Out of the 4 games we lost with Randall at the helm, the Auburn game was the only one where his play had anything to do with it. We wouldn't have beaten Bama with Mauck, Bert Jones, Tommy Hodson, or Joe Montana at QB. He played well enough to win against both Arkansas and Texas. He did not allow the two big passes by Matt Jones, nor did he allow Roy Williams to beat us singlehandedly. With this year's defense, we win both those games, not to mention given UGA a much better game than Arkansas did. Not saying he is better than Mauck, just saying that Randall's role in the losses has been severely overblown.
I wish nothing but the Best for Marcus... I think you guys are being a little hard on Marcus.. Matt thinks he could be better. Marcus also said in the article that he can read Defenses better than he could last year. I give him the benefit of the doubt, but I do want Matt to start. There's no need to disrupt the offense.
I will keep my opinions to myself on the marcus randall situation... I have heard some pretty stupid stuff....TigerRagAndrew, I spit Lipton Sweet Peach Tea all over my PC monitor when I read that, "Every game he has played in" he threw the ball up for grabs, and that he also has fumbling problems... You see what you want to see, and others do, as well. My proclivities are to hold Randall up to the light, because he looks good, as do his stats...Randall is a strong armed quarterback who is ideal for this offense because he likes to look vertically down the field, something the OC for this team has only figured out how to make our current QB do in the past two games. This is something Marcus naturally does. Marcus has also NEVER had the problem of not being able to "look off" or "hold" a safety to one side of the field while giving his wideouts enough time to make their move on the CB and keeping the safety up for run support and/or the intermediate threat using his eyes. It's one of his strengths, frankly. His problems were always the subjective term called "Focus". Focus could equal nerves. Focus could equal pressure. Focus could equal a lot of things. But, the real point of the matter is that Marcus has never been trusted to be "the man". He's never had the luxury of Matt Mauck being able to say, "I'm the guy, and they're going to stick with me." He never got to stink it up and have the benefit of knowing that LSU still believed in him. The simple fact is that the only thing that ever separated Mauck from Randall was a few years, athletic ability (which Randall has in SPADES over Mauck), and more game experience. Oh yeah, the CONFIDENCE OF THE STAFF AND FANBASE were pretty big, too. But, I will freely admit that Matt Mauck couldn't have been asked to do more this year. Randall couldn't have done better. No one could have. Just my $0.02 on Randall...
TE: I said every single game THIS YEAR that he has played in he throws the ball up for grabs when he is pressured. I did not say EVERY Game that he has played in. If you can look at his play this year and say "Hey, that guy did a great job", you're misguided. He could not move the ball at all against LaTech (missed screen throws), and he threw the ball up for grabs at least once vs Arizona. (that was his interception pass) He only played in 3 conference games ( MissSt, Ark, SC) and couldn't do anything vs Ark. I realize he only attempted one pass but it was an ugly screen that was so far off. He had reasonably good games vs ULM and Arizona, but again, those were the worst teams on our schedule, and /me references the throwing the ball up for grabs problem vs Arz.
I can say that Marcus Randall plays against a stacked deck...Everyone expects him to play with lesser talent-talent that is good, but is not part of LSU's "best 11" philosophy-yet they also expect him to perform other-wordly relative to results with these same lesser talents. He was not given an array of options against any team he came in and appeared against this year. When you're faced with certain situations late in the game-ie, sitting on the ball, taking the air out of the ball, running plays that are DESIGNED to quicken the onset of the end of the final horn-you're not going to be as successful throwing the ball and doing the things that quarterbacks are measured by. When you play with the 2nd string wideouts, it's also a tad more difficult as well...When you get limited opportunities in static situations with limited talent, yes, perhaps you might press, and perhaps you might not be as crisp as you might be with more work and/or experience...That has and always will be Marcus' biggest problem. He never got the proper experience he needed. He was always struggling for the starting job, and the spring game injury was his Waterloo in terms of being able to compete neck and neck with Mauck. He has settled in now, and he works at practice with the 2nd unit, doesn't get a majority of reps, yet people act as if since the guy doesn't throw 2 touchdowns ever 10 touches in mop-up, he's some bum, or he's just not going to fit the bill... Those are people who believe what they want to believe, and are not being objective, quite simply. That's the way it goes, though...People choose a favorite, then use statistics or point to performances only in passing without taking the extenuating circumstances into account when forming their opinion regarding their favorite. Like Shyrone Carey...Many of us were calling for him to become the starting tailback after the Georgia game. He got injured. Does anyone believe he's LESS talented now? That he has LESS athletic ability? Of course not...It's just that we realized that others behind him are MORE talented. This does not mean that he is LESS talented as either a RB or a PR/KOR. Yet, some would say that his production "dropped off" even though it's obvious he suffered from an injury, and a depth chart reshuffling, just as Addai did...
we have had this conversation before I believe. Hope Jamarcus is ready thread. lots of emotions on this subject. better left to the unknown if possible in my opinion.
Not necessarily emotion...Just my ability to go from easy going Tigerforums.com contributor to ball-busting, ass-kicking, making you appear to be on Ramah's mental level poster in 0.2 seconds... ;-)
TE, totally agree with you. People see what they want to see. No one can honestly tell me that people's reactions would have been the same had it been Randall that threw 3 ints against Ole Miss. Because we won, the general consensus was how gritty Mauck was to come back from that and still win. Had it been Randall, everyone would have said we won in spite of him. The TD pass to Clayton in the SECCG was a horribly thrown ball into coverage, that was only a TD due to a fabulous play by Clayton. If Randall had thrown that pass, all anyone would have said was how lucky it was that it wasn't picked off. Also, right on the money about the 2nd team and his performances this year. Do people honestly think Mauck would have done better in there with the 2nd unit with us trying to run the clock out? Again I reiterate that I'm not down on Mauck...I think he's a great leader and integral to our success this year. Like I said earlier though, if we had this year's defense last year, we might be having a different conversation right now.
so, jedi master, you mean to tell me in the auburn game last year Randall was good? randall got a lot of reps during the game with first string against La Tech, and he stalled the offense. Randall is a good qb, i truelly belive it, but the future of LSU football rests with the freshmen being redshirted this year. Just my opinion...TE thinks much differently, but we have already established that...no need to argue further.
What I saw last year was that when the games were close and the game plan was similiar to what it is this year, Randall was effective...ie. SC, Ky, Ark, 1st half against UT. Where he was less effective was in games where we were forced to come from way behind Auburn, Bama, 2nd half against UT. And sure, his mistakes contributed largely to the deficits. The difference, I think was that this year's defense could for the most part overcome those mistakes, while last year's could not. Let's face it, if not for our defense the Ole Miss game this year could have quickly turned into a rout. BTW, I agree he did not play well against Auburn last year, but other than that, didn't you think he was fairly solid? Not great, but not terrible either. I think the only int he threw other than that game was in the Cotton Bowl. As far as the Tech game this year, didn't Saban admit he was trying not to score?
