[Farm93]

Heck, that's not even close to the worst end game Shaw has produced. 

I'd have to go way back to last year's finish vs UW to find something worse (at least if I remember the details correctly). With no timeouts and 2+ minutes to drive for a winning score, at least twice Shaw substituted players - thus forcing the refs to give UW time to match the substitutions, wasting a precious 30 seconds or so of critical time.  That's 1/4 of the total time available for the drive.
Not to mention Shaw's over-strong aversion to spiking the ball to save clock. 

I definitely agree with that.  Shaw's turtling is often hard to accept. 

I remember those player subs.  Shaw was actually shocked and frustrated that the other team slowly strolled out their subs in a manner that consumed most of the remaining time.  It was hard to believe Shaw didn't have set plays that any group of players on the field could quickly run for that scenario.

The Fiesta Bowl was in a dome with an amazing natural grass kicking surface.   The kick was going to be short and with a reliable kicker.   It didn't happen, but not hard to understand the choice.  It should have been fine.  In the end it might have been a key offseason catalyst for the 3 Rose Bowls in the next 4 years. 

The decade has been more than enough good to accept some turtling and excessively conservative play from time to time.

In those turtling times, I remind myself that the turtling and belief in a power oriented running game probably help Stanford land all of those 4 and 5 star TEs and OL that have offers to programs that often promise the moon but rarely use their TEs or a power run game.

[Farm93]

Heck, that's not even close to the worst end game Shaw has produced. 

I'd have to go way back to last year's finish vs UW to find something worse (at least if I remember the details correctly). With no timeouts and 2+ minutes to drive for a winning score, at least twice Shaw substituted players - thus forcing the refs to give UW time to match the substitutions, wasting a precious 30 seconds or so of critical time.  That's 1/4 of the total time available for the drive.
Not to mention Shaw's over-strong aversion to spiking the ball to save clock. 

I definitely agree with that.  Shaw's turtling is often hard to accept. 

I remember those player subs.  Shaw was actually shocked and frustrated that the other team slowly strolled out their subs in a manner that consumed most of the remaining time.  It was hard to believe Shaw didn't have set plays that any group of players on the field could quickly run for that scenario.

The Fiesta Bowl was in a dome with an amazing natural grass kicking surface.   The kick was going to be short and with a reliable kicker.   It didn't happen, but not hard to understand the choice.  It should have been fine.  In the end it might have been a key offseason catalyst for the 3 Rose Bowls in the next 4 years. 

The decade has been more than enough good to accept some turtling and excessively conservative play from time to time.

In those turtling times, I remind myself that the turtling and belief in a power oriented running game probably help Stanford land all of those 4 and 5 star TEs and OL that have offers to programs that often promise the moon but rarely use their TEs or a power run game.