Everything David Shaw said about BYU

Stanford's final of game of the season will be a tough matchup

Stanford has found themselves in the worst position possible in what will be their final game of the season. 

A team that has accomplished nothing and underwhelmed all year, that is coming off an embarrassment of a loss to Cal, playing against a team in BYU that is looking to finish off strong before their bowl game. This season has revealed that none of the issues that have been plaguing Stanford over the past few years have been fixed, which of course has led to David Shaw on the hot seat rumors and many wondering what to make of the once dominant program.

Shaw spoke to the media ahead of the Week 12 game addressing things such as the overall team, recruiting, and of course his biggest enemy; a late night kick.

Let's take a look at what he had to say!

Thoughts on BYU's team

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Shaw:

“Talented football team. They will take shots down the field on you now. These guys will throw it down the field; play-action pass-wise, they have some variance in their offense to try and keep you off balance. Defensively, every week they do something a little bit different. Tweaking their front, going from a four-down to a three-down. Some games it’s a lot of single-high, some games it’s a lot of too high. There’s a lot of variance in what they do defensively, so you have to get into the game and have an idea of how they’re playing you and make some in-game adjustments. Because they’re not going to just stand there, they move, pinch, twist, and give you a variety of coverage looks. Good team well-coached team with good players and good athletes. We’re going to have to be at our best to find a way to send our seniors out with a win.”

Recruiting similar prospects as BYU

Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

Shaw:

"Well for us, it’s pretty straightforward. We are recruiting a certain type of young person. That is of course for all of our sports, but in particular we’re talking about football right now. But we’re looking for high-caliber individuals, great students, and we’re looking for very good football players. I’ve said this over the years that I think the state of Utah doesn’t get its respect for the level of play that happens. It’s not just in Salt Lake. It’s around the state. You can find a lot of really good football players that have very good grades and are the caliber of young people that we’re looking for.”

“…Battling head-to-head [in recruiting] with BYU. I think who has a great program got an outstanding head coach. I know multiple people in their administration, including the athletic director (Tom Holmoe). They do things the right way with the right people. And that’s the way that we see ourselves as well. So naturally, we’re going to end up recruiting some of the same people.”

8pm kickoff

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

“I usually talk about our TV partners and do it in quotes because partners have discussions. Once our TV makes their picks, they slot us wherever they want. And I think it’s been horrible. I don’t know how many games –five games we’ve come back at 3:30 in the morning–, multiple home games now where we’re walking out of the building at one or two o’clock in the morning. I think it’s bad for our student-athletes. I think it’s bad for our conference. Just the fact that you know, Sundays now, guys just sleep all day just to recover from either traveling late at night or just playing late night. I think it’s something that our conference needs to look at as we enter into conversations with potential other media partners for our next media deal. And changing these start times and playing games in the daytime and playing games in the early evening and not the late night. I don’t think it’s good for anybody.

“Granted, I’m not in those seats. I’m not concerned with the ratings. I’m concerned about the people that I coach. And what it does to them and what it does to their families for travel. I think it’s horrible. Our Commissioner (George Kliavkoff) is in talks with entities how to move going forward. And I think everything I said would be seconded by everybody else in our conference.”