SI picks up Willis benching

[EastStang]

Stat, we were 7-17 with Justin as starting QB. We fired the head coach for that statistic. In the NFL, QB's get released after such a stretch. Obviously, it was not all JW's fault, but its one of those intangible things that we have to keep in mind. We don't know how empty the rest of the cupboard is and if you follow Stallion's views, we have few upperclassmen who should be playing Division 1 football. So, it might be kinda empty. And if that is the case, it may be time to start building the team that will compete well in 3-4 years by giving them playing time now. Add in JW missing spring ball and he had to compete head to head starting from ground zero and lost that competition. 1-11 in CUSA is not a record to write home about. Again, JJ is doing this because its the best option in his mind right now. JW is as JJ put it, one or two plays away from starting. And JW may turn out to be a starter sooner than we think.

[Huey78]

Based upon this quote from JJ,......"I told Justin he's only one or two plays away from being the guy, so he's got to be ready," Jones said. "We're going in the other direction right now, but the other guys have got to be ready." ...it sounds to me that he is saying that based upon practice conditions to this point these guys are doing the best job, but he may be hedging his bets in that if they don't do as well in game situations he is ready to throw Willis back into the fire if he is ready.

I keep reading people interpreting JJ's comments similarly above... I'm not sure if I have the wrong mind-set, or if I'm being overly pessimistic… or… or… or…

…but it seems to me, if you don’t read in to it and try to “spinâ€

[Garret]

3. Record with the Junior QB starting: 0-2. Record with the true Freshman starting: 3-7, plus the following season Hawaii went 9-3.

4. The Junior QB who was passed over for Chang got to start the last 9 games of the following season (Chang got hurt). He finally figured out the offense and had an amazing stretch of games: 3361 yards, 34TDs/9INTs, 8-1 record as a starter.

Which side are you trying to argue? From this what I'm seeing is that the upperclassman ended up with an 8-3 record as a starter, and the freshman ended up 4-9 over those two seasons.

I'm not arguing sides here, just providing some historical information. Each QB seems to adjust to the offense at their own rate, and their light "clicks" on at different times. As a Junior, Rolovich couldn't figure out the offense properly and the team went 0-2 with him. As a Senior, the light "clicked" about 4-5 games into the season and the team went 8-1 with him after that.

So, just because Willis might not grasp the offense now, it doesn't mean that he'll never get it. Missing the Spring *significantly* reduced Willis' chances of getting the offense down for this season, as he could have had a lead that would have been hard for anyone to overcome, IMHO. Check out Rolovich's stats over his final 5 games to see what a QB can do with a full grasp of the offense!

[RednBlue11]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/ncaa/08/18/smu.quarterback.ap/index.html

Now the world knows the career TD passing leader at SMU is freaking THIRD STRING. This hurts SMU's chances.

chances at what? if he isnt the best then why pay him?