Stanford Football: It’s time for the KJ Costello era after Oregon State win

After winning an ugly game against Oregon State, it’s about time Stanford football turns to KJ Costello at quarterback.

Stubbornness could cost Stanford in the second half of the 2017 season. David Shaw made a decision to start senior quarterback Keller Chryst against Oregon State on Thursday night in Corvallis, and that decision turned out to be the wrong one.

While Stanford still found a way to win, thanks to a costly fumble by Ryan Nall as the Beavers were trying to run out the clock with a 14-9 lead in the fourth, Chryst played one of his worst games as a collegiate quarterback. Not only did he struggle to hit downfield passes, but he even looked shaky with drop-downs.

Granted, Bryce Love was ruled out for the game, so the offense was going to rely on Chryst more than it normally would. However, he just didn’t have what it took to put away a lackluster Oregon State team through the air.

In fact, he was just 16-for-33 passing with 141 yards, a touchdown and an interception — although many would argue he was lucky to only have one pick. He consistently threw into double and triple coverage and just looked rattled after each incompletion and had no pocket awareness.

Why wasn’t the ball handed to sophomore quarterback KJ Costello? Good question.

With arguably one of the brightest young quarterback stars in the conference sitting on the bench, Shaw kept going back to his senior who couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean.

If we learned anything from Stanford’s ugly win over Oregon State, it’s that the Costello era at Stanford needs to start now. He’s the better of the two quarterbacks and he has the ability to take games over with his arm as well as his legs. The offense was far too predictable on Saturday with Chryst ineffectively running the show.

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If Shaw wants to avoid another lackluster coaching performance, he needs to turn to his sophomore dual-threat who could arguably take this offense to the next level.