11-11-2017, 12:49 PM
Shaw was asked post-game whether this was the best game of his career, which I thought was overreaction and recency bias on the few different levels. (Shaw quite reasonably argued that it wasn't as it was just a regular-season game.) But in some ways the questioner isn't wrong either. Most ranking systems have "game score" components, where they rate each performance on (something like a 0-100 scale). That allows for apples-to-apples comparisons, since they're typically (theoretically) adjusted for opponent quality, etc., with the theory being you can give of exceedingly large proportions credit to a stomping of a high-quality opponent. So, using ESPN's FPI, here are the top ten performances of the Shaw/Harbaugh era. Tie goes to postseason games:
2013 @ASU (champ game) 98
2013 vs Oregon 98
2014 @UCLA 98
2017 vs UW 97
2013 vs ASU 97
2012 @ Oregon 97
2009 SC 97
2010 vs Virginia Tech (Orange Bowl) 96
2015 vs SC (champ game) 96
2016 vs SC 96
2015 @ SC (regular season) 96
2010 @NDÂ 96
Honorable mention:
2012 @UCLA (regular season) 95
2011 @ SC 95
2015 vs UCLA 94
2010 Big Game 94
(Note: I assume different ranking systems have different views. I used ESPN's FPI not because I think it's a better rating system, but because it's pretty quick to navigate.)
EDIT: prompted by stupac, I've updated the list.
2013 @ASU (champ game) 98
2013 vs Oregon 98
2014 @UCLA 98
2017 vs UW 97
2013 vs ASU 97
2012 @ Oregon 97
2009 SC 97
2010 vs Virginia Tech (Orange Bowl) 96
2015 vs SC (champ game) 96
2016 vs SC 96
2015 @ SC (regular season) 96
2010 @NDÂ 96
Honorable mention:
2012 @UCLA (regular season) 95
2011 @ SC 95
2015 vs UCLA 94
2010 Big Game 94
(Note: I assume different ranking systems have different views. I used ESPN's FPI not because I think it's a better rating system, but because it's pretty quick to navigate.)
EDIT: prompted by stupac, I've updated the list.
