Shaw's turtling has dominated the conversation here and overshadowed what was a huge road win for Stanford and what I believed was the 2nd most challenging game remaining on the schedule (Stanford was -2.5, I'm guessing we'll be -3.5 for WSU).
Flemming should do every Stanford game. He is very good, the best and most knowledgable I've seen to date.
Stanford's ability to execute on screen passes and Costello's ability to run for critical first downs were key positive takeaways from me last night. Oh, and Adebo is a very special talent. I'd pay money to watch him guard JJAW on fade routes in practice.
Really nice game from Trent Irwin against the school he almost went to. I expect him to have a very solid, long NFL career.
Jet Toner hasn't missed since SDSU (eight in a row). We're very fortunate to have him for two more seasons. Bailey is, obviously, a beast.
The win sets up a huge homecoming tilt. If Stanford can beat WSU, the UW game essentially becomes a play in game for us to reach the PAC title game. My tailgate to game watch ratio dropped significantly with the win (that said, anyone who wants to tailgate, stop by Gate 13... free Fighting Shaw shirts for all!)
I'll be rooting for WSU on Saturday. It will be good for Oregon to have a 2nd loss and assure Stanford can win the North by sweeping the Washington schools (even if we drop a road game to UCLA or Kal).
I caught the final 25 minutes of the game at the Old Pro last night and the attendant attractions likely assuaged my anguish over the 4th quarter play calling. There's a high school coach who never punts, the Brewers are starting lefties and immediately pulling them leaving the Dodgers with a sub-optimal lineup. The Atlanta Falcons famously lost the Super Bowl with an anti-turtle strategy where they literally could've taken 20 straight knees and won the game. After last night, I put Shaw's "protect the lead" turtle approach into the camp of these other wacky, extreme approaches. While I believe it has been overly maligned to-date, I also think he takes it way too far. If your goal is to run clock on every single play, Stanford would be far better served mixing in screen passes, bootlegs where KJ only passes if he has a wide open receiver and (gasp) the wildcat. You can turtle in a far more interesting, effective manner.
My bigger concern with Stanford's offensive approach is the misalignment of personnel to philosophy.
- KJ loves to play fast and get in rhythm
- The receiving weapons are an embarrassment of riches
- The OL is much better in pass blocking than run blocking
- Love is elusive in space but not a traditional power back
Yet... we continue to run an offense that runs from it's obvious advantages trying to jam a square peg into a round hole (or perhaps a square Speights into a non-existent hole). Any competent play caller would have the team scoring at least 10 PPG more than the disappointing showing thus far.
All that said, I actually went to bed relatively pleased last night (unlike apparently many here) and excited for the WSU and then UW games and the possibility of another improbable PAC North title.
Flemming should do every Stanford game. He is very good, the best and most knowledgable I've seen to date.
Stanford's ability to execute on screen passes and Costello's ability to run for critical first downs were key positive takeaways from me last night. Oh, and Adebo is a very special talent. I'd pay money to watch him guard JJAW on fade routes in practice.
Really nice game from Trent Irwin against the school he almost went to. I expect him to have a very solid, long NFL career.
Jet Toner hasn't missed since SDSU (eight in a row). We're very fortunate to have him for two more seasons. Bailey is, obviously, a beast.
The win sets up a huge homecoming tilt. If Stanford can beat WSU, the UW game essentially becomes a play in game for us to reach the PAC title game. My tailgate to game watch ratio dropped significantly with the win (that said, anyone who wants to tailgate, stop by Gate 13... free Fighting Shaw shirts for all!)
I'll be rooting for WSU on Saturday. It will be good for Oregon to have a 2nd loss and assure Stanford can win the North by sweeping the Washington schools (even if we drop a road game to UCLA or Kal).
I caught the final 25 minutes of the game at the Old Pro last night and the attendant attractions likely assuaged my anguish over the 4th quarter play calling. There's a high school coach who never punts, the Brewers are starting lefties and immediately pulling them leaving the Dodgers with a sub-optimal lineup. The Atlanta Falcons famously lost the Super Bowl with an anti-turtle strategy where they literally could've taken 20 straight knees and won the game. After last night, I put Shaw's "protect the lead" turtle approach into the camp of these other wacky, extreme approaches. While I believe it has been overly maligned to-date, I also think he takes it way too far. If your goal is to run clock on every single play, Stanford would be far better served mixing in screen passes, bootlegs where KJ only passes if he has a wide open receiver and (gasp) the wildcat. You can turtle in a far more interesting, effective manner.
My bigger concern with Stanford's offensive approach is the misalignment of personnel to philosophy.
- KJ loves to play fast and get in rhythm
- The receiving weapons are an embarrassment of riches
- The OL is much better in pass blocking than run blocking
- Love is elusive in space but not a traditional power back
Yet... we continue to run an offense that runs from it's obvious advantages trying to jam a square peg into a round hole (or perhaps a square Speights into a non-existent hole). Any competent play caller would have the team scoring at least 10 PPG more than the disappointing showing thus far.
All that said, I actually went to bed relatively pleased last night (unlike apparently many here) and excited for the WSU and then UW games and the possibility of another improbable PAC North title.
