[BostonCard]

I'm calling BS on this.

He said the same kind of thing after the Wazzu loss last year, but showed little evidence of it until the last couple of games. And in two of the last four games (ASU, UCLA) where we had a lead, when push came to shove in crunch time, he reverted to his old bad habits and put the outcome of those games at risk by relying on the two weakest elements of this team - running game and defense.

Even if I'm wrong, he still took too long to learn it this year. Why is it that a lot of fans and media recognized the strengths and weaknesses of this team weeks before he did?

There are many, many positives to Coach Shaw but recognizing what his team is - and isn't - and adjusting gameplans and playcalling to those strengths and weaknesses is not one of them. You go to battle with the army you have, not the one you want to have. I maintain that had he done so this team would be 9-2 not 7-4. You also hire great people to cover your weak spots, and I think that neither Pritchard nor Carberry have done him any favors here and both were bad hires that need to be replaced this offseason.

What do you mean?  Despite every expectation we’d be a run-first team, we have been a pass first team, and probably the most pass dependent team south of WSU.  It is clear that this is not Shaw’s preference, but he still did it.  Are you suggesting we never run the ball?  Or is the objection that on specific instances with a lead late in the game we tried to run?  I am very confused by allegations that Shaw was being stubborn.  If anything, he has shown a remarkable amount of flexibility and much more than a typical coach might display, especially doing it in the middle of the season (it would have been one thing to do so after this season, with Costello coming back and Love graduating).  Could you ever imagine, for example, Leach becoming a run-first coach?

My concern is much less about the offense, which is clearly a strength this year; I worry about figuring out how to stop other teams from scoring.

BC

[BostonCard]

I'm calling BS on this.

He said the same kind of thing after the Wazzu loss last year, but showed little evidence of it until the last couple of games. And in two of the last four games (ASU, UCLA) where we had a lead, when push came to shove in crunch time, he reverted to his old bad habits and put the outcome of those games at risk by relying on the two weakest elements of this team - running game and defense.

Even if I'm wrong, he still took too long to learn it this year. Why is it that a lot of fans and media recognized the strengths and weaknesses of this team weeks before he did?

There are many, many positives to Coach Shaw but recognizing what his team is - and isn't - and adjusting gameplans and playcalling to those strengths and weaknesses is not one of them. You go to battle with the army you have, not the one you want to have. I maintain that had he done so this team would be 9-2 not 7-4. You also hire great people to cover your weak spots, and I think that neither Pritchard nor Carberry have done him any favors here and both were bad hires that need to be replaced this offseason.

What do you mean?  Despite every expectation we’d be a run-first team, we have been a pass first team, and probably the most pass dependent team south of WSU.  It is clear that this is not Shaw’s preference, but he still did it.  Are you suggesting we never run the ball?  Or is the objection that on specific instances with a lead late in the game we tried to run?  I am very confused by allegations that Shaw was being stubborn.  If anything, he has shown a remarkable amount of flexibility and much more than a typical coach might display, especially doing it in the middle of the season (it would have been one thing to do so after this season, with Costello coming back and Love graduating).  Could you ever imagine, for example, Leach becoming a run-first coach?

My concern is much less about the offense, which is clearly a strength this year; I worry about figuring out how to stop other teams from scoring.

BC