The Padron Report

[Mustangsabu]

another thing is we are converting more 3rd down attempts with Padron under center.

I am amazed more is not being made of this. A couple more 3rd down conversions and we win both the games we lost in overtime. KP's ability on third down is night and day over Bo's and that is invaluable and, in my humble opinion, probably the most important reason why Padron is the man right now.

[Bergermeister]

No matter what his shortcomings are at this point in time, it is obvious that Padron is the real deal. After all these years, we've got another REAL quarterback.

[The PonyGrad]

At the game I had the feeling that, with Rice putting on pressure, that Padron was struggling a bit. That may be because of expectations or just an inaccurate assessment. Therefore, I was surprised that his efficiency rating for the Rice game was pretty good, 158. It was a couple decimal points below BLMs BEST game this season.

Bottom line is that Padron has had three of the top four efficiency games of the season (and he has only played in three.)

[The PonyGrad]

His passing efficiency of 172 is still better than the NCAA FBS leader.

He won't be ranked this year as you have to have played in 75% of games played.

[Dooby]

I think we are a tad [deleted] BLM, but anybody that doesn't see that Padron puts the ball in a better position for the receiver to catch it is blind.

[MidlandMustang]

I am not proclaiming him a Davey O'Brien candidate or the second coming, but I think you can see the difference between him and Bo Mitchell.

1. He has a better grasp of running this type of offense than Mitchell ever did because he was trained in this of offense since middle school. He sees the field very well, he understands how to move in the pocket to keep plays alive, he doesn't get rattled.

2. Padron is comfortable because understands how to deal with the pressure. My two examples:
a. On SMU's first possession, Padron faces a third down and about four. He steps up in the pocket and is about to go down but he keeps his eyes down the field. And he is going down, he finds Terrance Wilkerson for about 6 yards -- first down.
b. On his only touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders, he felt the heat from a LB/S coming from his right, took one step up into the pocket, delivered a nice to throw to Sanders in stride and there's your TD.
Patton, you going to be at the game?
3. There just seems to be a better feel in the relationship between Padron in the receivers. The ball is going where it's supposed to go and the WRs are going to the spots regardless if they are the first, second, third or fourth choice. Quite frankley, he may the best thing to happen to Cole Beasley. And the duck he threw in the first quarter was painful to watch but when you have WRs play for you and trust you, they return the trust. Credit Sanders for making a very good adjustment on the ball.

4. A couple times I felt Padron held the ball too long and should have thrown the ball away. Plus, the INT in the Rice end zone looked like a miscommunication. And he didn't protect the ball when he fumbled. That is a film work thing. But it's pretty clear Jones is really simplifying this offense and is adding as Padron becomes comfortable.

5. Now, the more teams collect film on him, the more they will adjust to his game, movement in the pocket. Padron will have to adjust. So will Jones.

There is a long way to go, and I'm just basing this off of what I saw against Rice and what I read from the Tulsa game. Pretty fair to say he just understands how to play quarterback better than Mitchell has. When you've trained in this type of passing game for your whole life, you understand. He doesn't have the arm strength but he knows how to adjust velocity on his throws in terms of their distance.

So here's what you have from Padron including the second half of Houston:

48-70-1 (68%) 729 4TDs 1 INT.

But we'll see how it goes against UTEP.