[washingtonismoney]

That being said, this year there is accumulating evidence that our player personnel is not well suited to running the football.  The "stuff rate" cited by slide is particularly egregious, and looking at tape the runs very often look doomed from the start, with defensive linemen in the backfield before the running back can hit the hole.  So, while we need to acknowledge that Shaw is actually passing more than he has historically, more often than not the shift seems to come after he has proven (again) that we can't run the ball.  I admire his willingness to give the run game every chance to succeed, but this is one case where the "eye test" and the statistics don't lie.  We are a worse rushing team than every other team in the Pac-12, including pass happy Washington State, and even worse than every team in the pass happy Big Twelve.   I hope that even though it is a challenge to our offensive identity, Shaw realizes that our best chance to win will come by passing more early and complementing the passing game with a few well-timed runs to keep the defense honest, rather than waiting until our rushing attack is proven infeffective after the first couple series of the game.

And I agree, the bigger indictment of Shaw and the rest of the coaching staff is not that he is calling runs when he should be calling passes, or running between the tackles when he should be running outside.  Rather, it is that the staff has failed to either recruit or develop the talent needed to run his preferred scheme.  And, though it might be tempting to cite recruiting limitations that we are facing, I don't think there is a lack of individual talent on the team.  And if getting a collection of individuals to execute together as a team is not the first and most important duty of a coach, I don't know what is.

BC

Right. I agree that the playcalling at times has been, seemingly, wishcasting -- running into cramped boxes. However, in the abstract, it seems Shaw grasps that the relative strengths of the team are passing -- because he's doing a lot of it. It's just that even the passing is not as consistent as it needs to be for a quality offense. Which means (for me) that slightly different playcalling would probably move the needle a little bit, but probably not make a big difference. 

That gets to the larger issue, that despite seemingly abundant talent, something in the machinery has fouled up. Superficially, the team looks well-adapted to 2018. Going into the year we thought Stanford had a strong running game and needed to have improved QB play to succeed offensively. If you'd told me at the outset of the year that Costello would be averaging 8.7 YPA on 64% passing -- albeit with 50% more interceptions -- at midseason I'd be predicting a 7-0 record and a playoff contender. I don't think any of us anticipated regression to such a major degree in the running game. 

Of course getting better on what you're working on while weakening on the stuff you aren't is no justification for performance. It's a description of a particular kind of failure. 

It strikes me that this year is similar to 2014 -- a similar blend of a lot of talent marred by lots of miscues and errors without obvious explanation. Again, the repetition of the same error is no justification; no education in two kicks from the mule, as they say. 

This all points to needing a coaching change: whether the existing coaches change philosophy, or are removed for coaches with different philosophies or better implementation skills, something more major needs to happen than just "we're working on it."

[washingtonismoney]

That being said, this year there is accumulating evidence that our player personnel is not well suited to running the football.  The "stuff rate" cited by slide is particularly egregious, and looking at tape the runs very often look doomed from the start, with defensive linemen in the backfield before the running back can hit the hole.  So, while we need to acknowledge that Shaw is actually passing more than he has historically, more often than not the shift seems to come after he has proven (again) that we can't run the ball.  I admire his willingness to give the run game every chance to succeed, but this is one case where the "eye test" and the statistics don't lie.  We are a worse rushing team than every other team in the Pac-12, including pass happy Washington State, and even worse than every team in the pass happy Big Twelve.   I hope that even though it is a challenge to our offensive identity, Shaw realizes that our best chance to win will come by passing more early and complementing the passing game with a few well-timed runs to keep the defense honest, rather than waiting until our rushing attack is proven infeffective after the first couple series of the game.

And I agree, the bigger indictment of Shaw and the rest of the coaching staff is not that he is calling runs when he should be calling passes, or running between the tackles when he should be running outside.  Rather, it is that the staff has failed to either recruit or develop the talent needed to run his preferred scheme.  And, though it might be tempting to cite recruiting limitations that we are facing, I don't think there is a lack of individual talent on the team.  And if getting a collection of individuals to execute together as a team is not the first and most important duty of a coach, I don't know what is.

BC

Right. I agree that the playcalling at times has been, seemingly, wishcasting -- running into cramped boxes. However, in the abstract, it seems Shaw grasps that the relative strengths of the team are passing -- because he's doing a lot of it. It's just that even the passing is not as consistent as it needs to be for a quality offense. Which means (for me) that slightly different playcalling would probably move the needle a little bit, but probably not make a big difference. 

That gets to the larger issue, that despite seemingly abundant talent, something in the machinery has fouled up. Superficially, the team looks well-adapted to 2018. Going into the year we thought Stanford had a strong running game and needed to have improved QB play to succeed offensively. If you'd told me at the outset of the year that Costello would be averaging 8.7 YPA on 64% passing -- albeit with 50% more interceptions -- at midseason I'd be predicting a 7-0 record and a playoff contender. I don't think any of us anticipated regression to such a major degree in the running game. 

Of course getting better on what you're working on while weakening on the stuff you aren't is no justification for performance. It's a description of a particular kind of failure. 

It strikes me that this year is similar to 2014 -- a similar blend of a lot of talent marred by lots of miscues and errors without obvious explanation. Again, the repetition of the same error is no justification; no education in two kicks from the mule, as they say. 

This all points to needing a coaching change: whether the existing coaches change philosophy, or are removed for coaches with different philosophies or better implementation skills, something more major needs to happen than just "we're working on it."