One of my favorite post-game rituals throughout this season has been walking down from the press box after home games and just standing on the field. By this point, the players have long departed; the band has played its last song. All that remains are shreds of torn-up grass and those blinding floodlights overhead — a taste, no matter how diluted, of big-time college football.
On Saturday, though, the inexplicable jolt of adrenaline that typically accompanies stepping into the heart of Stanford Stadium never came, replaced instead by an unshakeable emptiness. In total, we spent no more than 30 seconds out there before heading out of the tunnel, only stopping briefly at the spot in the center of the end zone where the Cardinal’s two-point conversion attempt — and hopes of an immaculate Pac-12 record — fell just short.
As we trudged back through the tunnel to leave the scene of the crime — that of stolen national championship dreams — and passed by the team locker room, that feeling of emptiness gave way to a flashback. Exactly 364 days previously, following a Nov. 15 loss to Utah, backup safety John Flacco launched what can only be described as a fireball of a speech from that very same locker room, one that resonated through the walls and the eardrums of everyone in a 50-yard radius.
And, as crazy as it sounds, those memories of the “Rant Heard ‘Round the Farm” put a little spring back in my step.
As easy as it is for a fan to feel demoralized after a tough loss, the burden on the players is orders of magnitude greater. Yet you wouldn’t know that by the way Stanford has consistently shed that burden in the past, as if it were a would-be tackler or blocker.
We’ve seen Stanford rebound from loss in spectacular fashion behind a sense of perspective and maturity you just don’t expect out of a team of 18-22 year-olds. When I attended practice following the Northwestern loss, an ugly game that invited every possible opportunity to feel demoralized, I was expecting to step into a very different environment from the jovial, high-energy world of training camp.
Instead, the enthusiasm in the post-practice huddle was higher (and louder) than at any point before, a point David Shaw emphasized as well, noting at the time: “Our guys are the best. They always respond.”
Someone forgot to review the proper decorum in operating after a devastatingly bad loss with Stanford.
Always good for an inspirational quote, former U.S. general George Patton once remarked: “I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs, but how high he bounces when he hits rock bottom.”
In the Shaw era, Stanford has only dropped consecutive games on a single occasion: last season against Utah. The loss brought the Cardinal to 5-5 on the season. In this golden decade of Stanford football, this might as well constitute rock bottom for a team that had known nothing but New Year’s in Pasadena.
Enter the Flacco speech, which came at just the right time to fill the vacuum of leadership in that young team, galvanizing Stanford to a 3-0 finish of sheer domination with wins over Cal, No. 9 UCLA and Maryland.
Twelve months later, and it’s happened all over again. Following a crushing mid-November loss, the Cardinal again face Cal in a high-stakes Big Game with everything to play for. Last year, it was bowl eligibility; this year, the Pac-12 North.
Although Oregon took the wind out of the sails of a ship heading for the College Football Playoff, I wouldn’t count out a strong finish from the Cardinal just yet. As we left the stadium that Saturday night, we saw fifth-year senior quarterback Kevin Hogan unassumingly slip out of the locker room and dissolve into the throng of fans waiting at the gate. Despite a performance that certainly won’t rank amongst the best of his storied career, Hogan still had that look in his eye, that flash of pure determination he’s carried all season.
Stanford appears to lack no shortage of leadership or experience this season. With the ultimate goal of a conference title still very much alive, we just might see the best of Stanford football coming up.
Ask Vihan Lakshman what he would have said if he had been the one to deliver the “Rant Heard ‘Round The Farm” at vihan ‘at’ stanford.edu.