Obviously, the poll is just for fun. Just remember, so is the post I'm about to make.
A lot of people taking Banks. I assume they are also visualizing taking the 2002 offense along with him. That is fine and, if that is what they are picturing, I also have a hard time arguing against them. Banks was a great Hawk and that 2002 season may be my all time favorite sports memory. But, as far as being a pure QB goes, Banks is not particularly high on my personal best Ferentz QBs list.
Consider for a moment the 2001 season. That 2001 team is a candidate for "Best KF Team with Worst Record" (or something along those lines).
7-5, 4-4 in the Big Ten. Definitely a turnaround year for the program, as they previous two years had not been kind to us. 2000, we definitely showed some promising signs of life but, ultimately, did not get the on field results.
That 2001 team had the much-hated Kyle McCann at QB for almost 80% of the pass attempts for the year (with Banks filling in the remaining 20%).
That team led the Big Ten in scoring (32.6 ppg!!!) and was also 3rd in scoring defense at 21.5 ppg. We did run it up on a couple MAC teams that pre-season (51-0 against Kent State and then 44-19 against Miami of Ohio)...but, still, an +11.1 scoring differential? That's pretty good. For reference, Illinois won the Big Ten that year with a +8.7 scoring differential.
When you look at the game by game results, it gets even more shocking. Having watched all of these games live, I can attest to most of them being every bit as close as they look. Take a look at our losses that year:
@ #21 Purdue - 14-23
@ Michigan St - 28-31
#8 Michigan - 26-32
@ Wisconsin - 28-34
@ ISU - 14-17
4 of our 5 losses on the road and only home loss against a very good Michigan team. Average margin is -5.4 points by my count. Wow.
My main motivation here is that this was fun and, like most old farts, I enjoy reliving the good old days. My secondary motivation though is to point out, while Banks was an exciting and dynamic playmaker, he stepped into a program that was, quietly, right on the cusp. He was no doubt a big factor in pushing us from "close, but no cigar" to "dominant", but he had a lot of help, too.