[81alum]

Bill Walsh always said you can scheme offense, even when the defense is superior physically.  You need great athletes to be good on defense, regardless of scheme.

You keep defenses vulnerable by being unpredictable, threatening all areas of the field, and beating them to the punch.  It's preferable to line up and challenge the other team when they know what is coming, if you can overpower them, but few teams can dominate the other to make this a sound approach.

I agree that this was Walsh.  Walsh routinely passed on first downs and on short yardage and ran on long yardage during the first half and when behind.  But when Walsh got a lead he attempted to run out the clock with the ground game.  That was usually in the 4th quarter when the defense was depleted and cautious due to their earlier failures.  But for all his connections to Walsh, Shaw has never fully embraced the Walsh philosophy.  Instead, Shaw begins with the power running game that Walsh ends with.  To his credit, it has often worked.  Shaw in undeniably a more successful college coach than Walsh. 

I also agree that playcalling would have made no difference at Washington.  Neither runs nor passes work when you O-line repeatedly has basic blocking breakdowns.

[81alum]

Bill Walsh always said you can scheme offense, even when the defense is superior physically.  You need great athletes to be good on defense, regardless of scheme.

You keep defenses vulnerable by being unpredictable, threatening all areas of the field, and beating them to the punch.  It's preferable to line up and challenge the other team when they know what is coming, if you can overpower them, but few teams can dominate the other to make this a sound approach.

I agree that this was Walsh.  Walsh routinely passed on first downs and on short yardage and ran on long yardage during the first half and when behind.  But when Walsh got a lead he attempted to run out the clock with the ground game.  That was usually in the 4th quarter when the defense was depleted and cautious due to their earlier failures.  But for all his connections to Walsh, Shaw has never fully embraced the Walsh philosophy.  Instead, Shaw begins with the power running game that Walsh ends with.  To his credit, it has often worked.  Shaw in undeniably a more successful college coach than Walsh. 

I also agree that playcalling would have made no difference at Washington.  Neither runs nor passes work when you O-line repeatedly has basic blocking breakdowns.