David Shaw's Conservatism Costs Stanford in Fiesta Bowl

On the 20 yard line, they had them perfectly set up for a play action pass. If it was not open, Luck could have thrown it out of the back of the end zone and they could have kicked the field goal on the next play. There would have been time for a quick 5 yard dive as well likely to get closer. The options were endless at that point.

Coaches, in general, make this mistake far too often - field goal range isn’t a binary thing - and coaches stop trying to improve their position when they cross some imaginary line. There is some point where the chance of a miss is less than the risk of running another play but I suspect that line is very close to the end-zone something like extra-point distance.

I hope that Shaw learns from his mistakes.

From espn: http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls11/story/_/id/7418357/fiesta-bowl-oklahoma-state-cowboys-receiver-justin-blackmon-stanford-cardinal-quarterback-andrew-luck-lived-their-billing

In response, Shaw held the final stat sheet up against the wall behind him and pointed at Stanford’s final rushing numbers: 50 rushes, 243 yards. Shaw wasn’t about to throw into the end zone.

Coach Shaw, the final stat sheet saw you losing. Frankly, that is all that matters. OK State can point at the stat sheet and say they one even though they couldn’t stop your offense. You had time to make that a chip shot.

I hope that you get back to a BCS game. I have enjoyed the last two years far more than the previous fiascos. It is important to recognize mistakes and learn from them.

Inside 40 yards, an NFL coach would be an utter fool not to pound the rock a few times, then kick the field goal. NFL kickers are routinely used in situations like Stanford found itself in last night.

Still, as we saw, there’s a fair distance between David Akers and Jordan Williamson.

Readers of blogs like Easterbrook’s TMQ on ESPN realize that Coach Shaw played “LOSE JUSTIFIABLY” in the last minute. Coach Shaw needs to reflect that he undertook a second tier strategy: big-time coaches are blamed less for “conservative” losses than “risk-taking to win.” Mr. Gundy acted similarly.

I knew - yes knew Stanford would lose in the last minute - because NOT using Stanford’s three timeouts and playing NOT to get the absolute best field position was extremely stupid. Now a kicker takes the blame for Coach Shaw’s very wrong, very preventable, very correctable mistake. Recruits will notice too, and the Stanford players will be bitter - and it won’t heal.

As a fan, I can handle being blown out. I can handle interceptions, fumbles, etc. They are part of the game, but deliberate stupidity…… It’s not so much that Stanford should have won, but they lost through intentional stupidity. So far, Shaw is unwilling to acknowledge the error. Not good.

I wondered at the decision to go for the filed goal so soon at the time, but in all the criticism of Coach Shaw, don’t forget that earlier in the season Scott and his pal RedOscar thought Duke place kickers were proper subjects of mockery for missing 45- and 49-yard attempts

The way the OSU offense was moving the ball, I think it seemed reasonable to make sure that they didn’t get the ball back before the end of regulation. I was initially worried that Luck would have the team score too fast, leaving too much time on the clock, so in the moment I was somewhat okay with playing for the field goal. At the same time, it certainly wouldn’t have hurt to run a couple more plays and take a shot at either scoring a touchdown or shortening the field to the point where the field goal would be a chip shot…

I think Shaw will learn from this… at least, I sure hope he will…