1. As has become depressingly (although also kind of morbidly hilariously) commonplace, we have another nominee for quintessential Stanford loss in this Shaw-ful era of being arguably the worst program in Power Five football. This had many of the trappings - clock management failings leaving too much time for an opponent to score, untimely screw-ups on both sides of the ball to squander a lead (do we have our own nomination for a term to replace Coug'n it?), a backup QB having a career day. What most stuck out to me, though, was how much it crystallized how far we've fallen as a program that we even were in a position to lose that game to that team. We were playing at home against a mediocre team that was playing without their quarterback and worked all game to hand us the victory, and we played a very good game by Stanford football standards and we still managed to lose. Remarkable. If that doesn't sum up why the current state of the Stanford program is hopeless and urgently in need of a complete overhaul, including Shaw and all his career wins being gone, I don't know what does.
2. It really was a very good game by Stanford football standards. We only got outgained by 0.6 yards per play, which is our most competitive FBS game in over a year since the 2021 Oregon win). Believe it or not, both the offense and the defense actually did better than the Beaver yard per play average this season, and special teams was a big net positive for us. The offense gained 0.26 more yards per play than the Beaver defense allows on average, better than anybody but Utah and Fresno State, and the defense gave up 0.11 yards per play less than the Beav average (though worse than Pac-12 defenses have been doing), and that 6.50 yards per play was better than we've done against our last six FBS opponents. We played closer to our potential than we have all year (and going back a ways last year too) and had just about everything go our way in terms of the comedy of errors on the Oregon State side that made this competitive - playing with a backup QB, playing with no long snapper in the second half and thus forgoing extra points three times, missing a 40 yard field goal, attempting an ill-advised onside kick, racking up 90 penalty yards (FBS average is 57) including one that wiped out a touchdown, kicking the ball out of bounds to start the second half. Oregon State did everything they could to hand this to us, we played the best we have in a year. And despite all that we still lost. At home. To a team that now at 4-2 still isn't one of the 45 teams with votes in the coaches' poll or one of the 40 teams with votes in the AP poll. This captures the hopelessness of Stanford football as well as any other loss.
3. Given the imperative that we get a new coaching staff as soon as possible, I am watching Shaw's handling of all of this closely. IMHO, his press conference last night continued the unbothered and unstressed Shaw we've been seeing. He doesn't present as angry, confused, or even frustrated. He isn't making an effort to spin or make excuses. Instead, he's just matter of fact about all this being difficult for the team and what his challenge is ahead to build on the positives, which he is eager to note were more plentiful in this game than in prior games. I only see three possibilities: (A) Shaw's personality is even more congenitally even keel than I thought after watching him the last 15 years (working against this hypothesis is we have seen pique, excuse-making, and signs of stress in the past); (B) all the losing has beaten Shaw down and he has completed the transition from a coach with pride to a coach with an unambitious loser's mentality fine with moral victories; or (C) he has come to peace with this being the end of the road and is just focused on setting a good example, loving his players, and helping those who will be helped develop into better football players an men. I am hoping it is not just wishful thinking but my gut feels (C) is what's going on.
2. It really was a very good game by Stanford football standards. We only got outgained by 0.6 yards per play, which is our most competitive FBS game in over a year since the 2021 Oregon win). Believe it or not, both the offense and the defense actually did better than the Beaver yard per play average this season, and special teams was a big net positive for us. The offense gained 0.26 more yards per play than the Beaver defense allows on average, better than anybody but Utah and Fresno State, and the defense gave up 0.11 yards per play less than the Beav average (though worse than Pac-12 defenses have been doing), and that 6.50 yards per play was better than we've done against our last six FBS opponents. We played closer to our potential than we have all year (and going back a ways last year too) and had just about everything go our way in terms of the comedy of errors on the Oregon State side that made this competitive - playing with a backup QB, playing with no long snapper in the second half and thus forgoing extra points three times, missing a 40 yard field goal, attempting an ill-advised onside kick, racking up 90 penalty yards (FBS average is 57) including one that wiped out a touchdown, kicking the ball out of bounds to start the second half. Oregon State did everything they could to hand this to us, we played the best we have in a year. And despite all that we still lost. At home. To a team that now at 4-2 still isn't one of the 45 teams with votes in the coaches' poll or one of the 40 teams with votes in the AP poll. This captures the hopelessness of Stanford football as well as any other loss.
3. Given the imperative that we get a new coaching staff as soon as possible, I am watching Shaw's handling of all of this closely. IMHO, his press conference last night continued the unbothered and unstressed Shaw we've been seeing. He doesn't present as angry, confused, or even frustrated. He isn't making an effort to spin or make excuses. Instead, he's just matter of fact about all this being difficult for the team and what his challenge is ahead to build on the positives, which he is eager to note were more plentiful in this game than in prior games. I only see three possibilities: (A) Shaw's personality is even more congenitally even keel than I thought after watching him the last 15 years (working against this hypothesis is we have seen pique, excuse-making, and signs of stress in the past); (B) all the losing has beaten Shaw down and he has completed the transition from a coach with pride to a coach with an unambitious loser's mentality fine with moral victories; or (C) he has come to peace with this being the end of the road and is just focused on setting a good example, loving his players, and helping those who will be helped develop into better football players an men. I am hoping it is not just wishful thinking but my gut feels (C) is what's going on.
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