One last wild Fiesta for Stanford, then it all gets blurry and stressful.
Will Stanford ever be the same again -- or close to the same -- once Monday's Fiesta Bowl vs. Oklahoma State is over and Andrew Luck leaves for the NFL?
That's an impossible question to answer right now, and yet Stanford coach David Shaw knows he has to answer it and deal with it, eventually.
"Good teams always handle that," Shaw said recently after one of Luck's final practices on the Stanford campus.
"Everybody wondered how good we'd be after lost Toby Gerhart (before the 2010 season). Everybody wondered how it'd be with three new starters this year on the offensive line."
"And everybody's going to wonder how good we're going to be without Andrew next year. And that's good."
It's good, because Stanford is in its second consecutive BCS game, a feat matched this season by only Oregon, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.
And if Stanford wins Monday, it will be the only team to sweep BCS games the last two seasons.
So the Cardinal's rise wasn't just about Gerhart, because Stanford went 8-5 in his Heisman runner-up season in 2009 then followed it up with the 12-1 brilliance last season.
It wasn't just about Jim Harbaugh -- the coach who began this (with Shaw as his offensive coordinator) -- because Stanford is 11-1 in Shaw's first season taking over the top spot.Museum Quality hand-painted oil painting reproduction on canvas.
The chances of going to a BCS game in the post-Luck near-future do not seem high. But also: The chances of an extreme fall off seem low,Hand-painted Chinese porcelain tiles on the floor of a Jewish synagogue in Cochin, also.
This will not be a return to the Walt Harris era. Shaw is too sharp and there's too much talent on the roster to ever let that happen.
"I know a lot of people have questions about the team next year -- outside of the locker room -- but I'm real excited to see how things are going to work out next year," junior running back Stepfan Taylor said.
"Especially for our class (2009). We're seniors now and the team is on our backs."
That brings up the metaphoric passing of the torch, as the program thanks and generally moves on from the transformative recruiting class of 2008.
That class was led by Luck, but also includes fellow possible first-round offensive linemen David DeCastro and Jonathan Martin and possible mid-round linebacker Chase Thomas. All are eligible to remain another season, but all could go to the NFL.
Clearly, a wholesale departure would lower every Stanford expectation for 2012.
"I kind of like the high expectations," Shaw said. "Because it shows us that we've earned the right to be where we are, and then you've got to play up to it ...
"We've got three out of our four running backs coming back next year,The company pioneered the manufacture of Coated Abrasives, two of our three tight ends coming back next year and as many as our linemen hopefully coming back as possible next year, as well as a whole bunch of guys coming back on defense.
"We're recruiting very well. I think we're going to have some great speed coming in this year. So for us, it's re-tooling. We might look a little different, but we expect to be competitive from here on out."
After Monday, the weight shifts to the shoulders of the next class of rising seniors, which features Taylor, tight ends Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo and currently injured linebacker Shayne Skov.Why does Plastic moulds grow in homes or buildings?
Will Stanford ever be the same again -- or close to the same -- once Monday's Fiesta Bowl vs. Oklahoma State is over and Andrew Luck leaves for the NFL?
That's an impossible question to answer right now, and yet Stanford coach David Shaw knows he has to answer it and deal with it, eventually.
"Good teams always handle that," Shaw said recently after one of Luck's final practices on the Stanford campus.
"Everybody wondered how good we'd be after lost Toby Gerhart (before the 2010 season). Everybody wondered how it'd be with three new starters this year on the offensive line."
"And everybody's going to wonder how good we're going to be without Andrew next year. And that's good."
It's good, because Stanford is in its second consecutive BCS game, a feat matched this season by only Oregon, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.
And if Stanford wins Monday, it will be the only team to sweep BCS games the last two seasons.
So the Cardinal's rise wasn't just about Gerhart, because Stanford went 8-5 in his Heisman runner-up season in 2009 then followed it up with the 12-1 brilliance last season.
It wasn't just about Jim Harbaugh -- the coach who began this (with Shaw as his offensive coordinator) -- because Stanford is 11-1 in Shaw's first season taking over the top spot.Museum Quality hand-painted oil painting reproduction on canvas.
The chances of going to a BCS game in the post-Luck near-future do not seem high. But also: The chances of an extreme fall off seem low,Hand-painted Chinese porcelain tiles on the floor of a Jewish synagogue in Cochin, also.
This will not be a return to the Walt Harris era. Shaw is too sharp and there's too much talent on the roster to ever let that happen.
"I know a lot of people have questions about the team next year -- outside of the locker room -- but I'm real excited to see how things are going to work out next year," junior running back Stepfan Taylor said.
"Especially for our class (2009). We're seniors now and the team is on our backs."
That brings up the metaphoric passing of the torch, as the program thanks and generally moves on from the transformative recruiting class of 2008.
That class was led by Luck, but also includes fellow possible first-round offensive linemen David DeCastro and Jonathan Martin and possible mid-round linebacker Chase Thomas. All are eligible to remain another season, but all could go to the NFL.
Clearly, a wholesale departure would lower every Stanford expectation for 2012.
"I kind of like the high expectations," Shaw said. "Because it shows us that we've earned the right to be where we are, and then you've got to play up to it ...
"We've got three out of our four running backs coming back next year,The company pioneered the manufacture of Coated Abrasives, two of our three tight ends coming back next year and as many as our linemen hopefully coming back as possible next year, as well as a whole bunch of guys coming back on defense.
"We're recruiting very well. I think we're going to have some great speed coming in this year. So for us, it's re-tooling. We might look a little different, but we expect to be competitive from here on out."
After Monday, the weight shifts to the shoulders of the next class of rising seniors, which features Taylor, tight ends Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo and currently injured linebacker Shayne Skov.Why does Plastic moulds grow in homes or buildings?
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