[BostonCard]

It’s possible because it has been done before.  Tyrone Willingham’s record worsened each of his first four years at Stanford, going from 7-4-1 with the recruits he inherited from Bill Walsh in 1995 to 3-8 in 1998.  1999 started inauspiciously with a 69-17 beat down that, let’s face it, was worse than any stinker Shaw put up.  You know how the season ended up, and in fact, cite that team’s offense in contrast to Shaw’s.  I wonder if the Teejers who is convinced that Shaw’s coaching is irreparable and the team incapable of righting itself gave Tyrone Willingham much of a chance to go to the 2000 Rose Bowl.

As humans we put too much weight on easily describable trends, when a lot of what happens in the world is noise.  A few lucky breaks one year have things looking better than they are (you yourself cite last year as an example of a team that lucked into a better record than it deserved).  Conversely, a few bad breaks can leave you convinced that you are in a pit that you will never get out of.  Things don’t look good now, and it is possible that Shaw won’t be able to figure out how to fix it.  But you are much more certain of this than is warranted.

BC

[BostonCard]

It’s possible because it has been done before.  Tyrone Willingham’s record worsened each of his first four years at Stanford, going from 7-4-1 with the recruits he inherited from Bill Walsh in 1995 to 3-8 in 1998.  1999 started inauspiciously with a 69-17 beat down that, let’s face it, was worse than any stinker Shaw put up.  You know how the season ended up, and in fact, cite that team’s offense in contrast to Shaw’s.  I wonder if the Teejers who is convinced that Shaw’s coaching is irreparable and the team incapable of righting itself gave Tyrone Willingham much of a chance to go to the 2000 Rose Bowl.

As humans we put too much weight on easily describable trends, when a lot of what happens in the world is noise.  A few lucky breaks one year have things looking better than they are (you yourself cite last year as an example of a team that lucked into a better record than it deserved).  Conversely, a few bad breaks can leave you convinced that you are in a pit that you will never get out of.  Things don’t look good now, and it is possible that Shaw won’t be able to figure out how to fix it.  But you are much more certain of this than is warranted.

BC