[Fuzzy Dunlop]

I don't think any of us is better qualified than David Shaw to make the quarterback decision. Where is the assumption coming from that Nottingham will be better?

I don't think anybody is assuming that Nottingham WILL be better, only that he MIGHT be better.  So where does that assumption come from (because you are right that Shaw is better qualified than all of us to make the QB decision)?  Shaw picked a QB based on practices; Nottingham has not had enough game experience for that to factor in.  And by most accounts, Nunes and Nottingham were neck-and-neck throughout spring and fall practice.  If Shaw did not explicitly say as much, the fact that he waited so long to pick Nunes implies that Nunes was not substantially better than Nottingham (or the decision would have been made earlier).  So Shaw decided that, based on preseason practices and workouts, Nunes would give Stanford the best chance to win in a game situation.  But given how close Nottingham was to Nunes in practice situations, perhaps Nottingham would in fact be better than Nunes in game situations as well.  Sure, Nottingham might turn out to be worse; but Nunes has been so bad that it makes sense to see if Nottingham would be better in games, even if he was not so in practice. 

To wit, we had no offensive TDs against Washington and multiple 3-and-outs.  The only way that could be worse is if the QB would have thrown more interceptions or more costly interceptions.  That's a pretty low bar.  Give Nottingham (or Hogan or whomever) a chance.
 

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

I don't think any of us is better qualified than David Shaw to make the quarterback decision. Where is the assumption coming from that Nottingham will be better?

I don't think anybody is assuming that Nottingham WILL be better, only that he MIGHT be better.  So where does that assumption come from (because you are right that Shaw is better qualified than all of us to make the QB decision)?  Shaw picked a QB based on practices; Nottingham has not had enough game experience for that to factor in.  And by most accounts, Nunes and Nottingham were neck-and-neck throughout spring and fall practice.  If Shaw did not explicitly say as much, the fact that he waited so long to pick Nunes implies that Nunes was not substantially better than Nottingham (or the decision would have been made earlier).  So Shaw decided that, based on preseason practices and workouts, Nunes would give Stanford the best chance to win in a game situation.  But given how close Nottingham was to Nunes in practice situations, perhaps Nottingham would in fact be better than Nunes in game situations as well.  Sure, Nottingham might turn out to be worse; but Nunes has been so bad that it makes sense to see if Nottingham would be better in games, even if he was not so in practice. 

To wit, we had no offensive TDs against Washington and multiple 3-and-outs.  The only way that could be worse is if the QB would have thrown more interceptions or more costly interceptions.  That's a pretty low bar.  Give Nottingham (or Hogan or whomever) a chance.