First, CJ has just scratched the surface of his potential. The big difference though is YPA CJ 7.8 vs JR 7.1. The vertical threat helps keep the defense honest. Also, it would have been nice for CJ to have an Outland trophy winner at LT, another NFL player at RT and an additional vertical threat like Powell (and KMM).
Last year JR had a 7.1 to Cj's 7.0 though on the same team despite fans obsession with how big an arm CJ had, and this year it's CJ 7.8 to JR 7.7 so far, so again pretty identical. CJ finished third for Big ten qbs in rushing, JR will finish fourth, again pretty similar. Actually distance on throws hasn't changed at all, for the most part, we've just popped a few more RB screens this year than last and that increases the average. Michigan similarly has squeezed out a few more yards here and there on a screen or two than last year to help Rudock. Funny part is the slight advantage CJ has on JR in pass efficiency actually comes from the Vandenberg fumble recovery for a TD way back against Iowa State! That technically counted as a TD pass for CJ when we otherwise may have ran it in after the recovery. Kirk knew what he had all along, just too bad the defense didn't play better last year when we had the chance to put away Wisconsin and Nebraska. Folks forget just how close we were to playing in the CCG last season, an eyelash of pass deflection against Wisconsin on the Gordon catch, or not getting a stupid pass interference against Nebraska on their final drive after we'd overcome their huge comeback and retaken the lead. This year Wisconsin tripped over themselves without Gordon, no Abdullah, no Tevin Coleman, no DeAndre Cobb, injuries to James Connor against Pitt, Ferguson from Illinois, etc instead and the breaks went our way when we needed them. Need to remember that next year if things flip back the other way too. Kind of like 2008 when we didn't catch the breaks, and 2009 when we did, then 2010 again we didn't. The teams were almost the same but "that's football".
I will have to question when KMM was ever a vertical threat though, guy almost averaged less than ten yards per catch. Vandenberg is much more explosive and well rounded than KMM ever was. Just based on last year you could see why he beat out Willies even before he quit, he was just better at everything (hands, routes, YAC, blocking, and deep balls). So glad he's been able to be so successful this season and silence a lot of his critics. He isn't all Big-10 but he's as good as Ed Hinkel was and that's not too bad!