I was thinking about our QB's....

[WinOneThisCentury]

I know thats the first problem when it comes to understanding Kirk Ferentz...thinking. But in looking at the QB's on the roster and the decision to play Jake the entire season. The thought is that he gets us into the right plays by reading defenses and knowing the offense better than CJ.

Ok, so in 75 offensive plays per game that means he may be 10% better than CJ in changing the play at the LOS. That's 7.5 plays per game. Considering the vast majority of these changes are changing direction of running plays to Weisman or another back...they aren't exactly game changing plays...especially in light of where our running game was this year. Honestly, it appeared to me, that very few were changes to pass plays other than the obvious single coverage match ups...which I'm sure CJ would identify.

Now, I think most of the fan base would agree that CJ is the better passer, especially on the long ball. He is also the most aggressive in his receiver selection and most likely to throw downfield. Don't you think he could overcome the 7 plays where we changed 5 to running plays with big plays down the field. The arguments for playing Jake make no sense.

Add in that CJ's a much much better runner...and the decision not to play him is, well, baffling. Better arm, better runner and he handles pressure well...and doesn't freak out.

Ruddock has always been my guy at QB...but in retrospect with how the season ended and the decisions that were made, it's interesting that we stuck there after the Maryland fiasco.

 

[drew003]

I think its clear to most that CJB has more physical talent than Ruddock. I also think many, if not the majority of, football coaches will select the more physically talented player when deciding between two players they view as nearly equal. The general thought being that what the more physically talented players lacks in fundamentals/experience/knowledge can be coached up whereas as the coaches cannot coach up the less physically talented player's athleticism.

Kirk Ferentz, however, sometimes plays the more experienced, knowledgeable player in that situation. In the short-term, I'm not convinced it has meaningful impact on Iowa's level of play. But over the course of seasons, I wonder if we limit our ceiling some by keeping physically talented players on the bench for longer periods of times and delaying them from getting game experience/repetitions.

 

[PCHawk]

The way I see it is Rudock pretty much never audibles into a play that works which either means Rudock isn't good at reading defenses (I doubt that's the case) or the coaches have a terrible audible system in place. If the second one is the case (which it probably is) then it really takes away any advantage Rudock might have over CJ with reading defenses.

 

[bogeyman]

All I know is we would have been no worse than 7-5 with CJB behind center, I'm confident of that. Which begs the question, why not play him then because obviously choosing to not play him didn't really help either or we'd be better than 7-5.That is why it feels like a wasted season. We could have seen what he had and possibly got on a roll this year or set up for the future. We all knows he has way more upside than Jake, so to waste away a season at 7-5 and feel like our most talented QB wasn't used is a head scratcher.

 

[hawkfan340]

I think we need to the to derail this persistent lie that Jake is "a good decision maker". That's just something people say to deflect from the fact that he is just not very physically gifted.

It is non-falsifiable to say that his audibles get us into the right play. But we know with 100% certainty that he missed a ton of 1-on-1 opportunities with downfield WRs and also missed a number of wide open receivers down field. The decision making that happens during live action is just as important as what happens between plays. (Y'all watched the Nebraska game, right?)

He was extremely hesitant to throw the ball downfield until desperation time. This suffocated our run game and hamstrung our offense.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Starting C.J., is playing to win.

Starting Jake, is playing not to lose.

 

[joshhawk]

I rememeber last season after seeing Rudock for the first time in the Northern Illinois game and thinking this was a guy who looked like he shoulod be playing at the FCS level. I've seen very little since then to suggest otherwise.

 

[guffus]

The problem with comparing both QB's is that they both have advantages but not as dramatic differences as everybody makes it out to be.

Jake is smarter but it does not mean CJ is dumb.

CJ can run, and might be a better runner, but Rudock has shown he can run too, especially when Rudock was a sophomore. But neither guy would get confused with Braxton Miller as a runner.

Rudock has more experience, but all CJ needs is to start about 5 games to wipe out that advantage.

The clear advantage is CJ has a stronger arm and arm speed. He also has faster reaction time, which has pros and cons. He can produce more big plays but more mistakes.

But in general I agree Iowa has seen the limits of what Rudock can do. Maybe with a better defense Iowa would be 10-2 and division champions, but maybe with a better offense, they would be 10-2 as well.

I think its time to turn the team over to CJ, start him in the bowl game, and see what he can do next season.

 

[Sparky]

I don't get what people don't understand about this. JR is safe and is a "yes" player. He will never question Kirk and he will never go off sc-ript. He is also a good student and hard worker and Kirk loves that kind of crap.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Good observation. I may add you've identified the potential 7.5 plays a game, but in actuality that could be even lower because CJ prob checks into the correct play to wipe out a few of those. The fact that he could bring something to make up for the error rate is valid.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I don't get what people don't understand about this. JR is safe and is a "yes" player. He will never question Kirk and he will never go off sc-ript. He is also a good student and hard worker and Kirk loves that kind of crap.

I couldn't agree more with you Sparky...intelligence and hard work will never get you anywhere in this world. Fact.

 

[Biggusblockus]

Starting C.J., is playing to win.

Starting Jake, is playing not to lose.

I agree 100% the frustrating part is that they still lose.

 

[uihawk82]

You guys are just beating your head against the wall. I am not planning on seeing much of CJ next year. If CJ stays and wins the job I will be ecstatic that at least he gets a chance. I really liked JR in 2013, he did very good for his first year. But this year I didnt see him hitting those 20 yard in the seam and holes of the defense passes in the first 4 or 5 games. This lead me to believe he was nervous, regressing, something!!!! Yet JR can do it but he also did not have one complete game of throwing really good passes and moving the team. I am for CJ and change now

 

[Motigerhawk]

Didnt JVB regress in his 2nd year as a starter?
Seems to me that there is a trend starting. maybe we need to look at that.

 

[knighthawk13]

Starting C.J., is playing to win.

Starting Jake, is playing not to lose.

We haven't played to win since Tate's sophomore year. Why would KF change. I'm starting to wonder if keeping KF is playing not to lose and firing him is playing to win.

 

[knighthawk13]

The problem with comparing both QB's is that they both have advantages but not as dramatic differences as everybody makes it out to be.

Jake is smarter but it does not mean CJ is dumb.

CJ can run, and might be a better runner, but Rudock has shown he can run too, especially when Rudock was a sophomore. But neither guy would get confused with Braxton Miller as a runner.

Rudock has more experience, but all CJ needs is to start about 5 games to wipe out that advantage.

The clear advantage is CJ has a stronger arm and arm speed. He also has faster reaction time, which has pros and cons. He can produce more big plays but more mistakes.

But in general I agree Iowa has seen the limits of what Rudock can do. Maybe with a better defense Iowa would be 10-2 and division champions, but maybe with a better offense, they would be 10-2 as well.

I think its time to turn the team over to CJ, start him in the bowl game, and see what he can do next season.

This is the "beat head against the wall" frustrating thing about our coach. He isn't going to deviate even though it was always apparent we were going to have to score more this year than last. We needed a game manager last year due to the stud defense we had. We needed to score more points this year due to the weaknesses we had on defense. Keeping in mind that we start a FB at RB, which QB gives you a better chance to score more points?

 

[1hawkeye1]

I'm not convinced that JR is that great at audibling. He counts the defenders on Scherff's side and if they've loaded it up, he audibles and Weisman runs right.