[stupac2]

I probably should not bother to respond, but one of us is certainly "flat-out wrong" to use your words, if you think the punt at the end of the Utah game and the end of the Fiesta Bowl are the only examples of Shaw's adversity to risk. The examples I could cite are legion (at least 3 punts this year from inside the opponent's 35, and one punt from inside the 30 (which I don't think I have ever seen before); last drive against MSU in the Rose Bowl) are obvious examples without even getting into more subjective areas like play-calling. I see no point in cataloging them all. We clearly see things quite differently.

The problem is that you're not looking at this relative to any kind of baseline. Conservative isn't an absolute standard, it can only be relative. And I think that any kind of rational look at the situation says that Shaw is about average for a football coach. He can be aggressive sometimes, he can be conservative other times. But very rarely does he make a truly stupid decision, which is something that you really can't say about most coaches, not even most NFL coaches. You started by saying that he was hyperbolically conservative and that is just flat-out wrong.

Do I wish that Shaw were sometimes more aggressive? Yes. Do I think that this non-optimal amount of aggression has lost us games? Maybe one over four seasons. It's not that big of a deal.

[stupac2]

I probably should not bother to respond, but one of us is certainly "flat-out wrong" to use your words, if you think the punt at the end of the Utah game and the end of the Fiesta Bowl are the only examples of Shaw's adversity to risk. The examples I could cite are legion (at least 3 punts this year from inside the opponent's 35, and one punt from inside the 30 (which I don't think I have ever seen before); last drive against MSU in the Rose Bowl) are obvious examples without even getting into more subjective areas like play-calling. I see no point in cataloging them all. We clearly see things quite differently.

The problem is that you're not looking at this relative to any kind of baseline. Conservative isn't an absolute standard, it can only be relative. And I think that any kind of rational look at the situation says that Shaw is about average for a football coach. He can be aggressive sometimes, he can be conservative other times. But very rarely does he make a truly stupid decision, which is something that you really can't say about most coaches, not even most NFL coaches. You started by saying that he was hyperbolically conservative and that is just flat-out wrong.

Do I wish that Shaw were sometimes more aggressive? Yes. Do I think that this non-optimal amount of aggression has lost us games? Maybe one over four seasons. It's not that big of a deal.