It’s easy to point to a notable win during a head coach’s tenure at a program. It’s not as easy to count down a top 10 list of best wins through a coach who currently has a record of 86-34 as the lead man in charge of the Stanford Cardinal football team.
Well, that’s just what the Stanford Football Twitter account did, relishing in their quarantine time to give us something to debate. I bet you can pick No. 1, maybe even No. 2, but I also guarantee not everyone is going to agree with the exact list of the top 10. That’s the good-natured aspect to ranking anything like a top-10 list of best wins.
So, with that in mind, here’s their list of top 10 wins by David Shaw in his time as head coach:
No. 10 — November 7, 2025 vs No. 2 Oregon
No. 9 — 2012 Pac-12 Championship vs No. 16 UCLA
No. 8 — September 22, 2025 vs No. 20 Oregon
No. 7 — September 15, 2025 vs No. 2 USC
No. 6 — November 28, 2025 vs No. 4 Notre Dame
No. 5 — November 17, 2025 vs No. 1 Oregon
No. 4 — 2015 Pac-12 Championship vs No. 20 USC
No 3 — October 29, 2025 vs No. 20 USC
No. 2 — 2013 Rose Bowl vs Wisconsin
No. 1 — 2016 Rose Bowl vs Iowa
Important to note that the account also listed the following games as ‘memorable wins that didn’t quite make the top 10’ —
‣ 2013 Pac-12 Championship at #11 ASU
‣ Nov. 10, 2017 vs. #9 Washington
‣ Nov. 25, 2017 vs. #9 Notre Dame
‣ Oct. 5, 2019 vs. #15 Washington
So, do you agree? How’d you align the top 10 wins of the David Shaw era?
Comments
It's hard to knock wins against Oregon in the Shaw era.
Even some of the losses were memorable. However, a deserving alternative might’ve been the 2015 30-28 game at WSU, against Luke Falk and the rain. Kevin Hogan was in his 5th game playing on one leg after high-ankle sprain against USC. Hogan missed one play and then returned to lead the Cardinal to a win, with a little help from Christian McCaffrey, of course. Stanford won the next 4 games, with Hogan hobbled but otherwise effective as a passer and game manager.
In a horrible rain-ridden first half at Pullman, Luke Falk could barely see his receivers at times but the Cougars led 12-3 at halftime, after 4 WSU FGs and Stanford only 1 FG and not much offense.
WSU had been mostly stopping McCaffrey, so in the 2nd half, Hogan took over with his legs. David Shaw had described Hogan as at about 85% healthy, still mending. Hogan’s extra running threat loosened the Cougar defense for McCaffrey, who eventually got his 112 yards (107 net), but Hogan outgained Christian, with 138 yards (112 net). Falk racked up 354 passing yards, but both Falk and Hogan had modest completion percentages; Falk hit 57% to Hogan’s 53%, with the rain and wet field. WSU missed a 43-yard winning FG with 4 seconds left. Under those conditions, at Pullman, that game has particularly stuck in my mind.
By Candid One on 05.15.20 8:17pm