[d4cohn]

The fact that we were running in the first place is the problem. KJ had been lighting them up all day long and the running game was, once again, awful. ShawVitaBerry gave UCLA every opportunity to tie or win this with unbelievably stupid playcalling and they are damn lucky for the second time this year (ASU).

This offensive brain trust needs to be blown up in the offseason.

We have had essentially three games this year where the game was not a blowout in either direction, and as such, Stanford was put in position to ice away a 1-2 touchdown lead (USC, ASU, UCLA). For these three instances in which Coach Shaw leaned on his defense, SC managed 0 points in the entire second half, UCLA managed 0 points on their last three drives with a missed FG, and ASU managed one TD, while also throwing an INT and punting twice). All three games ended in wins. 

As I indicated on the game thread yesterday, I thought Coach Shaw's only two major mistakes were the playcall after the INT (leading to the safety and special teams TD, a 9 point swing in a 14 point game that we had in complete control; if anything, these are the types of swings Coach Shaw tries to avoid when he tries to grind out the clock and lean on the defense, as the safety was essentially a TO), and his playcall on 3rd and 25 to have Costello scramble, rather than try to throw 10-15 yards in plus territory to set up a FG attempt, and an opportunity at an 8 point game.

[d4cohn]

The fact that we were running in the first place is the problem. KJ had been lighting them up all day long and the running game was, once again, awful. ShawVitaBerry gave UCLA every opportunity to tie or win this with unbelievably stupid playcalling and they are damn lucky for the second time this year (ASU).

This offensive brain trust needs to be blown up in the offseason.

We have had essentially three games this year where the game was not a blowout in either direction, and as such, Stanford was put in position to ice away a 1-2 touchdown lead (USC, ASU, UCLA). For these three instances in which Coach Shaw leaned on his defense, SC managed 0 points in the entire second half, UCLA managed 0 points on their last three drives with a missed FG, and ASU managed one TD, while also throwing an INT and punting twice). All three games ended in wins. 

As I indicated on the game thread yesterday, I thought Coach Shaw's only two major mistakes were the playcall after the INT (leading to the safety and special teams TD, a 9 point swing in a 14 point game that we had in complete control; if anything, these are the types of swings Coach Shaw tries to avoid when he tries to grind out the clock and lean on the defense, as the safety was essentially a TO), and his playcall on 3rd and 25 to have Costello scramble, rather than try to throw 10-15 yards in plus territory to set up a FG attempt, and an opportunity at an 8 point game.