Re-watching the game. Damien not bad.

[blacklistedbully]

That first drive he had a pass for 1st down dropped. After that, the big sack he gave up looks like it was on Day for getting the snap count wrong. Everybody else on the line didn't budge, allowing the UAB D-line to swamp Damien. He never had a chance. He also got rushed unabated on a couple of safety blitzes where the safety never got touched. On one of them he made a nice pass play.

Seems to me some have been way too hard on him for this past game, particularly considering he was playing with a mix of 2nd & 3rd-stringers in the 4th Q. And he had Holloway as his featured back on at least one of those drives, with Dan calling Holloway between the tackles.

[Dawgtini]

He had JRob in the backfield a few times too and Josh had some big runs. He looks fine, but it does seems the recievers don't/can't hang on to his passes for some reason. Plays they generally make for the Dakinator.

[preachermatt83]

he is led 1 scoring drive out of 10.. 10%... Dak , yea he's at 75%. Damien will not be the backup by the end of the year.

[Bully13]

he is led 1 scoring drive out of 10.. 10%... Dak , yea he's at 75%. Damien will not be the backup by the end of the year.

My unqualified opinion sez its too early to assume that

[defiantdog]

We just need to RTGDF and everything will be fine

[hailmari]

I've always thought that. It always seems like receivers drop his passes more and the line craps the bed when he's in.

[blacklistedbully]

he is led 1 scoring drive out of 10.. 10%... Dak , yea he's at 75%. Damien will not be the backup by the end of the year.

Yes, but how many of those were his fault? How many were played with the full complement of 1st-teamers?

[Dawg61]

I've always thought that. It always seems like receivers drop his passes more and the line craps the bed when he's in.

Whole offense is a jumbled inefficient mess when he's in the game. That's his job as the QB to get everybody in sync and on the same page. This is where I think Williams is lacking the most. He's not leading HIS offense very well when called upon. Sorry that life is tough and he is getting nitpicked but he's a QB for an SEC West school. He plays vs the best of the best. He HAS to be better. If that means he's got to get mad or whatever it takes to motivate him then so be it but just watch Dak when he is the game. He wants to eat face and kill everybody on the opposing team. He is highly motivated and highly pissed the fu@k off to kick some serious ass. I have seen Dak get into multiple little skirmishes right after the play is done. Slinging defenders off of him and just generally pissed off at the opposition. Williams needs to be like this. Fired up and ready to kick some ass. He still seems not fully confident in himself when he's in the game. He has great talent and I think he can become a great one but he has to believe that himself the most and he has to take charge and show that he is the DUDE. I am rooting for him to do so.

[blacklistedbully]

Whole offense is a jumbled inefficient mess when he's in the game. That's his job as the QB to get everybody in sync and on the same page. This is where I think Williams is lacking the most. He's not leading HIS offense very well when called upon. Sorry that life is tough and he is getting nitpicked but he's a QB for an SEC West school. He plays vs the best of the best. He HAS to be better. If that means he's got to get mad or whatever it takes to motivate him then so be it but just watch Dak when he is the game. He wants to eat face and kill everybody on the opposing team. He is highly motivated and highly pissed the fu@k off to kick some serious ass. I have seen Dak get into multiple little skirmishes right after the play is done. Slinging defenders off of him and just generally pissed off at the opposition. Williams needs to be like this. Fired up and ready to kick some ass. He still seems not fully confident in himself when he's in the game. He has great talent and I think he can become a great one but he has to believe that himself the most and he has to take charge and show that he is the DUDE. I am rooting for him to do so.

So, when a WR flat out drops a ball when Damien throws him a pass, that's because Damien "didn't get everybody in sync"? When everybody on offense has the snap count correct except center Day, and the ball is snapped early, with the opposing d-line crashing down unopposed that's because Damien "didn't get everybody in sync"? And when Mullen sends Holloway in as the RB and Holloway can't bust through a tackle between the tackles that's becuse "Damien didn't get everybody in sync"?

I'm not saying he has proven he's ready to be the #2, but I am saying I think he's catching way more flack than he deserves, given the situations he's been in.

[Dawg61]

So, when a WR flat out drops a ball when Damien throws him a pass, that's because Damien "didn't get everybody in sync"? When everybody on offense has the snap count correct except center Day, and the ball is snapped early, with the opposing d-line crashing down unopposed that's because Damien "didn't get everybody in sync"? And when Mullen sends Holloway in as the RB and Holloway can't bust through a tackle between the tackles that's becuse "Damien didn't get everybody in sync"?

I'm not saying he has proven he's ready to be the #2, but I am saying I think he's catching way more flack than he deserves, given the situations he's been in.

We have to have our #2 QB play at a high level and he has to be able to compliment the offense and the #1's. He's got to bring something to the table that makes us better as a team and offense overall. Sorry but he's got to step it up. It's a tough job.

[preachermatt83]

We have to have our #2 QB play at a high level and he has to be able to compliment the offense and the #1's. He's got to bring something to the table that makes us better as a team and offense overall. Sorry but he's got to step it up. It's a tough job.

+1

[chef dixon]

Damian is pretty solid for a back-up. He seems kind of careless sometimes and I think that may come from knowing he isn't the main guy.

[Liverpooldawg]

If he becomes THE man if Dak get's hurt I bet it will be a lot different.

[Homedawg]

he is led 1 scoring drive out of 10.. 10%... Dak , yea he's at 75%. Damien will not be the backup by the end of the year.

And who will be? Barring injury to Williams,this will be bad wrong.

[preachermatt83]

And who will be? Barring injury to Williams,this will be bad wrong.

if Dan wants to win it will be fitz. Williams just cant get it done. his career compleation pctg is like 45 percent.

[Bass Chaser]

if Dan wants to win it will be fitz. Williams just cant get it done. his career compleation pctg is like 45 percent.

What makes you think this? Fitz played one year of QB in high school. It won't be Fitz.

[Goat Holder]

Eh......I think he'll make it though this year.....next year a different story

[Liverpooldawg]

I guess this is progress. With a few exceptions pretty much ever since I can remember the 2nd team QB, according to our fans, has always been the best QB at MSU. Now it's the third teamer that is the 2nd best one. For once we have no doubt about #1!

[MaxedOutMaroon]

if Dan wants to win it will be fitz. Williams just cant get it done. his career compleation pctg is like 45 percent.

Yeah, kind of curious on what makes you say this? If you have a legitimate reason, I might understand. But he's a freshman that's raw with very little playing time in general ( 0 in college). Also don't understand why you think Fitz is light years ahead of Staley. According to Mullen tonight. Damien is our backup and there's no clear cut third. So unless you're a super analyst that can see things when you're not there. Don't think I'll believe that Fitz is the only way to win if Dak falls

[thf24]

if Dan wants to win it will be fitz. Williams just cant get it done. his career compleation pctg is like 45 percent.

What's his percentage if you don't count all the drops? Because he's had to endure a ton of them.

It's WAY too early to make a judgement on Damian, especially when you take an educated look back on what was really responsible for his seemingly poor performances. He should have been 4/5 with a touchdown against Alabama last year as a true freshman if our receivers hadn't dropped anything. Think about that.

[preachermatt83]

Yeah, kind of curious on what makes you say this? If you have a legitimate reason, I might understand. But he's a freshman that's raw with very little playing time in general ( 0 in college). Also don't understand why you think Fitz is light years ahead of Staley. According to Mullen tonight. Damien is our backup and there's no clear cut third. So unless you're a super analyst that can see things when you're not there. Don't think I'll believe that Fitz is the only way to win if Dak falls

im not basing it on Fitz at all, im basing it on how Damian has played. Also I don't think Fitz is light years ahead of Staley. I just feel that Staley will def be redshirted no matter what bc he is the future of our program. He has the potential to be absolutely GREAT. I'd trust either of them at the helm right now ahead of Williams.

[MaxedOutMaroon]

im not basing it on Fitz at all, im basing it on how Damian has played. Also I don't think Fitz is light years ahead of Staley. I just feel that Staley will def be redshirted no matter what bc he is the future of our program. He has the potential to be absolutely GREAT. I'd trust either of them at the helm right now ahead of Williams.

I don't agree but respect your opinion

[MzTerry]

Deleted for dumbassedry - blacklisted's PM is full, so I will post this here.

Just wanted to apologize - I was pissed because some of my fiancee's male neighbors were repeatedly beating on her and her roommate's door, so I had to come over, post drinks (clearly), and deal with it. There was no need for me to vent that frustration on you over misspelling Damian's name. I'm deleting my post (feel free to leave yours up, as I believe in people taking responsibility for their actions, and you obviously have the right to do as you please in the first place), and hope bygones will be bygones the few times I do post.

[blacklistedbully]

Deleted in kind. Thank you for the apology. It's unfortunately rare on MBs to find people willing to own their mistakes and have the class to make good on it.

We all make them. I, too, posted a public apology once. I'd been an ass to the wrong person and looked damned foolish in the process.

Hope your friend is ok.

Cheers!

[TXDawg]

So, when a WR flat out drops a ball when Damien throws him a pass, that's because Damien "didn't get everybody in sync"? When everybody on offense has the snap count correct except center Day, and the ball is snapped early, with the opposing d-line crashing down unopposed that's because Damien "didn't get everybody in sync"? And when Mullen sends Holloway in as the RB and Holloway can't bust through a tackle between the tackles that's becuse "Damien didn't get everybody in sync"?

I'm not saying he has proven he's ready to be the #2, but I am saying I think he's catching way more flack than he deserves, given the situations he's been in.

Think back to the EB last year and the way the team's energy level changed when Dak came in the game. That's the leadership ability the Damien is lacking right now. So, yes, the lack of chemistry, energy, fire, etc that the team has when Damien is in the game IS Damien's fault. Dak has "IT" and Damien doesn't yet. Part of that is believing in yourself and demanding respect respect from your teammates. The rest of it has to be earned through performance (off-season, training camp, practice field, and in-game performance). I'm not saying that Damien can't get there; just that he's not on the same level as Dak right now from a leadership standpoint - nor is he expected to be.

[fishwater99]

he is led 1 scoring drive out of 10.. 10%... Dak , yea he's at 75%. Damien will not be the backup by the end of the year.

If our QB's stay healthy, then Williams will be the backup. Don't you think Dan would have played another QB by now if there was any question.
He is going to red-shirt Fitz and Staley or they would have played by now.

[State82]

You're entire post was a complete waste of time. Dear lord, if you're going to start a thread with a players name in the topic, please spell his ****ing name correctly or crawl into a hole. Your choice.

????? I'm baffled. Maybe check Walgreens? Feminine products aisle.

[blacklistedbully]

Think back to the EB last year and the way the team's energy level changed when Dak came in the game. That's the leadership ability the Damien is lacking right now. So, yes, the lack of chemistry, energy, fire, etc that the team has when Damien is in the game IS Damien's fault. Dak has "IT" and Damien doesn't yet. Part of that is believing in yourself and demanding respect respect from your teammates. The rest of it has to be earned through performance (off-season, training camp, practice field, and in-game performance). I'm not saying that Damien can't get there; just that he's not on the same level as Dak right now from a leadership standpoint - nor is he expected to be.

No question. But that's not what's being argued here. What is, is that I think he's being unfairly judged for his performance in the last game. The fact that Dak is very special does not make it right to unjustly, IMO jump on Damian's ass for mistakes that don't appear to have been his. for instance, that sack he took was NOT his fault. He never had a chance on that play. WR's dropping passes on him are NOT his fault, and have absolutely NOTHING to do with leadership skills or a lack thereof.

If we have WR's that are dropping passes because they, "don't respect Damian as much as Dak", then we need to find better WR's. A well-thrown ball in your hands should be caught, regardless who throws it. Who threw it makes no difference whatsoever.

Again, all that you say about "leadership", "It-factor" etc are real things. They just don't apply in this thread. Nobody here has remotely suggested Damian is a guy who is Dak's equal at this time. Also, with regard to Damian's performance in the Egg Bowl, the guy came in as a freshman starting his first game versus a ranked opponent in a bitter rivalry game, and kept us in it until Dak took over. I'm a little surprised you'd be as critical as you are given his circumstances.

[Dawg61]

Also, with regard to Damian's performance in the Egg Bowl, the guy came in as a freshman starting his first game versus a ranked opponent in a bitter rivalry game, and kept us in it until Dak took over. I'm a little surprised you'd be as critical as you are given his circumstances.

UMiss was ranked last Egg Bowl? You sure? Williams played serviceable in the EB last year. He didn't cost us the game and kept us in it long enough for Dak to win it. Kudos to him as a true freshman for doing that but he hasn't improved one bit or is not at least showing that he has right now since that game.

[blacklistedbully]

UMiss was ranked last Egg Bowl? You sure? Williams played serviceable in the EB last year. He didn't cost us the game and kept us in it long enough for Dak to win it. Kudos to him as a true freshman for doing that but he hasn't improved one bit or is not at least showing that he has right now since that game.

I stand corrected on the ranking. I thought they were barely in last year. Still, it was a tough game, as it usually is, given the rivalry nature of it. Add to that the pressure of needing it to get bowl-eligible and the point still stands.

As far as this year goes, wake me up when Damian has had anywhere close to the practice reps and number of drives with the 1st team Dak has had before we judge Damian more harshly, as we have.

I am not one to look at things in a superficial or shallow way, or at least I try not to be. I'm as big a Dak Prescott fan as anybody on this planet, and think he deserves all the accolades and more. Trying to look at things objectively, after seeing a few folks on here somewhat blast DW, I just believe it's unwarranted if one looks closely at what actually happened, such as personnel in, dropped passes, missed snap-counts, etc.

As I've said before, most of us seem all-too-willing to excuse the very few mistakes and/or low completion % Dak made as, "on Mullen because Dak didn't get a chance to develop a rhythm", but won't extend the same consideration to DW who no doubt got even less chance than Dak. Seems to me we should apply the same logic when making judgments.

As others have stated, DW seems to have had a lot of perfectly catchable balls dropped on him. We're not talking about balls thrown too hard, etc, but just flat out dropped. It's really not fair to look at his completion % and overall performance in a vacuum.

[TXDawg]

I'm a little surprised you'd be as critical as you are given his circumstances.


Wasn't trying to be critical of DW, just pointing out that how a team responds to a QB's leadership has an impact on how they perform (or at least the energy with which they perform).

[Dawg61]

@blacklisted

I am not trying to bash Williams more than I just want to see what Fitz can do. Next year we will have SIX QBs on scholarship and another 2 walk-ons. I want to see what Fitz has before he gets lost in the small village at the QB position.

[preachermatt83]

@blacklisted

I am not trying to bash Williams more than I just want to see what Fitz can do. Next year we will have SIX QBs on scholarship and another 2 walk-ons. I want to see what Fitz has before he gets lost in the small village at the QB position.

+1

[blacklistedbully]

@blacklisted

I am not trying to bash Williams more than I just want to see what Fitz can do. Next year we will have SIX QBs on scholarship and another 2 walk-ons. I want to see what Fitz has before he gets lost in the small village at the QB position.

And I don't have a problem with that either. I'm not even suggesting who should play, when or how much. I'm merely bemoaning the fact that some on here seem to be using a different standard when judging DW's performance, and/or are not looking beyond basic stats.

It's the same frustration many of us feel with the polls, as we watch a team like TSUN struggle to beat an obviously over-matched, shell-of-its-former-self BSU with a QB playing a horrible game, until the last few minutes. Then we watch them beat up on a shitty Vandy team that is so bad they lost by about the same amount the week prior to a team that is quite likely one of the other worst programs in FCS, yet TSUN gets a ridiculously high-ranking due to, in part, big final scores.

Clearly, a huge chunk of the pollsters and "media experts" do little more than look at final scores, but that doesn't come anywhere close to telling the true story.