Saw last night on SEC show

[gravedigger]

That Greg M and Spears were commenting on MSU. Said that if we figure out the long passing game, it could change the outcome of the Western division.

I'm inclined to agree, but they do make a good point as many have. If Fitz is still struggling with touch on the long passes, how much is he really going to improve given that he is now so far along? Old dog new tricks kind of thing.

I'm beginning to wonder that if he struggles vs UK or UF, if Moorhead doesnt start running different qb packages. Not saying Fitz needs to be benched at all. Just saying that if he continues to struggle vs ULL and UK, we will absolutely need that dimension for UF and Auburn.

Does JoMo make a move to get Key more playing time in the next 3 weeks?

[Ifyouonlyknew]

No

[Jack Lambert]

I have never agreed with the one dog analogy. A dog is a dog and has limited learning ability where a human can always learn. I do want to add that about 18 years ago I was living in another town and my neighbor let his brother move in. His brother had a Rottweiler. Well my wife had two Siberian Husky's. That Rottweiler would get close to may fence. My wife was worried. So bought me a BB gun and every time that dog got close to the fence I shot him in the butt with the BB. After a while he would not get with in 10 feet of the fence.

[RiverCityDawg]

That Greg M and Spears were commenting on MSU. Said that if we figure out the long passing game, it could change the outcome of the Western division.

I'm inclined to agree, but they do make a good point as many have. If Fitz is still struggling with touch on the long passes, how much is he really going to improve given that he is now so far along? Old dog new tricks kind of thing.

I'm beginning to wonder that if he struggles vs UK or UF, if Moorhead doesnt start running different qb packages. Not saying Fitz needs to be benched at all. Just saying that if he continues to struggle vs ULL and UK, we will absolutely need that dimension for UF and Auburn.

Does JoMo make a move to get Key more playing time in the next 3 weeks?

This MIGHT be a question if KT was a better passer than Nick at this point, but he's not. Even then, Nick is the leader of the offense, so I wouldn't see that happening.

[Johnson85]

That Greg M and Spears were commenting on MSU. Said that if we figure out the long passing game, it could change the outcome of the Western division.

I'm inclined to agree, but they do make a good point as many have. If Fitz is still struggling with touch on the long passes, how much is he really going to improve given that he is now so far along? Old dog new tricks kind of thing.

I'm beginning to wonder that if he struggles vs UK or UF, if Moorhead doesnt start running different qb packages. Not saying Fitz needs to be benched at all. Just saying that if he continues to struggle vs ULL and UK, we will absolutely need that dimension for UF and Auburn.

Does JoMo make a move to get Key more playing time in the next 3 weeks?

If Fitz can't put any air under his deep passes, our offense against better teams will look like the drive after KSU scored their touchdown. We'll just ram it down people's throat, which will probably work really well except for Bama, Auburn, and maybe LSU and A&M. We'll still have a really good offense, but it will be tough sledding against good defenses.

[ShotgunDawg]

If Fitz can't put any air under his deep passes, our offense against better teams will look like the drive after KSU scored their touchdown. We'll just ram it down people's throat, which will probably work really well except for Bama, Auburn, and maybe LSU and A&M. We'll still have a really good offense, but it will be tough sledding against good defenses.

I agree with you, but here's the thing, while that offense worked vs LSU & A&M last year & not against Bama & Auburn, I think there is a chance we can beat Auburn & Bama by doing that this year.

Bama's DL isn't as good as last year & Auburn's offense may struggle. Throw that in with our OL & RB being better this year, & I think there is a chance we could win the West with the ground & point offense.

[Johnson85]

I agree with you, but here's the thing, while that offense worked vs LSU & A&M last year & not against Bama & Auburn, I think there is a chance we can beat Auburn & Bama by doing that this year.

Bama's DL isn't as good as last year & Auburn's offense may struggle. Throw that in with our OL & RB being better this year, & I think there is a chance we could win the West with the ground & point offense.

We definitely can win any one game (or even most of those games), but I don't think we can win the west like that. Just too many games that will be tough for us to come through unscathed. And we play Bama in Tuscaloosa when I think they will have an offense that can attack our weakness, so we're probably not going to win a 21-17 type game there, and I don't think we'll make the SEC CG even if we go 7-1 if that one loss is to Bama.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Well KT has only had two game of meaningful snaps. What if 3 games from now he was statistically better at passing and equal at running? Would you pull the trigger then?
Don't forget, KT was money throwing in high school.

[Political Hack]

We can't hit the deep throws. Don't have a lot of "catch and run" WRs, which is hard to do regardless unless your QB is crazy accurate. We were pretty one deminsional in Fitz's one outting and that'll hurt against teams with a good secondary. Our kicking game is suspect right now. And we haven't played anyone with a pulse yet.

We'll find out a lot against Kentucky, Florida, and Auburn. That stretch will determine whether we're a 10+ win team or a 7-9 win team. Not necessarily if we win or lose either, but how we look doing it. We're really good. Better than we have been in years, but we have chinks in the armor.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Well KT has only had two game of meaningful snaps. What if 3 games from now he was statistically better at passing and equal at running? Would you pull the trigger then?
Don't forget, KT was money throwing in high school.

KT was a great, dynamic player in HS but he didn't complete 60% his Sr year either. He's never been an accurate passer but he's made the most of his completions. Similar to SFA.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Look, its Fitz' team. Everyone knows that. Everyone wants to win the west, playoffs and the Championship. But, if Fitz cannot throw the ball with accuracy 20 yards down the field, we cannot win the west, which is step one.
What if by playing KT for the next two games, he becomes adjusted to the college game speed and precision and becomes that guy that can be a true dual threat deep weapon with Kylin? Should we do it?

That is tough decision. Glad the coaching staff sees every practice and can make a more informed decision.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

I agree with you, but here's the thing, while that offense worked vs LSU & A&M last year & not against Bama & Auburn, I think there is a chance we can beat Auburn & Bama by doing that this year.

Bama's DL isn't as good as last year & Auburn's offense may struggle. Throw that in with our OL & RB being better this year, & I think there is a chance we could win the West with the ground & point offense.

Maybe we can grind out a win like that vs Auburn, but honestly with Tua at the helm I really thing our secondary will struggle vs those WRs. Only Om has a better WR group, but they don't have the run game to make us pay for playing it safe over the top. Bama does. SO, with Bama being able to move the ball and give their D more of a rest than last year, I think we'll have to have a good pass game to hang. I don't thing we can afford to ground and pound with the hopes of wearing them down late. They may wear down but I fear they'll have scored too many points by then.

We all better be pulling for A&M to pull off the miracle upset this Saturday. That means Auburn/LSU can give them a loss and we can win the west with a 7-1 record. If A&M can't do it though I doubt they drop 2 not to us, which means we'd have to beat them head to head. Tua terrifies me. He's 10/10 for 200 yards and 4 TDs on 3rd downs this year. Watch Wyatt's film study on the L'Ville game. Bama will score points on us, and I think we have a better D than last year

[LC Dawg]

If we don't get better at the deep throws Coach JoMo may have to adjust his offense a little. He has said that he has packages with Fitz and KT in the game and I'm looking forward to seeing that.
I personally think we can win 10 games without getting a lot better at the deep throws. The combo of Fitz and Hill running the ball is pretty dynamic. I wish we would try to get Guidry the ball more even if it is not on deep routes. He looks good when he has the ball in the open field.

[gravedigger]

No

Personally, I think the days of a head coach running into a brick wall just because that was his plan in August practices are over. I think Joe makes whatever adjustment he has to make to get the defense stretched. If Fitz doesnt come around, he has to have a backup plan. Just running into the teeth of a good defense is what cost us the Bama game in 2014.

Your confidence is admirable. Just not very pragmatic.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Personally, I think the days of a head coach running into a brick wall just because that was his plan in August practices are over. I think Joe makes whatever adjustment he has to make to get the defense stretched. If Fitz doesnt come around, he has to have a backup plan. Just running into the teeth of a good defense is what cost us the Bama game in 2014.

Your confidence is admirable. Just not very pragmatic.

This team is Fitz's. It will go as far as he goes. KT just isn't close to Fitz right now as a QB. There isn't a gap close enough where KT gets that opportunity. There was a reason why JoeMo said it was Fitz job at KSU before we even saw what KT could do. I love KT & think he's going to be special but it won't be this year.

[DownwardDawg]

I agree with you, but here's the thing, while that offense worked vs LSU & A&M last year & not against Bama & Auburn, I think there is a chance we can beat Auburn & Bama by doing that this year.

Bama's DL isn't as good as last year & Auburn's offense may struggle. Throw that in with our OL & RB being better this year, & I think there is a chance we could win the West with the ground & point offense.

Our fans have short term memory loss. That offense worked fine against Bama last year. We had no problem at all running the ball. We imposed our will on them. We lost when choke job Mullins decided to get cute and throw 3 passes on one of our last possessions. Gave them the ball back with time and they scored. It was a typical Mullen Big game choke job.

[BB30]

Look, its Fitz' team. Everyone knows that. Everyone wants to win the west, playoffs and the Championship. But, if Fitz cannot throw the ball with accuracy 20 yards down the field, we cannot win the west, which is step one.
What if by playing KT for the next two games, he becomes adjusted to the college game speed and precision and becomes that guy that can be a true dual threat deep weapon with Kylin? Should we do it?

That is tough decision. Glad the coaching staff sees every practice and can make a more informed decision.

That is quite a lot of what ifs....

The defenses KT has seen:
OM--disaster
Sirmon--enough said
SFA------ saw better defensive players in high school

Big jump from throwing on those defenses and throwing against Auburn/Bama/LSU etc.

So your suggesting benching Fitz the next two games so KT may or may not be a better option down the stretch... I think ill stick with Fitz this year.

[gravedigger]

Our fans have short term memory loss. That offense worked fine against Bama last year. We had no problem at all running the ball. We imposed our will on them. We lost when choke job Mullins decided to get cute and throw 3 passes on one of our last possessions. Gave them the ball back with time and they scored. It was a typical Mullen Big game choke job.

Then we better hope bama has all first string linebackers out like last years game. That was one of the reasons we were able to run effectively. Not the only reason, but one.

[BulldogBear]

Our fans have short term memory loss. That offense worked fine against Bama last year. We had no problem at all running the ball. We imposed our will on them. We lost when choke job Mullins decided to get cute and throw 3 passes on one of our last possessions. Gave them the ball back with time and they scored. It was a typical Mullen Big game choke job.

This^

[ShotgunDawg]

Then we better hope bama has all first string linebackers out like last years game. That was one of the reasons we were able to run effectively. Not the only reason, but one.

They've already got one LB out & their DL isn't what it was last year. FWIW, Arkansas State ran for 173 vs Bama

[gravedigger]

That is quite a lot of what ifs....

The defenses KT has seen:
OM--disaster
Sirmon--enough said
SFA------ saw better defensive players in high school

Big jump from throwing on those defenses and throwing against Auburn/Bama/LSU etc.

So your suggesting benching Fitz the next two games so KT may or may not be a better option down the stretch... I think ill stick with Fitz this year.

No, that isnt what he's suggesting nor was I. What we are saying is that KT might need some extra snaps in these two games IF Fitz continues to struggle with downfield pass accuracy.

We were wildly successful with Dak and bowling ball up until the Bama game in 2014 and they took away the run. It took hard head Mullen 30 minutes of football to figure out Dak could complete a downfield pass. Of course, by then it was too late.

Grantham will try to take away the Fitz/Hill runs. You can count on it. UK will try to as well. By the time Auburn rolls around "try to" will turn into 'will take away'.

These next two are should wins for us. There should be opportunity to get Fitz and KT more opportunity to get their accuracy down on longer passes.

Will we use those games to do that with KT? I hope so.

[TrapGame]

No, that isnt what he's suggesting nor was I. What we are saying is that KT might need some extra snaps in these two games IF Fitz continues to struggle with downfield pass accuracy.

We were wildly successful with Dak and bowling ball up until the Bama game in 2014 and they took away the run. It took hard head Mullen 30 minutes of football to figure out Dak could complete a downfield pass. Of course, by then it was too late.

Grantham will try to take away the Fitz/Hill runs. You can count on it. UK will try to as well. By the time Auburn rolls around "try to" will turn into 'will take away'.

These next two are should wins for us. There should be opportunity to get Fitz and KT more opportunity to get their accuracy down on longer passes.

Will we use those games to do that with KT? I hope so.

After watching that UK game Grantham's defense has a ways to go before they stop our run game. UK killed them with lining up three wides to the right. It worked every time.

[MedDawg]

KT was a great, dynamic player in HS but he didn't complete 60% his Sr year either.

Jalen Mayden passed for over 65% in his sophomore, junior, and senior years. Also ran for over 500 yards in each year.

[gravedigger]

After watching that UK game Grantham's defense has a ways to go before they stop our run game. UK killed them with lining up three wides to the right. It worked every time.

I certainly agree. I just watched yesterdays press conference with Joe. I think he alleviated my concerns about how we will approach getting better at the downfield passing game.

[BB30]

No, that isnt what he's suggesting nor was I. What we are saying is that KT might need some extra snaps in these two games IF Fitz continues to struggle with downfield pass accuracy.

We were wildly successful with Dak and bowling ball up until the Bama game in 2014 and they took away the run. It took hard head Mullen 30 minutes of football to figure out Dak could complete a downfield pass. Of course, by then it was too late.

Grantham will try to take away the Fitz/Hill runs. You can count on it. UK will try to as well. By the time Auburn rolls around "try to" will turn into 'will take away'.

These next two are should wins for us. There should be opportunity to get Fitz and KT more opportunity to get their accuracy down on longer passes.

Will we use those games to do that with KT? I hope so.


I would think we will do that with Fitz. I would expect KT to get some opportunities against ULL. I doubt we see him too much against KY.

The way KY's offense operates they have the ability to shorten the game running the ball. I would expect a similar score to the K-state game against KY, possibly a tad closer.

I think the KY game will be a challenge just from the stand point of how big the UF game the following week will be to the players. I'm not expecting it but it wouldn't surprise me all if we came out somewhat sluggish to start the KY game on offense. Good thing is a running game travels pretty well.

Fitz is the man this year. It would take something really really weird happening for that to change.

What have you seen from KT in his 3 games that tells you he is without a doubt going to be our better option moving forward throwing the ball? If it isn't a "without a doubt" situation for you then Fitz should be getting the majority of the snaps as he is just the better QB especially for our skillset.

If we had AJ Brown and DK Metcalf I may would agree that if Fitz cant get the job done we need to look at the next available option. With our personnel IMO Fitz is a much better runner and our skill set everywhere else lends to us needing a more dynamic guy to take pressure off the rbs when our WRs struggle against better DBs to get separation.

[DownwardDawg]

Then we better hope bama has all first string linebackers out like last years game. That was one of the reasons we were able to run effectively. Not the only reason, but one.

Pick up your wet blanket and go home. Boooooo
We?ll run it down their throats again.

[Token Bammer]

FWIW, Arkansas State ran for 173 vs Bama

This is true, against the 2's and 3's down 50 points.

They also threw for 220, but their starter was 15/36 for 140, 1 TD, 1 INT.

Can't always look on the surface of stats.

[DanDority]

I agree with you, but here's the thing, while that offense worked vs LSU & A&M last year & not against Bama & Auburn, I think there is a chance we can beat Auburn & Bama by doing that this year.

Bama's DL isn't as good as last year & Auburn's offense may struggle. Throw that in with our OL & RB being better this year, & I think there is a chance we could win the West with the ground & point offense.
So I can put you down in the "We Believe" Column?

[MarketingBully]

Can we let the season progress a bit before saying Fitz can’t improve in the passing game? Saturday was his first game back after his last outing of having that horrible ankle injury. We should be able to win our next three games easily against ULL, UK, and UF before Auburn comes to town. We have time for Fitz to incrementally get better in the passing game over those next three games. I think we will be okay.