difference.
1993 -- Coming off its best season in many years, Stanford starts
the year with a disappointing 2-3 record. Stanford gets a
bye before a critical game against highly-ranked
Arizona. Stanford desperately needs a win to get
back on track. They don't get it. Stanford plays a
surprisingly good game in Tucson, but a heart-breaking Stenstrom
fumble late in the game allows the Wildcats to pull it out.
Stanford limps to a 4-7 record. Hard to say whether the bye
helped or hurt.
1995 -- First year coach Tyrone Willingham leads Stanford to a
3-0-1 start, including a win in Eugene over the defending Pac 10
champion Oregon Ducks. Stanford then gets a bye week before going
to Tempe to face Arizona State. The defense comes up with a key
4th quarter stop to win the game. Stanford goes 7-3-1
before losing the Liberty Bowl. The bye week might have
helped.
1996 -- Under new quarterback Chad Hutchinson, Stanford struggles
on offense, scoring only 10 points in a loss to Utah and getting
shut out by Wisconsin. Even Stanford's then-habitual win
over San Jose State is not very reassuring. Stanford takes
a 1-2 record into the bye week. However, they find no
answers to their offensive problems, losing 27-6 at Washington
after the bye. Stanford later turns around the season to
finish 7-5 with a blow-out win over Michigan State in the Sun
Bowl, but the bye week didn't seem to help.
1997 -- Stanford starts the season 4-1, then has two disastrous
games against the Arizona schools, turning the ball over 5 times
in each of those games. The bye week seems to be
fortunately timed, allowing Stanford a chance to get back on
track. Nope. The horror show continues after the bye,
with losses to UCLA, USC and Washington State in which Stanford
has a total of 12 turnovers. The bye didn't help.
1998 -- In hindsight, we can see that the 1998 team was a young
but talented team that was gaining the experience it needed to
reach the Rose Bowl the next year. Some of us said so at
the time (I will take credit for being a believer).
However, other Stanford fans thought the 1998 team wasn't young
-- just bad. One thing o