Just ignore the game-killing pick-6's Siemian served up against Minny, Nebraska, OSU, and one other (can't recall), or the failure of Siemian to do anything against Minnesota in 2012 and Nebraska in 2011 and you've got a dandy argument there, ECat.
No one is saying that Trevor didn't make his share of mistake, as did Colter.
9 Ints,
12 fumbles (
5 of which were lost, including a couple of crucial ones, 1 against UM); and 36 sacks out of 321 dropbacks (that a greater than a
10% sack rate).
Siemian had
57 sacks in
934 dropbacks - which isn't bad considering that he played a good part of 2 seasons w/ a high ankle sprain, so was basically immobile (not that McCall was going to let him out of the pocket).
In 2 OT losses (including 1 against UM), the O (w/ Colter and Mark) wasn't even able to move the chains; in a following OT game against UM, w/ Trevor getting some play, they were able to move the ball and score.
And what about Colter's 2 Ints against MSU in the Taxslayer Bowl?
One of which was a nearly a pick-6?
Never like McCall's over dependence on the sideline pass, which was DB's were constantly looking to jump.
Or the dOSU game where Siemian got the 'Cats a late lead, the Bucknuts regained the lead and the Colter-led O turned the ball over on downs.
In the UM game (where Colter had the crucial fumble at midfield), Trevor, again, got the lead for the 'Cats and they just needed to get 2 1st downs to run the clock out.
The 'Cats just barely made the 1st down going on 4th and 1 (which was risky) and failed the obtain that crucial 2nd 1st down.
Point is, both QB's made their share of mistakes.
I'll take statistical reality over ECat "conventional wisdom" any day and twice on Saturday! Colter helped spring VMark the last 9 games of the 2012 season. The difference in yardage, average yards per carry, and runs over 10 yards for Mark when Colter was running the option versus when Siemian was at QB over the last 9 games of the season was more than considerable.
Alternating QB's worked well.
Marks' YPC was higher w/ Colter b/c opposing D's brought their safety up, so once Mark got past the 1st line of defenders, there was open space.
At the same time, opposing D's learned how to defend the Colter/Mark combo better (or had better defensive coaches who just knew how to defend it better from the start - see Boston College) and there were plenty of times where that O stalled (just as there were times, the O stalled w/ Trevor).
Now, agree that the O in 2012 needed both QBs, but 2013 really didn't have Mark, which is why the coaching staff started playing Trevor more.
Katatonic will have tough sledding finding fault with what I wrote about the Colter-Mark duo over the last 8-9 games in 2012. I did the homework on that several years ago reviewing the play-by-play after he claimed (correctly) early in the season that Mark was equally effective with both QB's in the first 4 games of the season. Things changed on the back nine.
Total yards don't mean anything if you turn the ball over, effectively nullifying those yards.
Fitzphile emphasized passing stats.
Also did homework for a post several years ago and the Siemian-led O was better at sustaining long scoring drives.
Also, when you needed a quick score (such as right before the half), that was the time to send Siemian in.