[gailtate]

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

Here is the problem.  Our Sagarin ratings the last three years have been 73, 75 and this year is 78 and going lower.

The much bigger problem is that we are getting killed on the line.  You can always find a great QB, RB or WR, but the line getting better is much harder.

Even if you are a Shaw defender, do you really see us being any better next year?

And I will note that our current three year Sagarin trend is the worst in the last 60 years.  It is only really being matched by Curtice in the early 60s.  And once again, do you really think next year will be any better?

Okay, BC, you're either (a) trolling or (b) obsessed with devil's advocacy and jousting with Teejers. And in this case, the "devil" in is the denials -- yours and that of the other Shawdvocates running out of excuses and whose numbers are dwindling right along Stanford's. Look, I want this coach to succeed, for cryin' out loud because I want Stanford to succeed in football. But this coach continues to flail and fail while the evidence--the present-day evidence, not that of a half-decade ago or more--that he cannot get it done keeps piling up. I don't care about high-tech X's and O's. I want to see a competitive team on the field at the top of its game. A team well coached: conditioned, disciplined, primed for top performance, drilled on the fundamentals and prepared. I want a De La Salle of the Pac12 in terms of coaching and physical-emotional preparedness. We had one for a while. It's been too long since then.

[gailtate]

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

Here is the problem.  Our Sagarin ratings the last three years have been 73, 75 and this year is 78 and going lower.

The much bigger problem is that we are getting killed on the line.  You can always find a great QB, RB or WR, but the line getting better is much harder.

Even if you are a Shaw defender, do you really see us being any better next year?

And I will note that our current three year Sagarin trend is the worst in the last 60 years.  It is only really being matched by Curtice in the early 60s.  And once again, do you really think next year will be any better?

Okay, BC, you're either (a) trolling or (b) obsessed with devil's advocacy and jousting with Teejers. And in this case, the "devil" in is the denials -- yours and that of the other Shawdvocates running out of excuses and whose numbers are dwindling right along Stanford's. Look, I want this coach to succeed, for cryin' out loud because I want Stanford to succeed in football. But this coach continues to flail and fail while the evidence--the present-day evidence, not that of a half-decade ago or more--that he cannot get it done keeps piling up. I don't care about high-tech X's and O's. I want to see a competitive team on the field at the top of its game. A team well coached: conditioned, disciplined, primed for top performance, drilled on the fundamentals and prepared. I want a De La Salle of the Pac12 in terms of coaching and physical-emotional preparedness. We had one for a while. It's been too long since then.