Onto the QBs

Well, with a game wrap-up out of the way, let's discuss the QBs.

Bill Stull looked very mediocre, but not through much fault of his own. He didn't have many opportunities to throw downfield and was basically asked to throw screens and short passes. That said, he did nothing to quiet those calling for the backup. He threw a few times deep downfield. The first was wildly overthrown and another was intercepted and wasn't even close to the receiver in question.

One other play sticks out in my mind and I'm glad I was at the game because I wouldn't have seen it if it was shown on TV. He threw a relatively short pass to Baldwin (I believe for a first down). The key was that he didn't look at any other receivers before making the throw. I didn't see it until they showed the replay on the big screen. His eyes were locked onto Baldwin for the entire play. Yes, it was successful, but it's very telling. A QB can't be successful doing that. You could say it was because Baldwin was open, but he was actually being covered well. The instant he caught the pass, he was tackled by the defender who basically had him blanketed. That's something to keep an eye out for in the future.

In a nutshell, Sunseri played well for a redshirt freshman playing his first game. He was 5-8 for 80 yards and one of his incompletions was due to a near sack, where he basically had no time to throw. His only bad play was one in which he had the receiver running a slant into the end zone. It should have been a touchdown, but the ball was thrown way behind him. It was so far off that it actually looked like Sunseri was expecting him to run a different route. Other than that, he looked very well composed.

When Sunseri first came in, I was surprised to see Wannstedt go back to Stull for the next drive, before later coming back to Sunseri. It was clear, he wanted to get Sunseri some reps without making it appear that he had supplanted Stull as the starter. I think Sunseri played a little better, but I'd be surprised if Stull was replaced so quickly. I'd expect that Stull will be back starting again next week - especially because it will be a road game.

And yes, Sunseri had the big play to Baldwin almost immediately upon coming in. He got a loud cheer, but the pass was underthrown. Baldwin had to come back on it and make a great play. Still, at least he got it close while Stull was nowhere near the vicinity of his receivers at times.

I've got to give a lot of credit to the coaches. I think they called just about as good of an offensive game as you can with that team. Passing-wise, they kept the defense on their toes with short passes and screens and allowed the receivers to make plays. Don't know how many yards after the catch the receivers had, but it seemed like they had a ton. They also took a few shots downfield and looked for the tight ends. The play calling seemed to be exactly what was needed.

One last thing I wanted to point out was that Stull was booed after his FIRST incompletion...not interception, incompletion. I thought it was a bit much how the fans got on him almost from the start, while cheering loudly for Sunseri when he came in. He didn't play terribly today and I'm certainly willing to accept it if he starts again next week.