Damn. Good thing we left some sinking ships in the old Pac-12, as the NIL money has dried up at Cal, and thus why the mass exodus of their best players out earlier this year.

But Stanford announced a $140 Million Budget Shortfall, and has eliminated 363 campus positions. (At Oregon, we gotta count our blessings!)

The average home attendance for the Cardinal last fall was only 26,035?

Good gosh, even Beavis at least averaged 35,799 in Corvallis!

Way to go...'Furd.

$40 Billion endowment, these are all choices being made.

You'd think with Stanford's rich football history that it would have more support from the school...

1 hour ago, kirklandduck said:

You'd think with Stanford's rich football history that it would have more support from the school...

I think playing a bunch of ACC teams that have no connection to Stanford (and Cal for that matter) was difficult to get people to the games. Especially since neither team is good.

I've said it a million times at this point but one more for good measure. Stanford is perhaps the biggest loser in the transfer portal and NIL era.

Their academic standards make it that an athlete must qualify for for masters programs and be accepted for those programs effectively independent of football. So they feed the portal and don't draw from it.

Sure they can kinda target some undergrads but there is a reason David Shaw left when he did... He couldn't retain or recruit effectively anymore. Players come and go and Stanford can't compete.

My mother, Stanford class ‘34, would have agreed that other than the Big Game against Cal, football tipped the enthusiasm scales in Palo Alto about even with other sports; and, maybe a bit less than Olympic specific ones.

Looks like there tepid support for the gridiron has finally caught up with them.

27 minutes ago, Washington Waddler said:

My mother, Stanford class ‘34, would have agreed that other than the Big Game against Cal, football tipped the enthusiasm scales in Palo Alto about even with other sports; and, maybe a bit less than Olympic specific ones.

Looks like there tepid support for the gridiron has finally caught up with them.

When you are not supported from the top of the administration on down, and your AD can make terrible hires and not be removed, when it's not cool (or whatever today's word is) for students to attend football games, you will not have a winning program.

Today's students are tomorrow's boosters. If they are not fans today, the money needed to sustain excellence will not be there.

5 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

When you are not supported from the top of the administration on down, and your AD can make terrible hires and not be removed, when it's not cool (or whatever today's word is) for students to attend football games, you will not have a winning program.

For the vast majority of universities, that “from the top” is absolutely essential simply because football is so expensive and it’s importances to the overall health of other sports programs does not allow that support to lack focus.

Stanford’s endowment makes them the exception, allowing them, it appears, to support non-revenue programs without suffering the consequences most other schools would feel.

Edited Monday at 07:58 PM2 days by Washington Waddler
editing

I’m not sure about Cal, but I can see Stanford going down an Ivy League road in terms of football.

Stanford has a relatively small enrollment and alumni base. Their stadium renovation was very good, and I find it to be an excellent venue to watch a game. However, it’s rare that they get a strong crowd. The renovation at Cal’s Memorial Stadium was also excellent, and it too is a great place to watch football. Large crowds are also rare at Cal.

I’ve lost count of how many Duck games I watched in those stadiums through the years. Great memories. However, the Bay Area is NFL oriented, with a limited enthusiasm for college football. I’m not sure that either program remains relevant in the current milieu of college football.

Con-zano and his followers who say Oregon betrayed Oregon State and will regret their move to the B1G need to read this. Oregon supports their athletic department , yes there's one very huge supporter. But it's not like the fans and alumni give nothing. I used to watch PAC TEN football after dark when I'd be out past midnight. There were many great games, but you could tell the difference in environment.

These games started at 8 pm Pacific Time You could start games at 8 pm Eastern Time, or Central Time for programs in the SEC or B1G and the crowds would be there as if it were a five PM kickoff. There's just different levels to these programs and you see it week in and week out. I've talked to fans from Utah, Arizona State, and Arizona a lot during football season and they would often tell me that there were many apathetic game day atmospheres in the PAC. The two they said were the toughest to get tickets to? Oregon and Washington.

I have walked up several times and been able to get really cheap Sun Devil tickets on game day. The times I couldn't? You guessed it, Oregon, Washington and Utah. Arizona too, but that's pretty obvious.

Edited 19 hours ago19 hr by GatOrlando

In the even worse category, Stanford's starting quarterback in Week 0, on the road in Honolulu, will be one of the 17 players who transferred in from the transfer portal: 6th-year senior Ben Gulbranson.

Ben started three of OSU's last four games in 2024, but left for Stanford knowing that $1.5 million QB Malik Murphy would start this season. A Bing search of Ben finds him still in Corvallis; his transfer to Furd was most certainly not B1G news.

Malik is working his way to FCS Portland State after starting a couple of games at Texas when Quinn Ewers was hurt, starting for Duke in 2024 before transferring out, knowing he would lose his job in Durham to a QB transferring in from Tulane, Darian Mensah. For a reported $3 million NIL deal, Mensa(h) was smart to transfer to Duke 😁.

Cal had many starters transfer out, especially on offense, due to Wilcox's hiring of former Boise State and Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin as Cal's OC. Heck of a hire when the newbie runs off all of your best players, one reason Wilcox now reports to GM Ron Rivera.

Wilcox does not get Cal to a bowl game this season, and if Cal has enough money, Wilcox is likely gone, with the GM also serving as head coach? Perhaps the Bears can use some of that B1G money purloined from the Bruins to buy out the coach?

Stanford lost many starters to GM Andrew Luck's firing of Troy Taylor, who is suing Stanford for wrongful termination of his contract. 17 players transferring to Stanford is a record by a good bit. Luck may have conditioned his hire on the administration being willing to admit more transfers out of the portal.

Stanford opened -2.5 at Hawaii, now bet down to -1.5. This speaks for itself as to the nadir of Stanford football.

Thank goodness OBD caught the last B1G plane out.