So how embarrassing was last Saturday’s loss to UC Davis? After the
game, a few buddies and I convened at a pizza-and-beer establishment in Mountain
View. A Stanford offensive lineman and his family were sitting at the
table next to ours. Unfortunately, a few Davis fans were also in the
house. After some occasional hooting and hollering, a couple Aggie backers
headed for the door, but not before turning towards the player and his family
and hollering, “In your face!” Some of us at our table sunk down in our
seats. I would have given anything for a paper sack to wear. I can
only imagine how the player felt at that moment.
How embarrassing was that game? More embarrassing when I found out some
of the other scores on the college football scoreboard. Rutgers won. Duke
handled VMI. Indiana is 3-0. So is Vanderbilt. Baylor is too!
Really, how embarrassing was that game? Driving back to Oakland, I was
listening to a national sports radio show. The host was talking about the
Oklahoma Sooners and how much easier their schedule gets over the next few
weeks: Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor… and the producer yelled out, “Can they get
Stanford on their schedule too?” I almost drove off the Dumbarton Bridge.
Seriously, how embarrassing was it? When I got home and went to sleep
(finally), I dreamed that a Stanford quarterback dropped back to pass, threw one
out into the left flat, and was intercepted by the Burger King, who took it in
for six, then did a dance in the endzone while the NFL Films music blared.
And then… depression set in.
It was that embarrassing, and then some. I expected a black cloud to be
hanging over Arrillaga Center when I drove onto campus on Tuesday morning.
To my surprise, there actually was one! Then I remembered that the
forecast had called for thunderstorms around the Bay Area. Thunderstorms
in September? Seems about as likely as what happened at Stanford Stadium
last week.
Stanford dropped a stinkbomb against Davis last week. Period.
There’s no other way to spin it. There were some bright spots (Traverso,
Schimmelmann, Oshinowo, and Okwo), but no matter how you look at it, the Aggies
outplayed the Cardinal in nearly every phase of the game.
They certainly outplayed Stanford’s offense, dominating the line of
scrimmage, erasing the running game, blanketing the receivers, and making life a
living hell for Trent Edwards and T.C. Ostrander. Their offense wasn’t
perfect, but their quarterback and their running back put forth two of the
gutsiest performances I’ve seen at Stanford Stadium. More importantly,
they made the plays they needed to make when they absolutely, positively needed
to make them.
Davis deserves credit for their success, but they were certainly helped out
by a Stanford effort that could only be described as a disaster.
Seriously. I thought about calling FEMA, but I don’t think they’d get here
before next Saturday.
So where can the Card turn to for help from last week’s mess? Well, as
Walt Harris noted earlier, he can’t check the waiver wire and bring guys in off
the street. Stanford isn’t the Houston Texans, so they’re not going to be
firing assistants mid-season. The head coach isn’t going anywhere.
Neither is the athletic director.
(Quick tangent: this stuff from some of you about showing Walt Harris the
door after just two games is absolute nonsense. But I’ll play along for a
moment… say Ted Leland calls a press conference right now, apologizes for the
Davis result, and summarily throws Walt out on the street. Who would Ted
be able to get? Who? Norm Chow ain’t walking through that door,
folks. Urban Meyer ain’t walking through that door. Bill Walsh is in
the building, but he still isn’t walking through that door. And who would
be willing to walk through that door, knowing that the athletic director turned
on his last guy after just two games? Answer those questions first before
you throw out nonsense like that. Back to the column.)
So if help can’t come from the outside, it has to come from within. The
players and the coaches are the ones that will have to dig deep and get this
thing turned around again. Walt needs to figure out how to regain control
of this season and maintain control of his team. The coaches are going to
have to do some reevaluation of this team and its capabilities. The
players are going to have to ask themselves how big of a price they want to pay
to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.
For better or for worse, that game against Davis has set a new standard.
Everyone now knows what can happen to this team when the coaches and players
fail to pay the price every week.
After all, Stanford didn’t lose that game because previous coaches left the
cupboard bare. They didn’t lose that game because of the uniforms.
They didn’t lose that game because there were only 31,000 people in the stands,
and a good chunk of them happened to be rooting for the other team. They
didn’t lose that game because of marketing, admissions, the sports information
department, or any of the other areas of the university that are supposedly
conspiring against Stanford football. They didn’t lose that game because
no replay crews were on hand to rule Nick Sanchez’ interception legal.
OK, maybe Stanford did lose that game because of that botched call, but
blaming everything on just that one play doesn’t do justice to the real reasons
why the Card failed against Davis.
They lost that game because, in no particular order: Their secondary
struggled big-time. Special teams committed too many mistakes. The
offensive line got dominated. The receivers couldn’t get open. The
defense was out there too long. The offense wasn’t out there long enough.
The coaches seemed to throw away most of the playbook after Edwards went down.
Above all, Stanford lost that game because Davis wanted that game more than
the Cardinal did. I saw it every time their quarterback pulled another
scramble out of his hat. I saw it every time their running back bounced
off Stanford defenders, yet still found ways to churn ahead for small, steady,
important gains. Every time their players played like they had nothing to
lose, and showed the heart of a scrappy underdog that was willing to do whatever
it took to win. Sometimes that really is all you need.
After a loss like that, not much is certain for Stanford Football right now.
But I can tell you this: we will learn plenty about this team over the next few
days as it tries to figure out which way it wants to go from here. To
steal the marketing department’s slogan, it really does all start now. Or
else it may have ended last Saturday.
RANDOM PAC-10 THOUGHTS
I woke up early on Saturday morning to watch that disaster in Louisville?
Thanks for nothing, Oregon State…
If you haven’t heard of Elvis Dumervil yet, you will. He
single-handedly destroyed the Beavers’ offensive line. It was jaw-dropping
to watch him abuse the Beavers’ offensive line play after play. Next time
you watch Louisville, keep an eye out for number 58…
Anyone else notice how much better Kellen Clemens seems to operate when the
Ducks go to a no-huddle attack?
Glad to see UCLA get a big win against the Sooners last week, but I really
think that Oklahoma gave that game away with stupid mistakes and questionable
playcalling. As disappointed as I was in OU’s quarterback play (again), I
was shocked by some of the playcalling. Rhett Bomar has had problems
handling the ball all year. Given that, why have him go shotgun near his
own goal line? Then, on a do-or-die fourth down in the fourth quarter, why
have butterfingered Bomar try to execute an option pitch from the shotgun?
Didn’t make much sense to me. Oklahoma players made their share of
mistakes, but the coaches didn’t do them many favors, either…
Am I the only one not holding his breath to see if UCLA is still playing this
well in November? I mean, haven’t we been down this road before with the
Bruins looking like world-beaters early in the season, then starting to slide
off the face of the earth around Halloween?
Runner-up for Stat of the Week: only two Pac-10 teams have yet to score 40
points in a game this year: Washington and Arizona…
Stat of the Week: U$C’s offense is averaging a touchdown every eight plays.
How insane is that? Is that even legal?
Quote of the week, from DeMaundray Woolridge, running back for the 3-0
Washington State Cougars: “We can play with anybody in the Pac-10. That
includes the San Francisco 49ers.”
Not a Pac-10 thought, but… how bad have things gotten for Joey Harrington in
Detroit? Apparently the Lions gave Jeff George a look-see earlier this
week…
Not a Pac-10 thought, but… Mike Tice might be thinking about getting in his
car, driving off and starting a brand new life somewhere else…
Not a Pac-10 thought, but… Mike Sherman might not be far behind him…
E-MAILBAG
Gregory from parts unknown chimes in: “Thanks for the view from the
sidelines. Brought me back to my days as a student manager during the
Ralston era. Coach Ralston was a hell of a guy. In a Big Game, one
of our assistant coaches grabbed my arm and said 'Coach wants to make sure all
of the seniors get to play. Make it happen.’ For what he
accomplished at and for Stanford, Coach Ralston seems underrated and/or
overlooked.”
Good stuff… and an interesting take on Ralston. I’ll gladly defer to
those of you who were there during those days on what Ralston’s Stanford legacy
is, but I can see how that might be the case. Seems like when most folks
think about Stanford Football in the 1960s and the early ‘70s, they think about
the players: Plunkett, Washington, Vataha, the Thunderchickens. Maybe I’m
wrong, but I kinda get that sense too. But since I’m deferring to others
here, I’ll throw it out to everyone: is John Ralston underrated as a Stanford
coach?
No E-Mailbag is complete without Derek from San Francisco: “I was
there when Steve Stenstrom was knocked unconscious at a home game, and his
father ran from the parent section on to the field while trainers were there
trying to wake him up. I remember seeing the collision with Kerry Carter
and that poor kid from Washington. Didn’t look like much at the time, but
it’s hard to imagine a worse outcome.
Who can forget the time Estevan Avila smacked Tommy Maddox over the
rainbow? When he finally got up, he wasn’t sure which way to stumble.
In the same game, “Touchdown” Tommy Vardell injured two very talented defensive
backs on a long run down the sideline that was called back. One limped to
the sideline, and the other was helped into the locker room.
I think probably the worst injury I’ve ever seen would sadly have to be
Mike Mitchell’s. In his last game as a Stanford Cardinal, after a very
respectable career and dreams of the NFL, he was hit by a savage tackle in the
Big Game that shredded both of his knees in an instant. I remember seeing
his parents around the stadium afterwards but couldn’t think of a single thing
to say that may have offered even a little relief.
Like you said, the lows are damn low, but the highs are unbeatable.
Football season is back.”
Football season is back. Amen.
Who could forget the time Estevan Avila smacked Tommy Maddox over the
rainbow? Tommy Maddox did, I’m sure! And what happened to Mike
Mitchell in the 1997 Big Game was an absolute shame. His career didn’t
have to end like that.
Got a thought on this column, on Stanford sports, or on anything else that’s
on your mind, drop me a line at
troyc@thebootleg.com! The best e-mails I get will end up in next
week’s Corner…
PAC-10 PICKS
The Beaver State takes center stage in the Pac-10, with both of this week’s
conference games kicking off in the 541 area code…
U$C @ Oregon. It’s U$C’s world. Until proven otherwise,
the rest of us are just living in it. The Ducks could make it interesting,
though… for about 20 minutes. I like U$C by 25.
Arizona State @ Oregon State. The Beavers’ defense got shredded
by Louisville’s frighteningly efficient offense last week, and their offense
crumbled under the Cardinals’ pass rush. How in the world are the Beavers
going to contain Sam Keller and the Sun Devils’ explosive offense, and how in
the world are the Beavers going to protect their backfield when Pac-10
tackles-for-loss leader Dale Robinson is coming to town? I like Arizona
State by 32.
This year: 1-0 (straight up & ATS).
Last year: 25-7 (straight-up), 15-17 (ATS).
Troy Clardy is a host and reporter for the Stanford Cardinal Farm Report,
airing Saturdays on FSN Bay Area.
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