§ Palo Alto was an overall enjoyable experience, the football outcome being the only exception (although Amy said if we kept them under 50 she’d be happy). While it was cold and dreary back home in Colorado, it was in the 70’s and sunny and pleasant in the evening. The people were all very nice and welcoming and I am very glad we are members of the Pac-12 (not sure I’ll say that after visiting Oregon sometime within the next few years). The Palo Alto cabbies were not very reliable, but most things are within walking distance of downtown or campus and public transportation was decent.
§ The food was excellent as we dined at three great places, all within walking distance of our hotel, The Stanford Cardinal (not quite the “local Boulderado” as the nice clerk tried to claim). Friday dinner was a Spanish restaurant with a French Chef, callled “Joya” (pronounced Hoya like Georgetown, means “jewel”) and everything was fabulous, including a mango capirinha (although paella wasn’t as good as mine). We brunched at “Reposado”, a high end Mexican tequila bar. After the game we stumbled upon what turns out to be a local favorite “Coupa Café”, a Venezuelan coffee shop bistro.
§ Stanford Stadium was beautiful with plenty of concessions and restrooms. We had great seats and each was actually a full seat. It holds only a few thousand less than Folsom but felt even closer and cozier. The surrounding tailgating area under the eucalyptus trees was nice but mellow. It was a great weekend and I can’t wait to go back there to support a stronger visiting squad.
§ The Stanford Band was very entertaining, poking fun at CU and many other things in their pre-game and halftime shows. The “Tree”, a member of the band and not an official team mascot, wore a yarmulke and talus (Jewish prayer cap and shawl) in observance of Yom Kippur.
§ I definitely succeeded in one goal as I indeed watched an amazing QB have his way with the visiting team. He was so methodical, always finding the hole in the defense, audibling for great gains. On a few plays you were able to watch him check down, sidestep a defender and calmly hit his fourth or fifth option. I know he kept hitting plays, but he made it look so easy that I was still found myself surprised he ended up with almost 400 yards. The 3 muske-tight-ends were also as good as advertised, seemingly one of them was always making a play. I think this matchup will be much different next we face off.
§ Amazingly enough, at 11:05 in the 2nd quarter, the Buffs, were trailing only
13-7 on a 76-yard Speedy screen and Tony Jones TD (even after having given up a blocked FG for a TD after a kickoff recovery?!) and had just picked off Andrew Luck. The crowd at Stanford stadium genuinely worried. But it was not long-lived as they made sure to score not once, but twice in the last few minutes of the half for a 27-7 halftime lead. The third quarter it all got away from them.
§ However, yet again this team made the most of its mistakes, making sure they would never actually be in this game, even though the home team gave them a ton of chances early. The opening drive was a microcosm of the entire season so far-every time they make some momentum for themselves, they find a way to swing the pendulum back hard in the other team’s direction. Although they had fewer penalties than Stanford and in general, theirs always seemed to be crucial ones, usually setting the offense back-two holding calls by Handler, some absurd delay of games and 12- men in the huddles, and of course, what CU game wouldn’t be complete without a Ray Polk late hit out of bounds. Hansen’s INTs hurt and the one by the goal line was horrible.
§ I couldn’t decide which of my takes on classic clichés to use, so here both are: 1) Nothing much seems to change-they plug one hole in the dike, only to have two more open; 2) Whenever the Buffs got anything going, they always shot themselves in the foot again (no toes left at this point). You can pick your personal favorite.
§ The best part of the day, football-wise for CU, was the amount of playing time many young players got. Even before the late game mop up duty that a bunch of young players took advantage of, LB Woodson Greer III became the 13th true frosh to burn his redshirt on the kickoff return team and even got some early defensive snaps, as did Brady Daigh. As the game wore on (and thank goodness it was a quick game, less than 3 hours) many players got into the game: RFr. DE Kirk Poston got his first action, as did QB Nick Hirshman who went 1-1 for 2 yds with some nice handoffs to RB Josh Ford; WR Keenan Canty got a few catches in place of P-Rich; TFr. G Paulay Asiata played on the left next to RFr. C Kawai Crabb; the last defensive series the lineup included at least 5 true freshmen: DE Juda Parker, LBs Greer and KT Tu’umalo, starting CB Greg Henderson and S Kyle Washington (LB Brady Daigh might have been in there also).
§ We should see a lot more of that and you might check out the 9/29 “WSU Primer” for some of my other ideas on which young players might get a chance to play more, with the big, fast TEs still being first on my list so they can learn to block!
§ Paul Richardson is out 3-4 more weeks as we go through the meat of our difficult schedule. However, that means he should be healthy to face Arizona, UCLA and Utah, the last 3 and easiest games on the docket.
§ I couldn’t believe they had Speedy out there late in the 4th quarter to return a punt with the game out of hand?! Would that not have been a good time to give anyone a shot at seeing if they could catch a punt?!
§ Here was the AllBuffs uncensored preview with a guest author: http://www.allbuffs.com/content.php/1062-A-really-******-preview-of-CU-Stanford
§ That’s all I can say for now. Next stop, spectacular Husky Stadium on the bay. I will wait until they renovate to visit this one.
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