[BostonCard]

I'd go with a healthy dose of #2, though probably #4 carries more weight.

As much as old time football folks like tough smash-mouth offense, strong don't-give-up-the-big-play defense, and risk-averse approach to decisions - most of fandom doesn't.

That may have carried the day through the aftermath of the Northwestern game last year.  You could make a case that offense in Shaw's first year was all due to having Andrew Luck (that even Buddy Teevens would have been able to average 30 pts with Luck under center), and that after Luck left, Shaw's mediocre offensive mind was exposed with Nunes and even with Hogan, where the teams were nothing special offensively.  Then in 2014, we reverted to mediocrity once our defense was no longer elite.  That seemed to carry through the Northwestern game (and even the first half of UCF) when people here openly wondered if Shawgren's offense could only be executed with an All-American QB, OL and RB.

And then that same offense figured it out and went on one of the most remarkable offensive runs in Stanford history, and the idea that Shaw really wasn't much of an offensive mind sort of went away.  No, we didn't have a pinball [fill in the blank] raid offense, nor did we employ "tempo" that everyone else seemed to relish.  But the results spoke for themselves, and even without advanced stats it was clear to anyone who looked that the Stanford offense was elite.  McCaffrey's record breaking run was the cherry on top, as was the third Rose Bowl in four years, this time without relying on an elite defense.  By the end of the year, there was a feeling that we probably would have fared better in the playoffs than a couple of the teams that got invites.

The fandom may not love all those qualities, but after last year, all but the most epistemically closed individual would have had to concede that Shaw could produce an offensive juggernaut.  And for all his reputation, Shaw is exceptional at pulling the trick play at just the right time, whether it is a play action pass to the tight end out of the jumbo formation, or the halfback toss to an uncovered QB receiving, or the reverse flea flicker that produces a highlight reel touchdown catch "...pinned against the receiver's back!!!" or the fake fumble, or even last week's two 56 yard plays.  He doesn't do it overly frequently, but when he does, our trick plays are deadly.

I really think at this point it is just that Shaw just doesn't have the outsized personality.

BC

[BostonCard]

I'd go with a healthy dose of #2, though probably #4 carries more weight.

As much as old time football folks like tough smash-mouth offense, strong don't-give-up-the-big-play defense, and risk-averse approach to decisions - most of fandom doesn't.

That may have carried the day through the aftermath of the Northwestern game last year.  You could make a case that offense in Shaw's first year was all due to having Andrew Luck (that even Buddy Teevens would have been able to average 30 pts with Luck under center), and that after Luck left, Shaw's mediocre offensive mind was exposed with Nunes and even with Hogan, where the teams were nothing special offensively.  Then in 2014, we reverted to mediocrity once our defense was no longer elite.  That seemed to carry through the Northwestern game (and even the first half of UCF) when people here openly wondered if Shawgren's offense could only be executed with an All-American QB, OL and RB.

And then that same offense figured it out and went on one of the most remarkable offensive runs in Stanford history, and the idea that Shaw really wasn't much of an offensive mind sort of went away.  No, we didn't have a pinball [fill in the blank] raid offense, nor did we employ "tempo" that everyone else seemed to relish.  But the results spoke for themselves, and even without advanced stats it was clear to anyone who looked that the Stanford offense was elite.  McCaffrey's record breaking run was the cherry on top, as was the third Rose Bowl in four years, this time without relying on an elite defense.  By the end of the year, there was a feeling that we probably would have fared better in the playoffs than a couple of the teams that got invites.

The fandom may not love all those qualities, but after last year, all but the most epistemically closed individual would have had to concede that Shaw could produce an offensive juggernaut.  And for all his reputation, Shaw is exceptional at pulling the trick play at just the right time, whether it is a play action pass to the tight end out of the jumbo formation, or the halfback toss to an uncovered QB receiving, or the reverse flea flicker that produces a highlight reel touchdown catch "...pinned against the receiver's back!!!" or the fake fumble, or even last week's two 56 yard plays.  He doesn't do it overly frequently, but when he does, our trick plays are deadly.

I really think at this point it is just that Shaw just doesn't have the outsized personality.

BC