Bottom line is MSU knew going into the game that they couldn't run on Stanford and needed to throw to open up the run. Stanford didn't figure out this simple truth the entire game. Simply unbelievable, Shaw made no adjustments that I could see. Perhaps he figured Mich. st would just slam it up the middle for a 3 and out like he did all game.
Yeah, we get it, Stanford COULDN'T have played their best game, because then that would ruin your narrative for how good they must have been to beat Oregon.
Stanford had 10 first downs in this game. I didn't see anything other than what we saw against other physical teams they matched up against with, extremely limited offense that moves the ball on fluke bombs only and a defense and special teams that keeps the scoreboard much closer than the game would otherwise indicate. They did not play a bad game, they played their standard game and were outmanned, as they would be against any of the other top 10 non-PAC12 teams.
The praise heaped on this team and the PAC12 during this season was ridiculously misguided, and the bowl results of their conf champions demonstrate that very clearly.
Great win by Sparty. But must admit that i was really surprised by the Stanford playcalling. The fact that they elected not to throw the ball when they faced 9 man boxes. I know they lost Ty Montgomery but to completely not trust the QB was very, very surprising. Part of me thinks QB Hogan might have hurt his throwing arm at some point in the game. His passes in the second half did not look crisp at all compared to those in the first half of the game. Otherwise it makes no sense to not throw the ball.
kinda nice to see you taking your break from posting after Ohio St lost a few weeks back.. obviously didn't want to face the music after that beatdown.. But if a Pac 12 team loses your right back in here posting again.. Your post means nothing to anyone in here .. BTW, one game isn't going to change anything .. Most in here will agree , that the Pac 12 and SEC stand way above the rest of the conferences right now.. I'll stick with what I said earlier, officiating was one sided in this game.. Easily could have made a major difference in the outcome in a 4pt game.. sorry you have blinders on...
Most likely we won't hear from you after Ohio St gets there ass handed to them , so go ahead and get your Pac 12 hatrid in while you can.. You'll be running away again after this upcoming loss
Bingo. I didn't see the USC game but I'm assuming he had the same game plan against the Trojans. Not sure how he fucked it up against Utah… His game plan works against weaker teams (even worked against Oregon based on match ups) but his unwillingness to sway away from it yesterday cost Stanford the win. There were 5 or 6 straight possessions where he ran Gaffney up the middle on 1st and 2nd downs for little or no gain. I think the best 3rd down they had was 3rd and 5, but most were 3rd and 8 to 10. It's hard to beat a team as good as Mich St. when you only get 1 play to attempt to get a 1st down and Mich St. gets 3 attempts at it…
Shaw is spoiled because his Cardinal is the only team on the WC that embraces the same down in the ditches offensive philosophy to the extent that a lot of the B1G offenses do. Some teams like USC and even Utah can stay with Stanford and you are apt to get similar results. So shame on Shaw for not seeing it coming, especially because his mentor at Stanford for 4 years before he took over as their HC was Jim Harbaugh.
