[Roberton3]

I'm not going to second-guess the Nunes/Nottingham decision.  The coaches have seen both of them in practice much more than any outside observer has.  And the coaches know the playbook, so they can tell whether the QB is making the right calls.  The rest of us can't.

I also don't care very much about how exciting Stanford's style of play is.  I care much more about winning.  If being boring is the best way to win, then I'm firmly in favor of being boring.

With all of that said, however, I do agree that Shaw's playcalling has been too conservative.  And that played some role in both losses last year.  Going for it on fourth down more often in the Oregon game would probably have helped (mathematical analysis shows that most coaches don't go for it on fourth down often enough, and that's even more true when you have two strong offenses in the game, as was the case in the Oregon game).  Would it have made the difference between a loss and a win?  Probably not, but it probably would have made the game closer.  And as plenty of others have pointed out in this thread (and plenty of other threads), being more aggressive could well have won the game against OSU.  Shaw's a great coach, but he'd be even better if he weren't so cautious with his play calling.

[Roberton3]

I'm not going to second-guess the Nunes/Nottingham decision.  The coaches have seen both of them in practice much more than any outside observer has.  And the coaches know the playbook, so they can tell whether the QB is making the right calls.  The rest of us can't.

I also don't care very much about how exciting Stanford's style of play is.  I care much more about winning.  If being boring is the best way to win, then I'm firmly in favor of being boring.

With all of that said, however, I do agree that Shaw's playcalling has been too conservative.  And that played some role in both losses last year.  Going for it on fourth down more often in the Oregon game would probably have helped (mathematical analysis shows that most coaches don't go for it on fourth down often enough, and that's even more true when you have two strong offenses in the game, as was the case in the Oregon game).  Would it have made the difference between a loss and a win?  Probably not, but it probably would have made the game closer.  And as plenty of others have pointed out in this thread (and plenty of other threads), being more aggressive could well have won the game against OSU.  Shaw's a great coach, but he'd be even better if he weren't so cautious with his play calling.