10/16 for 96 yards and zero touchdowns. Second-tier quarterbacking against two second-tier SEC teams. Bama, Florida, and Arkansas will eat us alive if we can't get 200 yards and 2 or 3 passing TD's a game.
Some of that is on our receivers though. I know drops are part of every game but to think Peterson had as many catches as Shepard...
We don't need JJ to have 200 yard games to win. Just control the offense which he did last night and that was with very few calls throwing the ball downfield. I thought they should have let him throw it to the endzone a few times while in the redzone. A little too conservative IMO. Most surprising was JJ's nice option read play for a 16 yard TD.
While it's hard to argue with 29-7, no passing touchdowns is what worries me. With five interceptions thanks to a wonderful defense that set up great field position, I don't care if the QB went 3-3 for 20 yards if he got three touchdowns of it. If Miles is hoping to unveil some new JJ that we haven't seen yet, Miss State is the team to do it against, not WV
It was a nice option play, and its about time. But I'm surprised at the number of designed quarterback runs. They really haven't gained us much this year and it certainly risks quarterback injury.
I wish I knew what game a lot of y'all were watching last night, because I saw not one shred of improvement in JJ from last game. I honestly don't remember seeing a more incompetent D-IA QB in all my years of watching football. He's not even serviceable. Sure 10/16 isn't horrible in terms of percentage. But when you consider that at least 5 of those 10 didn't go beyond the line of scrimmage, it paints a much different picture. I hear a lot of talk about the playcalling limiting his opportunities, but I'm not sure I buy it. Seems like most replays showed a receiver wide open that he never even looked at or near. Good example: One of his decent passes was to Randle near the red zone. It was a good play, got us near the goal line, and set up JJ's TD run. However, on the replay, Alfred Blue was all alone over the middle; State never even though about him. It may not have resulted in more yardage, but it demonstrates how little of the field Jefferson sees. One thing is for sure: The fact that we are so overtly committed to the option is not doing Jefferson any favors. When the play consistently goes for little to no gain, why wouldn't we just try passing it? If anything, the kid needs more reps. It's essentially a throw-away play every time. His TD run was nice, but I'm afraid that it only cemented his status with our coaches as a running QB. Once we start playing teams that can actually rack-up points (Arky, Bama, UF), we are going to be in big trouble. Jefferson's incompetence is going to be underscored, and no one will make the case that he has improved. It is absolutely stupefying that Les did not give Lee any reps last night. We had a perfect opportunity in the 4th with the game in hand, yet he sent JJ back out there. And it was even more maddening to see Lee come in to simply hand the ball off. Talk about a slap in the face. I certainly can't look into a crystal ball and say that Lee would be our savior, but can anyone tell me the last time we had a competent offense? I can; it was 2008. Put this years defense on that team and we win the SECW. The fact that everyone else in the world can see this glaring inability but our coaching staff gives me chest pains. Throwing for less than a total 200yds against two SEC bottom-feeders is major cause for concern. We can't wait until we're in the thick of the conference schedule to make some sort of change. But unfortunately, the most likely scenario is that JJ gets hurt on one of these cutesy running plays, and Lee has to come in with zero reps on the season. Then we're back to square one. Anyone else getting tired of this?
One other point. . .our utter incompetence in the red zone signifies a severe lack of confidence that the coaching staff has in JJ. So pardon me if I don't buy this bit about them keeping him reigned in until we really need him. You simply cannot hide your QB and be successful in the SEC. It makes me sick to watch guys like RS Frosh Aaron Murry fling it all over the place, yet we can barely throw it beyond the line of scrimmage.
this. but also this. i paid a lot of attention to JJ this game. i don't necessarily even have a problem with his scrambles. a QB who can tuck and run is one of the biggest weapons in cfb. but i'm still not seeing progression overall. did he improve from last week? yeah. but there was only one direction to go. when his 1st read is open, he's fine. when it's not.... also last year (or was it the year before?) we all railed against the meerkat offense and it disappeared. can we rail against the QB option this year??? it worked once last night. it works about once out of every 25 times we run it. edit: tiga, how do you multi quote without a multi quote button?
we would need this year's defense to make up for the pick 6's in '08. but still i agree overall with giving lee a shot.
