ENOUGH OF THE LOSS OF MAUCK EXCUSE!!!

I don't think number comparision is the issue between Mauck and Randall. Mauck was the QB for a team coming into it's own and he was on a roll, getting better each game.

The injury put the brakes on that roll and who knows what LSU would have done this season if he was injury free.

 

the stats were to show that there has been no drop off.

whether it was mauck or randall i don't think the rest of the season (post-florida) would have been any different.

not a single game was decided by QB play....but as i said i might give you the benefit of the doubt at Auburn.....IMO the 4 int's didn't cost us the game. that is the only game he really played bad.

 

I disagree

I think that losing Mauck made a huge difference. I think that it affected the team and the season in numerous ways.

The stats lie. I think that you get a better idea of what problems were caused by watching the games and ignoring the stats a bit. Many have pointed out the learning/experience curve that both QBs had to go through in his first four games. The stats don't necessarily point out that curve. But it was there.

Against USC, AU, Kent, and Bummer, the offensive play selection would have been TOTALLY different with Mauck. I contend that we would have blown out USC and beaten AU (the turn-overs gave them field position the entire game and 17 points scored off of turn-overs). With Mauck finding his rhythm throwing the short passes, the offense opens up and the games are different. They would not have been able to throw everyone in the box and dared us to throw. So one flaw in the stats logic is that the play selection would have remained constant. It would not have.

Another point is that for some reason, our offensive line has trouble with pass blocking in the early games. Seems like this has been a problem the last few years. For Dinardo's teams, they never really did a good job of it. For Saban's teams, they seem to get some consistancy pass blocking late in the season. Mauck was running for his life a LOT more than Randall had to. Mauck definitely had a case of "happy feet" and I think that it was because he was fearing for his life. I think that this poor pass protection combined with Mauck's inexperience caused him to bounce around in the pocket and deliver the ball too late. For Randall, I think that he did a better job of remaining calm in the pocket and they just got better at protecting him. Give Mauck a little less pressure and fix his happy feet (which was getting better each game as the protection got better) and he lights them up with short passes. Randall's problem is with accuracy. Experience will hopefully fix that. If he would not have injured the ACL and been the starter, maybe he could have fixed that by now (though he did hit some big passes against the piggies that would have been 5 yards away from anyone in the first few games).

I still contend that the Bummer game was closer than the score indicated. Any sort of offense and we are in that game as well.

Starting over at QB and FS at mid-season turned this season into a re-building season and we were lucky to be 8-4. I think we could have been 10-2 with Mauck and DJ.

 

But Mauck had all of those games ahead of him

Look at the point that Mauck had gotten to in the Florida game. How much he had improved and how the team had progressed. Yes, it is comparable to where the team is NOW with Randall. The key is, LSU would have had the rest of the season to keep going up and getting better. Instead, we start over and are just now getting back to that point, unfortunately with some losses under our belt. This is not really a fair question or argument for the QB's, because there is no telling how good the team would be if Randall had another five more games with the team. If you want to speculate strictly on this year, then if Mauck had not gotten hurt there is no doubt we would be in a better position. He would have kept getting better, rather than starting over at zero with Randall.

 

My 2 cents

I think the world of both guys as athletes, filling the shoes of Rohan was no easy task. Randall has really come along and learned on the job, which is also not easy to do. The thing with Randall though, is right now I would say he is at the point that Mauck was for Mississippi State, which is comforting to think about b/c Florida was after that and that was Mauck's game of his career to date. I really would like to see Randall continue off of what he did against Arkansas b/c I think he has gained confidence. How great would it be to do to Texas what we did to Florida? And it's really not much of a tall order either.


One last thing, in my opinion the biggest loss without a doubt this year was Damien James.

 

Quarterbacks

Just finished watching a replay of the Florida game. Gottfried, said that LSU was, hands down, the best team in the West. Sadly we lost Mauck then the next week, vs SC, our defense was rendered ineffective with injuries. Spears missed one game then Hill hurt his shoulder, Allen and Lavalais had been playing injured all year.
This all coincided with Randall getting his chance and playing the toughest part of the schedule. If the defense had been healthy, even with Randalls inexperience, we would have had close games with Bama and Auburn with a good chance to win.
I believe with the maturity and experience of the OL, next year, either of these guys can take us to a BCS Bowl. i We lose one guy off the OL and all Sale had over Niswanger and about three freshmen was experience. I think there will be some strong competition, in the spring, for the starting positions. I believe Whitworth, Peterman, and Wilkerson will hold their positons, unless Wilkerson's back injury becomes worse. However, Niswanger, Livings, Johnson, and three or four other freshmen will have an intense battle for playing time for the two right side positions.

 

Wow, great thoughts and analysis here.

I applaud all you guys. My humble opinion is that I wish that Mauck would have stayed healthy for the year. We would have won one more game, I think.

I do think very highly of Marcus Randall, however, because I could see him improve his game as time went by. Kudos to Jimbo Fisher, too, cause he is the QB coach.

 

We scored like 33 PPG with Mauck and about 15 with Randall

 

i love them both....im anxious to see the cotton bowl!