11-04-2021, 02:48 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-04-2021, 02:59 AM by Austroturf.)
(11-03-2021, 04:30 PM)teejers1 Wrote:(11-03-2021, 03:08 PM)Austroturf Wrote: I don't believe this game is going to end well for the Cardinal.
Even with good teams, Shaw has had a Utah problem. He lost his first game to the Utes in 2013 in Salt Lake City, when he decided to pass twice at the goal line instead of running Gaffney off tackle (as he did against Oregon repeatedly three games later). I will never understand that decision.
His second loss to Whittingham was the 2OT belly-flop in 2014 at home. The game ended 7-7 in regulation, was knotted at 14-14 after the 1st OT and finished at 20-17 after a FG for the Cardinal and a TD for the Utes.
In 2017, Shaw booked a 23-20 win in Salt Lake City on 152 yards rushing from Bryce Love.
Then came a thrashing (40-21) by the Utes in 2018 at home, with Zach Moss rushing for 160 yards.
Over the years, Whittingham has been one of the few Pac-12 coaches with a positive record vs. Shaw, even when his teams have not been objectively better. I predict a thrashing akin to what we experienced in 2018. Why should the result be any better in 2021, especially with McKee potentially out?
That one is in the Pantheon of All Time WTF?!? moments from our head coach. Unfortunately, there are WAY too many of them; fortunately, repression is a survival mechanism. On the bright side, the frequency of those moments have been declining.
Yes, there was less than one minute to play, and Stanford was on the Utah 6 yard line after a 4 yard ramble by Hogan. It was 3rd and 6 with 1 timeout remaining, and we had a terrific O-line that year. Down 27-21, Stanford had to punch it in to win. Gaffney never touched the ball. Two pass plays fell incomplete. Game over. I was slack-jawed, in complete disbelief. The power run game was abandoned in the moment of truth.
This was akin to the WTF moment by the Seahawks in Super Bowl 49 when they were on the 1 yard line with less than a minute to play and trailing the Patriots 28-24. Carroll and his OC decided to pass despite having Marshawn Lynch (Beast Mode) in the backfield. Interception, game over.
On another note, as I write this post, there are fully 7 out of 16 Cardboard members predicting a Cardinal victory tomorrow. Is this pure homerism, or do the 7 of you know something the rest of us are ignorant of? I sure hope Stanford wins. It would be a great upset and set the tenor for the rest of the season (maybe even put us back into bowl contention). But there is no objective data supporting that outcome.
Apart from "miracles happen" (thunder_chik), are there any other observations from the folks predicting a W for Stanford?