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taekwondaveI think we can draw some pretty sure conclusions.
1. The coaches blew it BIG TIME by not choosing a true starting quarterback several weeks before the first game. This seems obvious to me now. Mendenhall and Anae pushed their luck. At the time I was being very positive about it, trying to trust their judgment but the principle stands that a football team needs to know who their quarterback is and needs to get enough time and reps with him to establish trust and rhythm.
Where it is true that there was no clear cut leader during the spring, summer, or fall, that does not excuse the coaches from the responsibility of making this most important of choices and sticking to it. Had Riley been named the starter after the first week of fall ball we would be a better team right now. Had Jake been named the starter then we would also be a better team right now. This follows the principle of specialization. When there are two quarterbacks in the game, a team does not have a chance to establish a rhythm or sense of identity. When Max Hall became the starter when Cade Cooper went down, he wound up with 97% of the reps with the first team offense right up until their first game. That was crucial for the team to have time to gel and get used to each other. As of right now, our team has no identity and no rhythm and that is 100% the coaches fault. You can't blame Riley or Jake, as they both performed admirably throughout the off-season.
I also feel very sorry for our tight ends and receivers up until this point. Many on this board have brought up the difficulty of trying to play two different styles of football by two different quarterbacks. Not to mention that one is a lefty that likes to run and one is a righty that never runs. Must to horrible things to your psyche when you think you start to click with one guy or the other but this series you have to operate under a feeling of doubt because you're with the guy you haven't gelled with yet. Sucks for them. I can't believe how many passes they've dropped from BOTH guys.
2. Experience matters. Now, this is not an argument for Riley over Jake as I don't think Riley has enough experience over him to qualify for this argument, but the axiom seems to hold true that to put together a good football team, you need to be veteran-heavy. Rookies mistakes add up quickly and kill drives and kill games faster than just about anything. You take away rookies mistakes, youthful ignorance of offensive schemes on defense (see Air Force game) and give our offense a better chance to gel by going with one quarterback and giving him at least 80% of the reps and we don't lose to Air Force, we KILL Washington, and we make today's game against FSU a COMPLETELY different story.
Now. That being said. I have hope for this season yet. If we are lucky the coaches will recognize their error in this two quarterback system fiasco and will name one guy the definitive starter. I think most of us agree at this point that, regardless of stats, which actually favor Riley on paper, our style of offense is much more capable when using a strong drop back passer like Jake. I think he should be the starter and that we should only use Riley, as many have already said, possibly in trick plays or short yardage situations. I would love for people to assume Riley was coming in to run, only to throw deep to a wide open Jacobsen once or twice a game.
I just think a drop back passer like Jake needs to be given the reigns to this team so he can step up like Max Hall did and rally the troops in a definitive way. I love the stories of Max calling up Dennis and Austin and running routes outside of practice to get things right they had missed before. Did we EVER see Pitta drop a pass? Or Collie for that matter? Or even Jacobsen before this season? That comes from working with ONE guy, over and over and over again, until they begin to get a real comfortable feel for each other. At this point, when someone screws up, it seems like neither quarterback feels it's his place to take charge as the leader and rally the team and make something happen. A football team divided against itself at the quarterback position cannot stand.
Here's to hoping this year finishes better than it started. We can still beat Utah and shock TCU if we can get it together. Sometimes that takes time.
1. The coaches blew it BIG TIME by not choosing a true starting quarterback several weeks before the first game. This seems obvious to me now. Mendenhall and Anae pushed their luck. At the time I was being very positive about it, trying to trust their judgment but the principle stands that a football team needs to know who their quarterback is and needs to get enough time and reps with him to establish trust and rhythm.
Where it is true that there was no clear cut leader during the spring, summer, or fall, that does not excuse the coaches from the responsibility of making this most important of choices and sticking to it. Had Riley been named the starter after the first week of fall ball we would be a better team right now. Had Jake been named the starter then we would also be a better team right now. This follows the principle of specialization. When there are two quarterbacks in the game, a team does not have a chance to establish a rhythm or sense of identity. When Max Hall became the starter when Cade Cooper went down, he wound up with 97% of the reps with the first team offense right up until their first game. That was crucial for the team to have time to gel and get used to each other. As of right now, our team has no identity and no rhythm and that is 100% the coaches fault. You can't blame Riley or Jake, as they both performed admirably throughout the off-season.
I also feel very sorry for our tight ends and receivers up until this point. Many on this board have brought up the difficulty of trying to play two different styles of football by two different quarterbacks. Not to mention that one is a lefty that likes to run and one is a righty that never runs. Must to horrible things to your psyche when you think you start to click with one guy or the other but this series you have to operate under a feeling of doubt because you're with the guy you haven't gelled with yet. Sucks for them. I can't believe how many passes they've dropped from BOTH guys.
2. Experience matters. Now, this is not an argument for Riley over Jake as I don't think Riley has enough experience over him to qualify for this argument, but the axiom seems to hold true that to put together a good football team, you need to be veteran-heavy. Rookies mistakes add up quickly and kill drives and kill games faster than just about anything. You take away rookies mistakes, youthful ignorance of offensive schemes on defense (see Air Force game) and give our offense a better chance to gel by going with one quarterback and giving him at least 80% of the reps and we don't lose to Air Force, we KILL Washington, and we make today's game against FSU a COMPLETELY different story.
Now. That being said. I have hope for this season yet. If we are lucky the coaches will recognize their error in this two quarterback system fiasco and will name one guy the definitive starter. I think most of us agree at this point that, regardless of stats, which actually favor Riley on paper, our style of offense is much more capable when using a strong drop back passer like Jake. I think he should be the starter and that we should only use Riley, as many have already said, possibly in trick plays or short yardage situations. I would love for people to assume Riley was coming in to run, only to throw deep to a wide open Jacobsen once or twice a game.
I just think a drop back passer like Jake needs to be given the reigns to this team so he can step up like Max Hall did and rally the troops in a definitive way. I love the stories of Max calling up Dennis and Austin and running routes outside of practice to get things right they had missed before. Did we EVER see Pitta drop a pass? Or Collie for that matter? Or even Jacobsen before this season? That comes from working with ONE guy, over and over and over again, until they begin to get a real comfortable feel for each other. At this point, when someone screws up, it seems like neither quarterback feels it's his place to take charge as the leader and rally the team and make something happen. A football team divided against itself at the quarterback position cannot stand.
Here's to hoping this year finishes better than it started. We can still beat Utah and shock TCU if we can get it together. Sometimes that takes time.