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How many times are we going to hear the inexperienced qb excuse? PB spent the whole press conference talking about this, the same excuse I have heard for 4 years. When does it become his fault? Every other school in the nation has had to deal with an inexperienced qb in the last 4 years. Why are we the only ones that keep losing and our coach keeps using it as an excuse?

smuwins wrote:How many times are we going to hear the inexperienced qb excuse? PB spent the whole press conference talking about this, the same excuse I have heard for 4 years. When does it become his fault? Every other school in the nation has had to deal with an inexperienced qb in the last 4 years. Why are we the only ones that keep losing and our coach keeps using it as an excuse?

Absolutely. Bennett should have a redshirt junior as QB now, but they are all gone or playing tight end. This is Bennett's hole. He dug it. He might as well lie in it like an SAE during initiation week.

Maybe Kelan Luker will come back and play?

Really? And which senior did we have last year or two years ago who could be starting for us now? We might have had the guy from Northwestern if the Administration didn't tell him that about half of his hours were non-transferable. I guess that's Bennett's fault, too. Yes, he didn't recruit a suitable JUCO replacement the year before last. But as we all saw those guys got better offers from bigger programs who could give them more transferable hours and a major that interested them. Yes, we knew going in that we had a freshman QB who might make mistakes. Colt McCoy was really impressive against Ohio State. But we know that Mack can't coach his way out of a paper bag. Vince Young made Mack's offense look good, right? Bennett is never going to be compared to Vince Lombardi or John Madden, but he has taken responsibility when he makes mistakes, and he tries to soft pedal losses for his players benefit. I suspect this has not been a fun week for Tate or Colt.

In this case, citing inexperience at QB is not an excuse, it's a fact. Some QBs, whether freshmen or seniors, are better than others and some are worse. I feel certain that Willis is somewhere in the middle -- where in the middle is a mater of opinion. But the fact is he has played less than two Div. I-A college games, and Slater has played even less than Willis. There is no way to call them anything other than inexperienced, whether they'd thrown incompletions on every play or touchdowns on every play. They are what they are: hopefully able to develop their talent, but until then: inexperienced.

My point is that we have been in this situation year after year. I know Slater and Willis are inexperienced, it is not their fault. The problem is that Bennett and his staff do not manage the team well (among other things). Look at Tech as an example, this is the first year they are not starting a fifth year senior in 5 years. It is about team management, something Bennett has failed at.

smuwins wrote:My point is that we have been in this situation year after year. I know Slater and Willis are inexperienced, it is not their fault. The problem is that Bennett and his staff do not manage the team well (among other things). Look at Tech as an example, this is the first year they are not starting a fifth year senior in 5 years. It is about team management, something Bennett has failed at.

I THINK EVERYONE WHO THINKS WE SHOULD HAVE AN EXPERIENCED QB BY NOW ARE EXTREMELY MISTAKEN... BARTEL, WALLIS, EVEN THE BELOVED CHRIS PHILLIPS WERE TERRIBLE QB'S.... WILLIS AND DM ARE THE SIGNS THAT PB IS GETTING SOME GOOD RECRUITS WHO HE CAN WIN WITH... WILLIS IS INEXPERIENCED BUT HE WILL GET BETTER AS THE YEAR GOES ON HE HAS A LOT OF POTENTIAL, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE A #1 AND A #2 QB... ITS A SHAME THAT DM WENT DOWN; HOWEVER, THIS WILL JUST FORCE WILLIS TO CARRY THE TEAM EARLIER THEN PLANNED... OH AND HE HAS 3 MORE YEARS OF ELIGIBILITY, WHICH IS NICE!

Yeah, just wait till next year!! Again.

EastStang wrote:Really? And which senior did we have last year or two years ago who could be starting for us now? We might have had the guy from Northwestern if the Administration didn't tell him that about half of his hours were non-transferable. I guess that's Bennett's fault, too. Yes, he didn't recruit a suitable JUCO replacement the year before last. But as we all saw those guys got better offers from bigger programs who could give them more transferable hours and a major that interested them. Yes, we knew going in that we had a freshman QB who might make mistakes. Colt McCoy was really impressive against Ohio State. But we know that Mack can't coach his way out of a paper bag. Vince Young made Mack's offense look good, right? Bennett is never going to be compared to Vince Lombardi or John Madden, but he has taken responsibility when he makes mistakes, and he tries to soft pedal losses for his players benefit. I suspect this has not been a fun week for Tate or Colt.

A smart man would have red-shirted one of his two transfer JUCO QBs after he figured out which one he liked more in Year 1.

Roach wrote:In this case, citing inexperience at QB is not an excuse, it's a fact. Some QBs, whether freshmen or seniors, are better than others and some are worse. I feel certain that Willis is somewhere in the middle -- where in the middle is a mater of opinion. But the fact is he has played less than two Div. I-A college games, and Slater has played even less than Willis. There is no way to call them anything other than inexperienced, whether they'd thrown incompletions on every play or touchdowns on every play. They are what they are: hopefully able to develop their talent, but until then: inexperienced.

Slater played most of last year in JUCO