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I think this post is overly harsh. We may lose to USC (though I don't believe we will) but if we do, its not because we are poorly coached "in terms of execution" Under Shaw, over a long period of time with multiple QBs and coordinators, we have won 8-12 games every season. That just doesn't happen without good coaching and execution, even if you have elite talent. While our talent level is much improved from the dark years, it is far from elite, rather it is commensurate with a bottom of the top-25 type of team with less depth then most. As Tennessee, Florida, Michigan (pre harbaugh), USC, Texas, ND (pre Kelly), and many others can tell you, even with elite talent winning doesn't just happen. Shaw just beat a good team in his opener, probably one of the 5 best wins in the country last week. Sure the O was sloppy. But it was the first game, with a back up QB playing half of it. You could also point out that against one of the best D's we will face this season we ran the ball reasonably well and sustained some drives. I view that as a brobdingnagian plus compared to last year and is a reason for optimism. You could also point out that our defense was excellent.

My overall point is you can't blame Shaw for bad execution and claim all the good things happen because of "talent." It just doesn't work that way.

Let me give you another exercise. You can pick any other coach in college football to take Shaw's place. Even excluding factors like fit for the university, likelihood of sticking around, etc, there are maybe 3-5 coaches who would make that list. Saban, Sweeney, Lincoln Riley, MAYBE Smart at Georgia or Peterson at UW.

[gocard14]

I think this post is overly harsh. We may lose to USC (though I don't believe we will) but if we do, its not because we are poorly coached "in terms of execution" Under Shaw, over a long period of time with multiple QBs and coordinators, we have won 8-12 games every season. That just doesn't happen without good coaching and execution, even if you have elite talent. While our talent level is much improved from the dark years, it is far from elite, rather it is commensurate with a bottom of the top-25 type of team with less depth then most. As Tennessee, Florida, Michigan (pre harbaugh), USC, Texas, ND (pre Kelly), and many others can tell you, even with elite talent winning doesn't just happen. Shaw just beat a good team in his opener, probably one of the 5 best wins in the country last week. Sure the O was sloppy. But it was the first game, with a back up QB playing half of it. You could also point out that against one of the best D's we will face this season we ran the ball reasonably well and sustained some drives. I view that as a brobdingnagian plus compared to last year and is a reason for optimism. You could also point out that our defense was excellent.

My overall point is you can't blame Shaw for bad execution and claim all the good things happen because of "talent." It just doesn't work that way.

Let me give you another exercise. You can pick any other coach in college football to take Shaw's place. Even excluding factors like fit for the university, likelihood of sticking around, etc, there are maybe 3-5 coaches who would make that list. Saban, Sweeney, Lincoln Riley, MAYBE Smart at Georgia or Peterson at UW.