Nov 30 | Stanford

[calvegas04]

tix could be pretty cheap for this one

They have gone from $90+ for the cheapest a couple weeks ago to around $70 now

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

tix could be pretty cheap for this one

Not that round trip plane ticket though

If we can't beat this squad on the farm, I'm giving up hope that we'll ever win there again.

 

[arrowryan]

This team stinks

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

This team stinks

They look absolutely lost with Costello, and they look average offensively with him.

If we can't go to the Farm and win this year I'm at a loss for words. There is no reason why Stanford should be able to hang with this team.

 

[Irish YJ]

Losing at home to UCLA is embarrassing.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Losing at home to UCLA is embarrassing.

Especially considering UCLA spent their BYE week traveling all the way to ND Stadium at halftime to fight us during the fUSC game.

Pretty remarkable

 

[NDMIA]

Stanford has a recruiting problem. I really like David Shaw as a coach. I think he’s tremendous and flat out a really good football coach but the recruiting has been a big issue at Stanford for the past 3-4 years. With the transfer portal becoming a new favorite for players, Stanford cannot supplement their roster with transfers and they’ve been losing an above-their-norm amount of players to transfers, medical, and some even quitting football entirely. In 2017 and 2018, Stanford went big game hunting for recruits and they did well but came up short in the numbers department (14 and 15 recruits in each class). That isn’t enough at a school that plays a real physical brand of football, doesn’t have freshman come in and produce right away and needs them to develop over a couple of years. Having tracked their scholarship numbers over the past few years, they’ve dipped into the 70’s in terms of recruited, scholarship players and they give a lot of walk ons scholarships but that hasn’t worked out so well this year. I think last year and this cycle (23 recruits in 2019 and 16 in 2020 but on their way to over 20 easily) you’ll see Stanford be more aggressive like BK has done over the past couple of cycles in getting closer to the 85 mark and trying to fill out a competitive and deep roster.

An example of their roster dangers this year is their offensive line. They’ve got 12 scholarship guys going into the season and suffered a few season-ending injuries. Now they’re one of the worst OL units that Stanford has had in years. Their defensive line has 8 scholarship guys. Notre Dame has 16 (we play 4-3). Alabama has 12, UGA has 15, and even Vanderbilt has 14 for teams who play 3-4 defenses. Stanford is basically an injury away from being all Freshman playing a bunch which isn’t their recipe for success. Hopefully this cycle they continue to stockpile a lot of numbers and their depth can grow.

 

[Wingman Ray]

I really like David Shaw as a coach.

Stanford is basically an injury away from being all Freshman playing a bunch which isn’t their recipe for success. Hopefully this cycle they continue to stockpile a lot of numbers and their depth can grow.

What tha flippin heck is this???

Why would you want the Trees to be better? There is not a more disrespectful team vs ND than Stanford out there. I would love to see Stanford and that smug coach of theirs lose every single game they play.

 

[IrishLax]

What tha flippin heck is this???

Why would you want the Trees to be better? There is not a more disrespectful team vs ND than Stanford out there. I would love to see Stanford and that smug coach of theirs lose every single game they play.

Agreed. That was post was a crazy read. We want Stanford to go 0-12 every year. We do not need them to be good, and we benefit strongly from them being poor at recruiting. Think about the value add simply we would get from simply having Adebo on this roster as CB1. There was a period of time where we were losing 2-3 top of the board recruits to Stanford every year.

Last few classes? That's down to 0-1 guys, and they're usually not top of the board players.

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

Surprised we haven't reached out to a few of the corners yet?

 

[IrishLax]

Surprised we haven't reached out to a few of the corners yet?

What?

 

[DONTH8]

Agreed. That was post was a crazy read. We want Stanford to go 0-12 every year. We do not need them to be good, and we benefit strongly from them being poor at recruiting. Think about the value add simply we would get from simply having Adebo on this roster as CB1. There was a period of time where we were losing 2-3 top of the board recruits to Stanford every year.

Last few classes? That's down to 0-1 guys, and they're usually not top of the board players.

I think a lot of their problems is also the early signing period. They can't make people wait till they do their little event after the season, instead they gotta get on kids early and have them come to games with an empty stadium and bad football environment. I think their recruiting strategy is collapsing, and they are going to continue to struggle as the team does worse and worse.

Also, they were lucky to play in a rather weak period of time in the pac-12, most teams were down. Not saying the pac-12 is now a power house, but it's much more balanced from top to bottom with a lot of teams in the middle being good enough to compete against the others.

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

What?

Their recruits?

 

[IrishLax]

Their recruits?

What CB recruits.

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

What CB recruits.

Ayden Hector
Brandon Jones
Omari Porter

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

What tha flippin heck is this???

Why would you want the Trees to be better? There is not a more disrespectful team vs ND than Stanford out there. I would love to see Stanford and that smug coach of theirs lose every single game they play.

He lost me at the first couple sentences. Shaw is a smug little $hite who deserves everything his program is going through right now. I can't stand that dude.

 

[stpeteirish]

OL last night started 3 Freshman, all due to injuries. QB was also a freshman due to injuries to their top two QB's. If they get some of these guys back, particularly Costello, they might be passable on offense. Last night they didn't get to 200 yards total offense vs a bad team at home so they have a long ways to go.

But their defense is not good either. In an age where exotic blitz schemes, multiple substitutions based on down and distance, and press coverage on every wide receiver are the norm they do very little of tall three. It's almost like they're 10 years behind the times.

If it doesn't rain all month in Nov and ruin their field (which looked OK last night) we should have a field day with this D. They are not fast and they stay back to avoid getting burned, but they still get burned.

 

[IrishLax]

Ayden Hector
Brandon Jones
Omari Porter

No offer.
No offer.
No offer.

I understand why you might not like our CBs, but we have three committed and grabbing bad players from Stanford makes zero sense.

 

[stlnd01]

With the transfer portal becoming a new favorite for players, Stanford cannot supplement their roster with transfers and they’ve been losing an above-their-norm amount of players to transfers, medical, and some even quitting football entirely.

Do they take many transfers, historically? Didn’t realize that. I’d think their outbound transfer situation would be similar to ours, maybe even losing fewer players b/c they’re even choosier w/who they recruit and tend to get kids who value the academics (which may lead some to retire early, of course, as we do). Either way I can see how roster management is a challenge. And their Manball approach does require bodies.

I may be in the minority here but - except for when playing or recruiting against ND - I always root for Stanford. Agree Shaw is a prick but they are serious about balancing academics and football success and are (were?) another program we can point to when people say Notre Dame should sell out and be more like the football factories. Big picture I think a strong Stanford is good for college football the way Notre Dame tries to do it.

 

[tko]

I wouldn't mind Stanford going on a Columbia football type losing streak.

 

[MNIrishman]

Do they take many transfers, historically? Didn’t realize that. I’d think their outbound transfer situation would be similar to ours, maybe even losing fewer players b/c they’re even choosier w/who they recruit and tend to get kids who value the academics (which may lead some to retire early, of course, as we do). Either way I can see how roster management is a challenge. And their Manball approach does require bodies.

I may be in the minority here but - except for when playing or recruiting against ND - I always root for Stanford. Agree Shaw is a prick but they are serious about balancing academics and football success and are (were?) another program we can point to when people say Notre Dame should sell out and be more like the football factories. Big picture I think a strong Stanford is good for college football the way Notre Dame tries to do it.

They refer to us as "Northern Indiana Parochial School" even though we're the most national school in the country whose name doesn't include the word "academy." They act like ND isn't close academically even though our ACT scores are actually marginally higher than theirs. They think Catholicism is a joke. They think the Midwest is for backwards farmers.

I'm sick of the coastal arrogance. Let Stanford (football) fall into the ocean.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Do they take many transfers, historically? Didn’t realize that. I’d think their outbound transfer situation would be similar to ours, maybe even losing fewer players b/c they’re even choosier w/who they recruit and tend to get kids who value the academics (which may lead some to retire early, of course, as we do). Either way I can see how roster management is a challenge. And their Manball approach does require bodies.

I may be in the minority here but - except for when playing or recruiting against ND - I always root for Stanford. Agree Shaw is a prick but they are serious about balancing academics and football success and are (were?) another program we can point to when people say Notre Dame should sell out and be more like the football factories. Big picture I think a strong Stanford is good for college football the way Notre Dame tries to do it.

I get the concept of them balancing academics with football, but that puts them in direct competition with us for those recruits who are looking for that balance.

I'd rather us be good and they suck, so we can nab the Solomon Thomas', the Foster Sarell's, the Paulson Adebo's, etc.

For the greater good of ND football.

 

[zelezo vlk]

They refer to us as "Northern Indiana Parochial School" even though we're the most national school in the country whose name doesn't include the word "academy." They act like ND isn't close academically even though our ACT scores are actually marginally higher than theirs. They think Catholicism is a joke. They think the Midwest is for backwards farmers.

I'm sick of the coastal arrogance. Let Stanford (football) fall into the ocean.

BURN THE FARM!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[stlnd01]

I get the concept of them balancing academics with football, but that puts them in direct competition with us for those recruits who are looking for that balance.

I'd rather us be good and they suck, so we can nab the Solomon Thomas', the Foster Sarell's, the Paulson Adebo's, etc.

For the greater good of ND football.

Big picture I think having a peer school among the sport’s powers may be worth one or two recruits a year.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Big picture I think having a peer school among the sport’s powers may be worth one or two recruits a year.

I couldn't disagree more. It was like that for years, and it didn't help ND at all.

There will always be recruits who value the academics provided, and it only helps ND if they are the superior choice from a football perspective.

Stanford has quite a few things working in their favor over ND in the classroom, so it doesn't bode well for us if they are on even footing or close to it.

It's that 1-2 recruits a year that are keeping ND from hitting the next tier of program. Picture this defense right now with Adebo, or picture the 2015 team with a defensive line of Sheldon Day, Romeo Okwara, Isaac Rochell and Solomon Thomas. I don't think even BVG could f*ck that up.

It's not that ND is missing out on guys like Josh Pakola, but it's the higher tier guys like Adebo, Thomas and Sarell that are holding ND back.

 

[NDMIA]

I root for ND to beat Stanford 70-0 every year. Don’t get that mixed up. However, I generally like the better academic schools in the country and I hope kids and recruits continue to fill the rosters of those schools. Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Northwestern are schools that go about it the right way and I respect what they do and how they do it. You could say as a private school they don’t do what UNC, Michigan and UF do to get their dumb kids in, but they could’ve chosen the route of a Georgetown basketball or Miami football program where a private school sets up entire curriculums designed to let academically challenged kids leave with a BS degree. I respect those schools for going about it the right way.

Second, David Shaw is a good football coach. It’s just silly to think he’s a bad coach or anything but that. Jim Harbaugh has had 1 10 win season at Stanford while David Shaw has had 5. Stanford has been to 30 bowl games ever and Shaw went to 8 of them. He also has won more games than any other coach at Stanford. On top of that, Shaw has rigorous academic restrictions that are worse than ND’s. He has tons of off the field responsibilities that go way beyond most Power 5 coaches and only a few schools match that level of alumni/booster commitment off the field (ND might be one of them). If you think David Shaw is a bad dude, don’t like him personally, or think he’s arrogant then that’s fine cause I don’t know the dude at all but from a football coaching standpoint and running a program, David Shaw is a really good one.

So while I don’t watch Stanford football games and I hope ND doesn’t lose a single recruit to Stanford ever again, I do hope they do well and I think they will continue to do so.

 

[stlnd01]

I couldn't disagree more. It was like that for years, and it didn't help ND at all.

There will always be recruits who value the academics provided, and it only helps ND if they are the superior choice from a football perspective.

Stanford has quite a few things working in their favor over ND in the classroom, so it doesn't bode well for us if they are on even footing or close to it.

It's that 1-2 recruits a year that are keeping ND from hitting the next tier of program. Picture this defense right now with Adebo, or picture the 2015 team with a defensive line of Sheldon Day, Romeo Okwara, Isaac Rochell and Solomon Thomas. I don't think even BVG could f*ck that up.

It's not that ND is missing out on guys like Josh Pakola, but it's the higher tier guys like Adebo, Thomas and Sarell that are holding ND back.

Yes I’d love to have Adebo too. He’s great. But you’re talking about two guys on their current roster - Adebo and Sarrell - who are impact players who may have chosen Stanford over ND. IIRC, Sarrell was a three-way fight with Washington in there too.
I just looked through Stanford’s current roster and saw, I think, eight guys we recruited at any significant level. Some of them probably weren’t takes for us, or any better than the guys we got instead. Several were offensive linemen, a position where we recruit just fine. We lose more recruiting battles to Michigan, Ohio State, USC, Florida schools, Texas schools, maybe even Penn State.
I get what you’re saying. And there’s a certain type of kid who’d choose ND if Stanford wasn’t good enough at the football part to make it interesting. But really there’s not that many of them. And I have a hard time seeing how Stanford being good is the thing that holds Notre Dame back.

 

[Crazy Balki]

I root for ND to beat Stanford 70-0 every year. Don’t get that mixed up. However, I generally like the better academic schools in the country and I hope kids and recruits continue to fill the rosters of those schools. Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Northwestern are schools that go about it the right way and I respect what they do and how they do it. You could say as a private school they don’t do what UNC, Michigan and UF do to get their dumb kids in, but they could’ve chosen the route of a Georgetown basketball or Miami football program where a private school sets up entire curriculums designed to let academically challenged kids leave with a BS degree. I respect those schools for going about it the right way.

Second, David Shaw is a good football coach. It’s just silly to think he’s a bad coach or anything but that. Jim Harbaugh has had 1 10 win season at Stanford while David Shaw has had 5. Stanford has been to 30 bowl games ever and Shaw went to 8 of them. He also has won more games than any other coach at Stanford. On top of that, Shaw has rigorous academic restrictions that are worse than ND’s. He has tons of off the field responsibilities that go way beyond most Power 5 coaches and only a few schools match that level of alumni/booster commitment off the field (ND might be one of them). If you think David Shaw is a bad dude, don’t like him personally, or think he’s arrogant then that’s fine cause I don’t know the dude at all but from a football coaching standpoint and running a program, David Shaw is a really good one.

So while I don’t watch Stanford football games and I hope ND doesn’t lose a single recruit to Stanford ever again, I do hope they do well and I think they will continue to do so.

Shaw is a good football coach. People here don't think otherwise. Shaw is also an asshole. That's why this site hates Shaw. The dude cries constantly when things don't go his way. This is why he's spoken ill of on this and other ND sites, because whenever he loses to ND, he has to bitch and complain about this or that.

While Shaw is good as he's seen success that Stanford has rarely seen in their history. Make no mistake, Shaw wouldn't have lasted as long as he did if Harbaugh didn't build Stanford up. Harbaugh only saw the one great year in 2010 before moving on to SF. However, the talent he acquired and developed was paramount in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons, which was 3 of Shaw's 10+ win seasons. Honestly, they dropped off quite a bit after that 2013 season.

Harbaugh/Shaw is very similar to that of Butch Davis and Larry Coker at Miami. Coker took over in 2001, and won a National Championship. He then went on to make the title game in 2002, won the Orange Bowl in 2003. Coker was 35-3 in his first 3 seasons at Miami and reached peaks that Davis never reached at Miami. However, Davis was the man responsible for building that roster that would end up taking the Canes to a 3-year window of greatness that Coker reaped. After that, Davis' players all moved on and Coker's success dipped considerably. In 2004 and 2005, they went 9-3. Not bad but not great. Then in 2006, they went 7-6 and that spelled the end for Coker.

Granted, Shaw is a better coach than Coker and was able to maintain success after Harbaugh left longer than Coker after Davis left. That being said, outside of their Rose Bowl year in 2015 with a generational talent in McCaffrey, they've been noticeably worse than the teams from 2010-13.

 

[MNIrishman]

I couldn't disagree more. It was like that for years, and it didn't help ND at all.

There will always be recruits who value the academics provided, and it only helps ND if they are the superior choice from a football perspective.

Stanford has quite a few things working in their favor over ND in the classroom, so it doesn't bode well for us if they are on even footing or close to it.

It's that 1-2 recruits a year that are keeping ND from hitting the next tier of program. Picture this defense right now with Adebo, or picture the 2015 team with a defensive line of Sheldon Day, Romeo Okwara, Isaac Rochell and Solomon Thomas. I don't think even BVG could f*ck that up.

It's not that ND is missing out on guys like Josh Pakola, but it's the higher tier guys like Adebo, Thomas and Sarell that are holding ND back.

Only for graduate school.

 

[Irishnuke]

Surprised we haven't reached out to a few of the corners yet?

You're surprised we haven't tampered with their current roster?

edit: just read the other comments. Yeah those guys just aren't very good.