Ok I am going to be a little bit of a contrarian. I am not going so far as to say Chryst staying in was the right call, but here are my reasons why it MIGHT have been the right call.
1. The number one reason why Stanford sticks with the qb who knows the playbook best is to get us into the right play. On MANY occasions last night, we were in great shape with run plays that Bryce would have turned into touchdowns. Assuming Bryce gets better soon, the most important thing a qb can do for us is to be the on-field game manager. Bryce is great but if the defense is run blitzing right into where the play is called, we need whoever can best make that read, then put us into the best play to exploit that read.
2. There was a point in the game where it looked like Shaw should pull Chryst, then the broadcast showed Chryst and Shaw talking on the sideline, and Chryst was gesticulating and it looked like he was describing what he was seeing, and Shaw is taking it in. Then Shaw keeps Chryst in. I dont know what they said, but maybe Chryst is seeing defenses and tricks that werent on tape and Shaw didnt prepare either qb for, and Shaw needs to weigh the fact that if there are surprises out there, Costello might do worse. As bad as Oregon State is, their interim head coach played like 5 years in the NFL in the defensive secondary. That is a pretty exceptional background. And did you see the Oregon State coach pumping up his players on the sideline? Think Harbaugh, except with a defensive secondary background instead of qbing.
3. I wonder if a lot of it was that Coach Shaw blamed himself because the team clearly didnt come ready. The Beavs had a great gameplan to stop a Bryce-less Stanford, they executed it really well, and they played with great passion. I kind of hope part of the reason Chryst sucked so much was because he just spent the last 2 weeks actually preparing for Washington and Wazoo. Looking too far ahead is a terrible, terrible mistake for a head coach... if you lose, which we did not.
Wazoo and UDub will shed more light on these, for better or for worse.
1. The number one reason why Stanford sticks with the qb who knows the playbook best is to get us into the right play. On MANY occasions last night, we were in great shape with run plays that Bryce would have turned into touchdowns. Assuming Bryce gets better soon, the most important thing a qb can do for us is to be the on-field game manager. Bryce is great but if the defense is run blitzing right into where the play is called, we need whoever can best make that read, then put us into the best play to exploit that read.
2. There was a point in the game where it looked like Shaw should pull Chryst, then the broadcast showed Chryst and Shaw talking on the sideline, and Chryst was gesticulating and it looked like he was describing what he was seeing, and Shaw is taking it in. Then Shaw keeps Chryst in. I dont know what they said, but maybe Chryst is seeing defenses and tricks that werent on tape and Shaw didnt prepare either qb for, and Shaw needs to weigh the fact that if there are surprises out there, Costello might do worse. As bad as Oregon State is, their interim head coach played like 5 years in the NFL in the defensive secondary. That is a pretty exceptional background. And did you see the Oregon State coach pumping up his players on the sideline? Think Harbaugh, except with a defensive secondary background instead of qbing.
3. I wonder if a lot of it was that Coach Shaw blamed himself because the team clearly didnt come ready. The Beavs had a great gameplan to stop a Bryce-less Stanford, they executed it really well, and they played with great passion. I kind of hope part of the reason Chryst sucked so much was because he just spent the last 2 weeks actually preparing for Washington and Wazoo. Looking too far ahead is a terrible, terrible mistake for a head coach... if you lose, which we did not.
Wazoo and UDub will shed more light on these, for better or for worse.