The next time an expert says “Missing on such and such a QB is costing Coach X his job” will be my next trip to the psych ward. You know why Spencer Rattler didn’t cost Lincoln Riley his job, and Paul Chryst couldn’t outlast Graham Mertz? One looks at a blackboard as a place to draw plays, and the other sees a canvas.
Admittedly, being the coach every quarterback wants to play for helps keep the QB stable and teeming with thoroughbreds. It’s no coincidence that Riley’s system produces successful quarterbacks. If it wasn’t Caleb Williams, that would have been someone else the same way Mike Leach molds 4,500-yard passers everywhere he goes. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has given us enough evidence that he gets the most out of his callers as well.
Yes, Alabama has talent from all over the world all the time; Nick Saban also still has a failed head coach who rekindles his prowess by calling up the attack. Bill O’Brien is on his way to another head coaching job after Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin used the Bama bump to get back on the sidelines. Whether these disciples are great head coaches is beside the point. If you give them foolproof ingredients and only ask them to cook, not run a kitchen, they will give you top notch meals.
Even though Chryst’s steaks are perfectly tempered, you still eat meat and potatoes every Saturday.
Which brings me to my next issue (course?).
Concern about cooks at LSU and obviously Texas A&M
Like the Crimson Tide, whenever the Bayou Bengals get a capable coordinator, they look otherworldly. However, after watching Brian Kelly’s teams at Notre Dame for nearly a dozen seasons, my fondness is that we’re not going to see constant fireworks in Baton Rouge. Here’s where his teams ranked nationally in points per game during his tenure with the Irish: 68, 49, 81, 74, 40, 33, 53, 24, 42, 13, 30, 20. Then name me his best quarterback. Ian Book? Deshone Kizer? Strip away the five powerless blowouts, the Tigers are scoring 25 points per game this season. The win-ugly tricks that thrived in South Bend are much harder to pull off in the SEC.
Since Jimbo Fisher won the national title at Florida State in 2013 and finished second in the nation in scoring, his team’s offenses have finished ranked: 35, 46, 31, 71, 19, 62, 37, 56. The Aggies are 108th in scoring this year and that includes their non-conference games, and his quarterbacks have become as indescribable as his offenses.
In fairness, let’s take a look at Leach’s last two saves. Here’s where his teams have finished since 2012, when he took control of Washington State: 108, 52, 47, 48, 18, 50, 15, 11, 110, 60. The 108th and 110th were the first years with the programs, and this season they are scoring 38 ppg (23rd nationally) and 32 ppg against the Power Five schools. So, since 2012, Leach has had as many top-15 offenses in Washington State as Kelly and Fisher have combined at Florida State, Notre Dame, Texas A&M and LSU in roughly two decades on the job.
The Bulldogs lost to the Tigers in mid-September — which was supposed to happen because one is LSU and the other is Mississippi State — but put it on the Aggies last week. Quarterback Will Rogers is 19-3 TD-INT on the season, has 346 passing yards per outing, and Miss St. is going to be boring to play all season, even in the SEC.
I know big schools are hesitant to hire Leach because he locks concussed players in closets and would throw mushrooms on boosters but someone please give this man Mel Tucker some money .
How systems help QB and teams
Systems aren’t bad for quarterbacks. They make everyone’s job easier. And it’s not just a bunch of wide receiver screens, or the college football equivalent of a volume marker. He is a quarterback who sees what his interlocutor sees because they are on the same wavelength. He gets a timely call from the sideline and doesn’t look at a playsheet like it’s written in Mandarin.
Watch USC this season. Obviously, it helps that the coach-QB tandem is in their second year together. The rest of the team is largely new to Riley’s scheme, and they’re averaging over 40 points per game and on season turnover. While Williams has been brilliant in his decision-making, how many times have we seen a botched transfer lead to a fumble, a pick due to a receiver continuing on his way instead of finding the hole in the area – or a number misunderstandings that seem to occur more frequently in bad offences?
Hendon Hooker is able to handle Josh Heupel’s frantic system at Tennessee so well because he’s in tune with his coach and is able to field linemen and skill players quickly and correctly. Sam Hartman executing Dave Clawson’s stunning mesh running plan at Wake Forest is another example of a symbiotic coach-QB relationship helping a unit hum as a whole.
Bad coaching vs bad quarterbacks
And then we have Wisconsin. They fired Chryst, and people were like, welp, bad luck for Graham Mertz. Sure, I guess. That said, when was the last time the Badgers had a passing game that struck fear into defenses outside of Russell Wilson over a decade ago?
I know they’re built on running the ball, and that’s been key to Rose Bowl appearances and 10-win seasons. However, if Wisconsin wants to consistently compete for Big Ten titles, it needs to be multifaceted. That’s obviously easier said than done, but I at least understand where the athletic department was coming from after seeing Mertz regress over the past few seasons. The fact that they can run the ball so well should make it easier for the quarterback, and yet every time a badger backed up it was like trying to restart a Buick that had been sitting in grandma’s garage. over the past decade.
Former Nebraska QB Adrian Martinez constantly choked under Scott Frost, and now under Chris Klieman he has Kansas State in the Top 20 while rediscovering the confidence that was sapped from him at Lincoln. Hooker was at Virginia Tech, which is eternally challenged offensively, before thriving at UT.
I’ve said before that QB transfers are often not the answer because the problem usually lies with the head coach’s inability to develop a quarterback, let alone a quarterback with bad habits and low confidence. The best offensive coaches may not be able to turn a wasteland drain into a Heisman winner, but they can pull it off, and even thrive, with average to above-average talent.
A head coach who can miss a quarterback and still find/develop a capable one in a season or two. It’s not ideal, but it is possible. If a coach hasn’t put together a cohesive unit for a decade, those lapses could be more user error than a lack of talent.