In watching the Big Game, it's pretty clear that Stanford doesn't have top-end talent right now. They've got some real talent in spots (Ayomanor, Sinclair, and a couple of others) but their QB play limits the playcalling creativity and the back end of their defense is subpar.

Is this a case where Stanford is just late to the NIL game or having trouble navigating the Transfer Portal with their notoriously stringent undergraduate admissions office? From my outsider's perspective, Stanford has an alumni base filled with powerbrokers, money should be no object for filling an NIL warchest, more academically minded student-athletes would seemingly want to attend a "prestigious" university, and the location -- while 'blah' compared to the vitality and energy of Berkeley -- is close to the Silicon Valley tech hub's internship/job market, with great weather, and a campus that many people apparently like (even if I'm not one of them). Stanford is generally considered one of the top-5 universities in the world in any ranking I've ever seen, and like Berkeley, seemingly anything you would ever want to study there is top-notch in faculty, resources, and reputation.

I don't quite understand how Stanford isn't dominating college football in this new world order where money buys talent.

BearBoarBlarney said:

---

In watching the Big Game, it's pretty clear that Stanford doesn't have top-end talent right now. They've got some real talent in spots (Ayomanor, Sinclair, and a couple of others) but their QB play limits the playcalling creativity and the back end of their defense is subpar.

Is this a case where Stanford is just late to the NIL game or having trouble navigating the Transfer Portal with their notoriously stringent undergraduate admissions office? From my outsider's perspective, Stanford has an alumni base filled with powerbrokers, money should be no object for filling an NIL warchest, more academically minded student-athletes would seemingly want to attend a "prestigious" university, and the location -- while 'blah' compared to the vitality and energy of Berkeley -- is close to the Silicon Valley tech hub's internship/job market, with great weather, and a campus that many people apparently like (even if I'm not one of them). Stanford is generally considered one of the top-5 universities in the world in any ranking I've ever seen, and like Berkeley, seemingly anything you would ever want to study there is top-notch in faculty, resources, and reputation.

I don't quite understand how Stanford isn't dominating college football in this new world order where money buys talent.

---

This article in the Stanford Daily before the Big Game addresses this issue:

https://stanforddaily.com/2024/11/20/stanford-athletics-football-illusion-of-success/


My take on the Big Game was that we had more talent but they had better coaching, at least on offense.

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

Is relying heavily on the portal sustainable though? We are losing almost all of our secondary after this year.

The covid year players are almost all graduated at this point. Many elite programs are putting more emphasis back on HS recruiting because as Colorado and Florida State have found out this year, you cannot build a title contending program from just the portal. We need to improve HS recruiting regardless of whether or not Wilcox leaves. the Oline is the most obvious example of why we cannot just add players in the portal and expect to compete at the sharp end of the conference, even a bad ACC this year was full of teams that overpowered us on the lines. I expect Stanford to be better next year, Taylor started a lot of freshmen and sophmores this year, and they will probably put together another top 30 high school class for 2025. It'll take a while without the portal, but this might be a tortoise and the hare situation if we don't improve HS recruiting by surrounding JKS with some quality adds on the lines.

sebstyle25 said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

Is relying heavily on the portal sustainable though? We are losing almost all of our secondary after this year.

The covid year players are almost all graduated at this point. Many elite programs are putting more emphasis back on HS recruiting because as Colorado and Florida State have found out this year, you cannot build a title contending program from just the portal. We need to improve HS recruiting regardless of whether or not Wilcox leaves. the Oline is the most obvious example of why we cannot just add players in the portal and expect to compete at the sharp end of the conference, even a bad ACC this year was full of teams that overpowered us on the lines. I expect Stanford to be better next year, Taylor started a lot of freshmen and sophmores this year, and they will probably put together another top 30 high school class for 2025. It'll take a while without the portal, but this might be a tortoise and the hare situation if we don't improve HS recruiting by surrounding JKS with some quality adds on the lines.

---

Huh? Colorado is 8-3 this year, and was in the CFP conversation for most of the season.

75bear said:

---

sebstyle25 said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

Is relying heavily on the portal sustainable though? We are losing almost all of our secondary after this year.

The covid year players are almost all graduated at this point. Many elite programs are putting more emphasis back on HS recruiting because as Colorado and Florida State have found out this year, you cannot build a title contending program from just the portal. We need to improve HS recruiting regardless of whether or not Wilcox leaves. the Oline is the most obvious example of why we cannot just add players in the portal and expect to compete at the sharp end of the conference, even a bad ACC this year was full of teams that overpowered us on the lines. I expect Stanford to be better next year, Taylor started a lot of freshmen and sophmores this year, and they will probably put together another top 30 high school class for 2025. It'll take a while without the portal, but this might be a tortoise and the hare situation if we don't improve HS recruiting by surrounding JKS with some quality adds on the lines.

---

Huh? Colorado is 8-3 this year, and was in the CFP conversation for most of the season.

---

. Prime 'lives' in the portal. I believe it can be sustainable if a school can recruit players from the portal who have multiple years of eligibility remaining. Who have already been [at least somewhat] developed, and acclimated to college-level fb competition. Then they may only need to be drilled in your particular schemes and techniques during their 1st year in your program.

No doubt Furd is handicapped by the portal/transfer issues. That being said, they do have a huge advantage that Cal and other schools don't - whale donors who give to football. Cal has some whales, but they are older and less numerous than $tanfords.

To succeed, $tanford can/should raise a huge NIL pot and then devote that to bringing in top HS players. With enough $$, retention is less of an issue and the scholarship limits just went up, so if you miss on HS players at a higher rate than portal (?), its not a big deal. That is the one advantage they could exploit if they wanted to.

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

I am comparing the coaching of Cal alum Troy Taylor and Oregon alum Justin Wilcox.

Honestly, how many games do you think Wilcox wins if he were Stanford's coach this year?

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

I am comparing the coaching of Cal alum Troy Taylor and Oregon alum Justin Wilcox.

Honestly, how many games do you think Wilcox wins if he were Stanford's coach this year?

---

Anywhere between 3 and 7 wins.

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

I am comparing the coaching of Cal alum Troy Taylor and Oregon alum Justin Wilcox.

Honestly, how many games do you think Wilcox wins if he were Stanford's coach this year?

---

Anywhere between 3 and 7 wins.

---

Not a chance.

72CalBear said:

---

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

---

The key will be how many players they lose to the Portal going forward. They lost a ton with the transition from Shaw to Taylor and it will take time for Taylor to rebuild out of high school, but only if they don't keep losing players.

My Stanford fan father has been very happy with the creativity of Taylor's offense and thinks they have been able to punch above their weight as a result. They are very weak at DB, which good teams have exploited and we saw on that final drive to finally give us the lead and the win.

72CalBear said:

---

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

---

They had two Big Game impact players who were 2024 transfers. Their QB who had two rushing TDs transferred from Syracuse and they had a starting linebacker transfer from FIU.

calumnus said:

---

72CalBear said:

---

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

---

The key will be how many players they lose to the Portal going forward. They lost a ton with the transition from Shaw to Taylor and it will take time for Taylor to rebuild out of high school, but only if they don't keep losing players.

My Stanford fan father has been very happy with the creativity of Taylor's offense and thinks they have been able to punch above their weight as a result. They are very weak at DB, which good teams have exploited and we saw on that final drive to finally give us the lead and the win.

---

Perhaps Taylor will fix the DB issue in his third season. That is something Wilcox is very good at.

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

72CalBear said:

---

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

---

The key will be how many players they lose to the Portal going forward. They lost a ton with the transition from Shaw to Taylor and it will take time for Taylor to rebuild out of high school, but only if they don't keep losing players.

My Stanford fan father has been very happy with the creativity of Taylor's offense and thinks they have been able to punch above their weight as a result. They are very weak at DB, which good teams have exploited and we saw on that final drive to finally give us the lead and the win.

---

Perhaps Taylor will fix the DB issue in his third season. That is something Wilcox is very good at.

---

Wilcox was a DB coach and employs two more DB coaches, plus Sebasta brought in a lot of talent for them all to coach up through the Portal.

Perhaps Wilcox will finally have a good offense in his 9th season? Maybe he will have an OC and a OL coach this time? Maybe that would work? It took 10 games this season but maybe he learned from this last one you can win games by out scoring the other team in the 4th quarter?

Minor league football is really interesting.

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

72CalBear said:

---

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

---

The key will be how many players they lose to the Portal going forward. They lost a ton with the transition from Shaw to Taylor and it will take time for Taylor to rebuild out of high school, but only if they don't keep losing players.

My Stanford fan father has been very happy with the creativity of Taylor's offense and thinks they have been able to punch above their weight as a result. They are very weak at DB, which good teams have exploited and we saw on that final drive to finally give us the lead and the win.

---

Perhaps Taylor will fix the DB issue in his third season. That is something Wilcox is very good at.

---

Wilcox was a DB coach and employs two more DB coaches, plus Sebasta brought in a lot of talent for them all to coach up through the Portal.

Perhaps Wilcox will finally have a good offense in his 9th season? Maybe he will have an OC and a OL coach this time? Maybe that would work? It took 10 games this season but maybe he learned from this last one you can win games by out scoring the other team in the 4th quarter?

---

I certainly was hopeful that we'd win more than 6 or 7 games this season. Wilcox brought in some talent, not Sebasta, even though Cal Legends was instrumental in helping us get near a level playing field with winning programs.

3-8 Stanfurd sucks. Go Bears!

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

72CalBear said:

---

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

---

The key will be how many players they lose to the Portal going forward. They lost a ton with the transition from Shaw to Taylor and it will take time for Taylor to rebuild out of high school, but only if they don't keep losing players.

My Stanford fan father has been very happy with the creativity of Taylor's offense and thinks they have been able to punch above their weight as a result. They are very weak at DB, which good teams have exploited and we saw on that final drive to finally give us the lead and the win.

---

Perhaps Taylor will fix the DB issue in his third season. That is something Wilcox is very good at.

---

Wilcox was a DB coach and employs two more DB coaches, plus Sebasta brought in a lot of talent for them all to coach up through the Portal.

Perhaps Wilcox will finally have a good offense in his 9th season? Maybe he will have an OC and a OL coach this time? Maybe that would work? It took 10 games this season but maybe he learned from this last one you can win games by out scoring the other team in the 4th quarter?

---

I certainly was hopeful that we'd win more than 6 or 7 games this season. Wilcox brought in some talent, not Sebasta, even though Cal Legends was instrumental in helping us get near a level playing field with winning programs.

3-8 Stanfurd sucks. Go Bears!

---

Stanford sucks, only 2 wins in the ACC despite a great Cal alum coach in only his second season.

Cal's great, but only 2 wins in the ACC because of a bad Oregon alum coach in his 8th season.

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

72CalBear said:

---

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

---

The key will be how many players they lose to the Portal going forward. They lost a ton with the transition from Shaw to Taylor and it will take time for Taylor to rebuild out of high school, but only if they don't keep losing players.

My Stanford fan father has been very happy with the creativity of Taylor's offense and thinks they have been able to punch above their weight as a result. They are very weak at DB, which good teams have exploited and we saw on that final drive to finally give us the lead and the win.

---

Perhaps Taylor will fix the DB issue in his third season. That is something Wilcox is very good at.

---

Wilcox was a DB coach and employs two more DB coaches, plus Sebasta brought in a lot of talent for them all to coach up through the Portal.

Perhaps Wilcox will finally have a good offense in his 9th season? Maybe he will have an OC and a OL coach this time? Maybe that would work? It took 10 games this season but maybe he learned from this last one you can win games by out scoring the other team in the 4th quarter?

---

I certainly was hopeful that we'd win more than 6 or 7 games this season. Wilcox brought in some talent, not Sebasta, even though Cal Legends was instrumental in helping us get near a level playing field with winning programs.

3-8 Stanfurd sucks. Go Bears!

---

Stanford sucks, only 2 wins in the ACC despite a great Cal alum coach in only his second season.

Cal's great, but only 2 wins in the ACC because of a bad Oregon alum coach in his 8th season.

---

Cal is great. We were also 4-0 for the rest of our schedule, which makes our record 6-5. Stanford was lousy their entire schedule.

Stanford doesn't take portal transfers? Tell that that to their basketball coach…they have FIVE portal transfers, a pretty good percentage of the men's team.

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

I am comparing the coaching of Cal alum Troy Taylor and Oregon alum Justin Wilcox.

Honestly, how many games do you think Wilcox wins if he were Stanford's coach this year?

---

Anywhere between 3 and 7 wins.

---

No way Wilcox beats Syracuse or Louisville if he was Stanford's coach. He got completely humiliated by Syracuse with far superior talent just a week ago

DoubtfulBear said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

I am comparing the coaching of Cal alum Troy Taylor and Oregon alum Justin Wilcox.

Honestly, how many games do you think Wilcox wins if he were Stanford's coach this year?

---

Anywhere between 3 and 7 wins.

---

No way Wilcox beats Syracuse or Louisville if he was Stanford's coach. He got completely humiliated by Syracuse with far superior talent just a week ago

---

We lost by one touchdown. We weren't humiliated. I do, however, enjoy your demand for excellence.

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

72CalBear said:

---

Stanfurd still gets top high school recruits as is noted by the few battles we have with theirs. I don't think their academic admission requirements are so difficult that as a private school, they can't open the door wider for transfers. Recall before the NIL and transfer portals, they were like Cal and reluctant to even take JC transfers. I don't feel sorry for them at all, nor do I think Coach Taylor is disadvantaged. He knew what he was facing when he took the job, just as Shaw did, who won with what he had. My only holiday wish is that we would get some of those offensive linemen that the Furd seems to get right out of high school.

---

The key will be how many players they lose to the Portal going forward. They lost a ton with the transition from Shaw to Taylor and it will take time for Taylor to rebuild out of high school, but only if they don't keep losing players.

My Stanford fan father has been very happy with the creativity of Taylor's offense and thinks they have been able to punch above their weight as a result. They are very weak at DB, which good teams have exploited and we saw on that final drive to finally give us the lead and the win.

---

Perhaps Taylor will fix the DB issue in his third season. That is something Wilcox is very good at.

---

Wilcox was a DB coach and employs two more DB coaches, plus Sebasta brought in a lot of talent for them all to coach up through the Portal.

Perhaps Wilcox will finally have a good offense in his 9th season? Maybe he will have an OC and a OL coach this time? Maybe that would work? It took 10 games this season but maybe he learned from this last one you can win games by out scoring the other team in the 4th quarter?

---

I certainly was hopeful that we'd win more than 6 or 7 games this season. Wilcox brought in some talent, not Sebasta, even though Cal Legends was instrumental in helping us get near a level playing field with winning programs.

3-8 Stanfurd sucks. Go Bears!

---

Like the banter, but the main reason (and Wilcox has stated so) was the Collective led by Sebasta. There were many many players who signed with Cal that flat out would not have come to Cal without the NIL raised for them - fact. (including several starters). And vice versa a couple of impact lineman passed on Cal due to the shortfall of NIL for them. The two lead recruiting coordinators are awesome and deserve a lot of credit - Much more than Coach Wilcox. He is an introvert in an extrovert job. Knowledgeable, loyal, ethical etc....but effective in recruiting? Not his area of strength.

I could be wrong, but I believe all the transfers they've taken are grad transfers, like Brendan Scarlett was. They don't take undergraduate transfers, which means generally they take guys with only a year of eligibility left. That limits them. The result was that Taylor had a very young team this year, which was part of the problem.

oski003 said:

---

DoubtfulBear said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

oski003 said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

The problem is basically that they won't take transfers in, so the portal for them is a one-way door, in that they lose experienced players, and can't go get players to replace them. Taylor is going to be handicapped as long as that policy exists. I frankly disagree with most other posters in that if we could get Taylor in place of Wilcox, I'd do that, because a) the best coaches we've had in the modern era (White, Snyder, Tedford) focused on the offense; and b0 I think Taylor is a better coach, relative to his material, than Wilcox.

---

Exactly. Cal has been doing great in the portal while Stanford cannot participate due to their transfer policies (though they should be raiding the Ivy's and top academic FCS schools), but they do lose players as you noted. Taylor is building through high school recruiting and playing tons of true freshmen by necessity. The fact they were beating us at CMS and it took a "miracle" drive for us to comeback and win is not the "huge vindication" Wilcox's defenders think it is. Taylor is far and away the better coach, he is just working in a far more difficult environment given the current rules.

---

Prior to and during Taylor's tenure, the furd has had and now has much better high school recruiting rankings than we do. It has been this way the entire time post Tedford. We certainly have been able to close the talent gap with transfers. Stanfurd, after losing to Wilcox, is now 3-8. You do an excellent job making excuses for them.

---

I am comparing the coaching of Cal alum Troy Taylor and Oregon alum Justin Wilcox.

Honestly, how many games do you think Wilcox wins if he were Stanford's coach this year?

---

Anywhere between 3 and 7 wins.

---

No way Wilcox beats Syracuse or Louisville if he was Stanford's coach. He got completely humiliated by Syracuse with far superior talent just a week ago

---

We lost by one touchdown. We weren't humiliated. I do, however, enjoy your demand for excellence.

---

We got a touchdown and 2pt conversion in garbage time. It was 4 quarters of getting smacked around in all three phases of the game. Clearly you didn't watch the game any only saw the final score

Well damn did we win or lose ?