Thorsen
- Thread starter ThePurpleKnight
- Start date
You don't think it valuable to get reps for a QB who's likely your starter for the next 2.5 years?
Not as much as you do. I think there is value in giving some to others. See what you got. Play two per game, a half each. Nothing left to lose. Also play any guy not taking a shirt. Screw the senior or incumbent that wasn't able to get it done against FCS. Assume cats dad s half right and many of these guys simply aren't playing hard, let em sit. Assume ecat is half right and the coaches are the best in identifying talent, let the games make it easy. Pray I'm not half right and the coaches are unable to develop talent - cause then it doesn't matter who plays and we are truly screwed.
Isn't it a little early to say there's nothing left to lose? They still have TEN GAMES to play! They haven't even played a Big Ten game yet, so all of their goals are still achievable within the conference.
I keep coming back to 2014, when the Cats looked almost as hapless as this team in losing the first two at home and then won three straight, including at 4-0 Penn State and over No. 16 Wisconsin. No, they didn't make a bowl, but they did beat Notre Dame in November, too.
My point is, you never know. And to say that there's nothing to play for after two games is ridiculous. I'd like to hear you explain that to the seniors.
...and then lost another 4 in a row, including two curb-stompings by Iowa and Nebraska and quite possibly the worst football game ever played against Michigan.
...and beat Notre Dame and probably would've made a bowl game if Trevor hadn't torn his ACL against Purdue.
This team probably will get bludgeoned a few times -- they have to play OSU, MSU and Iowa on the road in October. But if they pull it together, they can beat a lot of the teams on the schedule. They can certainly beat Purdue, Minnesota and Illinois, and I think they have a shot to beat Nebraska and Indiana and maybe even Wisconsin (the Badgers haven't won in Evanston since 1999). Not saying they will, but they definitely can. Historically, NU had lost a game or two they shouldn't have, and won a game or two they shouldn't have just about every year. They already have two of the should-have-won losses out of the way.
But that's all speculation. I just think it's ridiculous to say a team should pack it in and just use the season as a proving ground for backups because it has "nothing to lose" after just two games. Those seniors who are playing their last season and those coaches who may be coaching for their jobs deserve more than that.
I agree completely with this, I just think it's a mistake to point to 2014 as an example of a team that found itself and came together to overcome adversity when they didn't even get to .500. That season was a failure, in the end, even if the Wisconsin and ND wins were awesome.
I hear you. I wouldn't say that the 2014 season was a success by any means, but the team did come together and found itself for a little while (won three in row). Then they tanked (lost four in row), then they found themselves again briefly (won two in row), and then they lost to Illinois with a bowl on the line. It was a strange year.
That is my hope for this team as well. However I hope that if we are able to recover and make something decent out of this season, that doesn't fool anyone into believing changes don't need to be made.
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You mean the ones that apparently aren't playing with heart - per one poster with ties to the program. I would be happy to explain it after listening to their excuses for their performances, then we can all sing kum-by-ah and get our marshmallows ready.
Agreed - but I bet:
1. Nothing changes personnel wise;
2. We lose most or all of those ten games anyway;
3. No experience is given to the younger guys;
4. Nothing more is learned about those same players abilities.
Let's rendezvous in a few months. (Which is exactly what caused FA to show up on the injury report this week. Maybe they should simply kill the archive feature...)
Those coaches shouldn't survive the season. Those players have no longer earned those jobs.
You do realize that giving Alviti reps over Thorson would be giving reps to the older guy, right? I've already advocated for benching Olson and Mahoney, who are pointlessly taking OL reps.
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I think he's actually advocating for Yates and Green, but point taken (even if it is a terrible point).
Go back to original post. I said green, Yates. I tend to agree with glades that the state of the OL probably leans to Alviti over CT. But, if we can agree bowling is out, then Alviti is yesterday. The other two are one injury, or a few impressive games, away from being under center next year. Can we try to no repeat the backup QB with zero experience experiment again if we don't have to?
Just so we are clear, you're advocating that either a redshirt freshman with questionable arm strength or a redshirt freshman walk-on with questionable arm strength take reps away from a player with starting experience, significant physical skills, and 2.5 years of remaining eligibility that hasn't been the problem with our offer this year because... Why?
I would add a 3rd running play that really would confuse a defensive coordinator
Next year, When that exceptional OL gets CTs head knocked off and we have to bring in someone, who? None of the three options will have a snap. Glades, remind me again, have there been any underrated athlete at NU that surprised the world?
Why? Gcg - what is your record guess status quo (which will happen)? What is it with my idea? I'm guessing we are debating a couple game difference in a season we agree will have no bowl. Now, return to paragraph one.
Huh? That's silly. Why not just divide the playing time into quarters or hey why not 2 minute increments? Thorson has not been Andrew Luck out there, but he's far from being the problem. Give him a decent OL and decent receivers and we would be singing that kid's praises.
I'd prefer to play to win games rather than to play to make sure every backup QB gets a snap so we can say "we have QBs who have taken college game snaps before."
If you want Yates or Green to get some reps, wait for a big lead or a big deficit. I do agree that Pat has been way too conservative in the past about getting the 3rd string QB some reps in blowout situations.
The kind of "experience" that you're advocating:
- risks great injury to players who aren't equipped for the situation
- makes a mockery of the competitive spirit
- overrates "bad experience" as being better than "no experience"
- risks having 3 QBs injured in the same age because you're senselessly rotating them just for the sake of it
If Thorson is hurt next season, it won't matter how many snaps TJ or Lloyd take this year, they are so far behind CT that it isn't funny. Season will be over. Now, perhaps after a redshirt year Aidan will be ready to get some experience. But ****-canning 2016 to get experience for career back-ups is one of the dumber ideas I've read here.
Back up QB's can sometimes add a spark. ZO even did it for a series or two and then we saw why Clayton was the starter. Alviti might do that, who knows, but Clayton for the umpteenth time is far from the problem on O. If you are on a team, you want your best players on the field. If you are a fan you should want the same. Both of these games were close and the staff didn't have a great opportunity to run in a back up QB. The clear issue in the first 2 games has been horrendous OL play.
If we continue playing the way we did in the first couple games, 3-9 or 2-10 is very possible, but I think staff changes are likely if we are anywhere below .500.
I don't think that has any bearing on trying to get Thorson as prepared as possible for his next two years as starter.
I can even accept this notion as I expect it to often be the case. I do not expect to see any of the underclassmen get PT though. Time will quickly tell.
I would add a 3rd running play just to make opponent's defensive coordinators work a little harder
I don't know what he's talking about. It looked like we had several variations of the play where the OL collapses and Thorson runs to save his life.
Yeah I mean we are 0-2, throwing in the towel at this point is just absurd. We are 0-0 in conference! Obviously I'm considerably less optimistic than before, but we still have many pieces left from a dominant defense last year and a talented RB and QB combo. To tank from this point is ridiculous. If we end up 2-7 or something two months from now and are out of bowl contention, then by all means use the final 3 games to play as many young kids as possible. But for now our focus should be how to maximize our chances to turn this mess around and win some football games, starting with this Saturday and then take it from there.
One thing that drives me nuts about McCall is that he calls that play all the damn time and there isn't a single variation of it that ever works!! After 3 years of it, you'd think he'd learn...