Graham is our quarterback

I'm not ready to anoint Graham yet. He played in garbage time against 2nd and 3rd string players. The coaches felt Tobias was the best chance we had of moving the ball and so he was in there. Now with the being said, I don't know why he was in there as long as he was.
 
originalwombat said:
Re. Lucas, anyone consider that maybe he’s just not very good?
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Perhaps, but then why did we hear all offseason that he was the presumptive starter, including from practice reports? If it was all a smokescreen from the coaching staff, it was a damn good one. Hell, we've played a game now but I guarantee you USF has no idea who will play QB against them next week. The "best" QB on paper basically didn't play yesterday, the guy who started and played most of the game didn't play well, and the "third string" guy was the only one who was actually able to complete passes and make things happen.
 
johncu said:
Perhaps, but then why did we hear all offseason that he was the presumptive starter, including from practice reports? If it was all a smokescreen from the coaching staff, it was a damn good one.
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I have not seen a single comment by the coaching staff to indicate that LJ was expected to be the starter. That was all fan generated without any basis on his previous game experience or practice observation. People presumed he was the best candidate based on his HS ability to throw. The closest thing I heard to coaches choosing a starting QB was CGC's comments singling TO out for his athletic ability. In retrospect, that was a hint that they were leaning toward him being the starter.
 
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I was at the game last night so I didn't get to see Graham's TD on film yet. Just rewatched it, and it was really impressive. He threw it WELL before Brown had beaten his man, but he anticipated it and hit him in stride.
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
They were not getting open.
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Aside from the TD pass and Tyler Davis' little 7 yard curl, didn't see many well run routes. On one of TO's dropbacks that ended with a sack there was a deep flag pattern that was open he just didn't have time to make the throw.
 
I said the moment Yates signed he should be the starter and I’ll stick to that sht.. best thrower on the team.
 
TampaBayJacket said:
Oliver made some big plays with his legs. Can't shiite on him completely, but the fact that he can only throw scud missiles that accidentally hit the target makes his upside pretty limited. He might move the team the best right now with his athletic ability but you at least need to be able to complete half your passes in a standard offense so he will hurt our transition in the long term, IMO.
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The scud missile approach is how I remember Nesbit throwing. I agree that isn’t the approach this team needs right now.
 
bonham said:
I'm not ready to anoint Graham yet. He played in garbage time against 2nd and 3rd string players. The coaches felt Tobias was the best chance we had of moving the ball and so he was in there. Now with the being said, I don't know why he was in there as long as he was.
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Clemson had two 5-star and two 4-stars out there on defense when Graham was in.
 
The offense looked worse than this last year against Clemson, I don’t know how many of you remember that game. Playing Tobias in obvious passing situation was a mistake to me while I was watching the game, but now that I sobered up, I realized CGC or CDP put Tobias out there because they knew whoever they put there was gonna be beat the öööö up. They knew they weren’t winning that game so they put Tobias to take the abuse, since he’s an option qb. We’ll see Luke or Graham start next Saturday.
 
To some extent, Venables was able to shut us down by expecting us to run and daring us to pass. He knew he could cover receivers and pressure the QB at will, so he could risk getting burned on a deep pass. Even if we did complete some deep passes, he knew the Clemson offense could match every score. Not too many of our opponents will have that kind of confidence, but we still have to have an effective passing game if we are going to play offense from the shotgun.
 
Akinji07 said:
The offense looked worse than this last year against Clemson, I don’t know how many of you remember that game. Playing Tobias in obvious passing situation was a mistake to me while I was watching the game, but now that I sobered up, I realized CGC or CDP put Tobias out there because they knew whoever they put there was gonna be beat the öööö up. They knew they weren’t winning that game so they put Tobias to take the abuse, since he’s an option qb. We’ll see Luke or Graham start next Saturday.
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So, you're saying last night TO was the QB we deserved but not the QB we need right now.

I can live with that.
 
jacket67 said:
To some extent, Venables was able to shut us down by expecting us to run and daring us to pass. He knew he could cover receivers and pressure the QB at will, so he could risk getting burned on a deep pass. Even if we did complete some deep passes, he knew the Clemson offense could match every score. Not too many of our opponents will have that kind of confidence, but we still have to have an effective passing game if we are going to play offense from the shotgun.
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Venables did the exact same öööö he's done to us for the past 4 years, with pretty much the exact same result. It really goes to show that talent differential to that degree pretty much negates any schematic differences. Clemson would have to have a pretty incompetent coaching staff for us to really sustain ball movement on them, and we know that's not the case.
 
I just went back and re-watched the first drive. Tobias was fine and moving the ball well until he took that shot from Simmons. That was a massive hit. Very next play there was a mis-communication in the backfield. Not sure who's fault that was but that was the big negative yardage play.
 
Oliver was the quarterback with game experience that was least likely to totally crumble going up against Clemson. The other two got real game experience against big boy Div-1A competition.

The starter for the next game is the quarterback who most builds on last night's experience during practice this week.

I expect Graham is the kid the coaches want to step up. Most upside.
 
Techbert said:
Oliver was the quarterback with game experience that was least likely to totally crumble going up against Clemson. The other two got real game experience against big boy Div-1A competition.

The starter for the next game is the quarterback who most builds on last night's experience during practice this week.

I expect Graham is the kid the coaches want to step up. Most upside.
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Yet he totally crumbled under the pressure of the moment

TO didn't throw the ball with any confidence or authority, he looked worse than many T Fr have looked in similar situations
 
CheWreck said:
Not sure I’d say a single 3 play drive 1 minute before halftime is any kind of “real” experience for Lucas Johnson.
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And yet, the next time he takes a snap in a game, it won't be his first.

You take three snaps with 11 Clemson Tigers, starters I believe, staring at you pre-snap with evil intent, in a pressure situation, and then tell me it was not real.
 
Tampa Jacket said:
Oliver is quicker, faster and might have a better arm. He is still adjusting to the new offense. Let's have patience.
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What new offense? Running the option out of the shotgun rather than 2 steps ahead? He’s still adjusting to making accurate throws in his sophomore year. I ran out of all the patience I had for a lifetime waiting on Taquon to get better for 2 years. Play the guy who can make throws.
 
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