Offensive Report Card: USC (by Jameson McCausland)

[North Texas Golfer]

Everyone on sports talk radio also said we had no chance to beat USC. If they got paid for being right instead of getting paid for talking I might put more credibility in their statements. Those guys deal in volume not value. We all have our opinions on this board in regards to the QB and none of us really know much we just have a preference. I completely agree that Sam has the skill set that fits Herman's offense but his skill set is not substantially better than Shane's to overcome his deficiencies in experience. Sam is one tough son of a gun and I love his passion and competiveness. If we didn't have a returning QB who was equally competitive, had been through the fire, and played pretty stinking good thus far I would be all for throwing Sam to the wolves and letting him learn on the fly. I just believe at this point it is senseless and possibly detrimental to Sam's growth not to allow him to develop like any other freshman should be allowed. I still don't know what Shane did over the past year that convinced people he isn't a good QB or at the very least good enough to prevent us from having to start another true freshman. Shane stunk against Kansas and TCU last year no doubt about it but the whole team stunk in those games. Prior to that and with the exception of OK State we were within 7 pts in every game and our defense was absolutely abysmal. I would like to see what Shane could do with a year under his belt and what seems to be a much improved defense. He was the runner up in the Nike Elite 11 and he beat Lamar Jackson, Sam Darnold, and Jalen Hurts to win the Manning Academy QB competition this summer. The kid can freaking play. Then there is giant elephant in the room people seem to ignore. Shane beat Sam out for the starting job. The QB coaching genius that knows his system better than anyone, including talk radio host, named Buechele the starter and said again after the USC game when Shane is healthy he is the starter. My theory on this "QB competition" is that some people believe, since we were not good last year and lost to Maryland this year, we need to change everything. Buechele went 5 and 7 last year as the starter so he's obviously not "the guy" at QB. We only have one other QB on the roster and he has the makings of "the guy" at QB so he should be the starter. He hasn't done anything to prove he is the answer except being the QB when we shut out San Jose State and lead a 91 yard drive to take the lead against USC. Those are two good things and that series against USC was special but that is an extremely small sample size to warrant a starting QB change. I appreciate Jameson's hard work and insight covering the team but to say "if Shane was playing behind the same offensive line we saw on Saturday, he would have had the same stats" is ignorant. Shane's stats may have been worse, they may have been better, or possibly the same. No one knows what would have happened and the unknown is the root of this whole controversy and I include myself in that statement. I think but I don't know that Shane will have a very good season this year and be one of the top QB's in the Big 12 or possibly nation. I think that because I saw a lot of positives in him as a true freshman last year and normally players get better with experience. I cant say that about Sam because I have no idea what he will do over the course of a season. He might come out and break every record in the book or he might be a complete disaster. I really would prefer not to roll the dice on the unknown until the known actual proves he cant do it and I don't think he has proven that in any way at this time. I'm fine if everyone disagrees with me because it seems Tom Herman does agree with me and he's a Mensa member so the rest of y'all can suck it.

Ricky, help an old man out by using paragraphs  Thanks. 

 

[RickyFlair]

Ricky, help an old man out by using paragraphs  Thanks. 

Sorry!! I type like I talk, just one big runon sentence after another. 

I'll work on it. 

 

[Adferrum]

I believe you are referring to the 4th down play on Texas' first drive. Chris Warren completely whiffed on his block. Ehlinger would have had an easy first down if Warren simply just engages his man.

That's the visual on that 4th down play. 

I know Porter is the superior blocker of the two, but is Warren's blocking usually that bad? If so, I begin to understand why he is only getting limited carries in those games. But Porter's running is also abysmal.

Would love to see a little bit more of our two freshmen down the road.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

3 minutes ago, Adferrum said:

Just saw this on another site. Really, really bad effort on Warren's part. 

As hard as it is for us to accept, maybe the coaches are smarter than we give them credit for 

 

[Adferrum]

Just saw this on another site. Really, really bad effort on Warren's part. 

As hard as it is for us to accept, maybe the coaches are smarter than we give them credit for 

Maybe. Maybe Beck is also thinking too much.

Looking at the three games, it seems like we had a completely different offensive game plan for each. I don't think that was just a result of the circumstances. I think Beck needs to find out what's working and stick to that, instead of trying to change up the whole system within a week.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Maybe. Maybe Beck is also thinking too much.

Looking at the three games, it seems like we had a completely different offensive game plan for each. I don't think that was just a result of the circumstances. I think Beck needs to find out what's working and stick to that, instead of trying to change up the whole system within a week.

Watching Tom's press conference, I am pretty sure that Tom was/is not happy with the offense and Beck. 

And I think it's a work in progress situation. Only I don't think it takes most of the year. I think you will see a difference in the next game or two. Tom knows that that the offense has to be better by the Okie and Okie State games.

 

[tejasrulz]

The amount of carries Warren received was puzzling, but even more puzzling to me was the absence of the screen game. 

From what I saw during the game, USC had a LB spy our RBs. So maybe our coaches saw that too?