Stanford included in ESPN's bad beats after late field goal against Cal

Not everyone was happy with David Shaw's decision to kick a field goal

We all know there are many sayings about the game not being really over until a certain thing whether it's when a fat lady has sang, the final whistle has sounded, or the clock has officially hit 0:00.

Stanford head coach David Shaw is evidently a big proponent of that mindset, as Stanford has actually scored meaningless touchdowns multiple times throughout the season with the game out of reach. The Cardinal did just that again this past weekend in their heartbreaking loss to Cal in the Big Game. 

With just five seconds remaining in the game and Stanford down by 10 with no timeouts remaining, David Shaw elected to attempt a school record 61-yard field goal. Josh Karty who has been perfect this season of course drilled the field goal, making the final score 27-20. Now in the case of Stanford it does look better in the box score than losing by a double digit margin, but many people who dabble in the gambling arts were not pleased with this decision to kick a field goal. 

Karty's record breaking field goal ended up being the difference between the under not hitting and the over hitting, which is why it was featured on ESPN's bad beats. Here is what ESPN's Jason Fitz had to say about the late field goal:

Cal became an offensive juggernaut in the fourth quarter with 21 points, including a game-clinching touchdown with less than a minute to play. But did Stanford give up? Heck no! I mean, why NOT line up to attempt the longest field goal in school history and the second-longest field goal in conference history for no reason other than to help all of us that hammered the over (46).

He continued saying:

Joshua Karty hammered the kick and the Karty Party immediately ensued inside the stadium while Cal students celebrated their first win over Stanford in Berkeley since 2008.

Stanford's team may be disappointing this season, but they have at least been good for snagging meaningless points at the end of games. This meaningless field goal just happened to be the difference between winning or losing money for some.