[Goose]

Well it almost happened in the Sun Bowl.  Stanford's last offensive possession was almost as bad as PSU's last one with the lead against U$C.  Granted, Stanford had nothing remotely close to Trace McSorely at QB, or frankly a Saquon Barkley at RB, but whoever was calling the plays for Stanford on its last offensive possession vs. PSU didn't cover themselves in glory, IMO.

I assume you mean vs UNC. I do not agree at all that the short side run to Love was foolish. Love going out of bounds was very, very foolish, yes. In that situation, the player has to know that he hasn't got the first down and go down in bounds, period. I don't really think you are suggesting that we should have had Burns pass are you? If you are, I will point out all the posts excoriating his ability to do so. Chryst still in the game, maybe. Burns? If not, what else do you do? A run up the middle would be an acceptable call, but it most likely wouldn't get a first down. I could live with that. Not aggressive, but it does force them to burn their time out. Zone read or quarterback run? Possible, but remember that Burns has had a tendency to fumble in the past. I could kind of see this kind of play as OK, but much more risky. It could possibly be unexpected enough to get a first down. An outside run to the wide side of the field would have been a good option. Outside runs usually use a bit more time than inside ones, and you have the whole field to work with. But the defense knows this and probably is expecting it. This is what I would call the "most probable" call. So the short side run has the advantage of being an outside run that uses a bit more clock and possibly is not what they expect. I think this is actually a reasonably good call. I guess you could actually try to run a traditional pitch option, but that has the same or worse downside as a read option. I would not choose that essentially ever.
So what do you suggest? Remember, we have Burns, not Wilson. And Baldwin doesn't play here any more.

[Goose]

Well it almost happened in the Sun Bowl.  Stanford's last offensive possession was almost as bad as PSU's last one with the lead against U$C.  Granted, Stanford had nothing remotely close to Trace McSorely at QB, or frankly a Saquon Barkley at RB, but whoever was calling the plays for Stanford on its last offensive possession vs. PSU didn't cover themselves in glory, IMO.

I assume you mean vs UNC. I do not agree at all that the short side run to Love was foolish. Love going out of bounds was very, very foolish, yes. In that situation, the player has to know that he hasn't got the first down and go down in bounds, period. I don't really think you are suggesting that we should have had Burns pass are you? If you are, I will point out all the posts excoriating his ability to do so. Chryst still in the game, maybe. Burns? If not, what else do you do? A run up the middle would be an acceptable call, but it most likely wouldn't get a first down. I could live with that. Not aggressive, but it does force them to burn their time out. Zone read or quarterback run? Possible, but remember that Burns has had a tendency to fumble in the past. I could kind of see this kind of play as OK, but much more risky. It could possibly be unexpected enough to get a first down. An outside run to the wide side of the field would have been a good option. Outside runs usually use a bit more time than inside ones, and you have the whole field to work with. But the defense knows this and probably is expecting it. This is what I would call the "most probable" call. So the short side run has the advantage of being an outside run that uses a bit more clock and possibly is not what they expect. I think this is actually a reasonably good call. I guess you could actually try to run a traditional pitch option, but that has the same or worse downside as a read option. I would not choose that essentially ever.
So what do you suggest? Remember, we have Burns, not Wilson. And Baldwin doesn't play here any more.