Northwestern's Clayton Thorson is still learning the ropes, but he will have the edge in experience over Ball State's Riley Neal on Saturday night.
Story: Thorson the veteran in QB matchup
Story: Thorson the veteran in QB matchup
Believe it or not, Thorson will be the more experienced QB vs. Ball State
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
The Ball State fans are very high on their young QB, though.
Ball State forum predictions
Most fans are picking NU but some are optimistic that they'll be able to move the ball and a few even predict the upset. Riley Neal put up some Persa-like numbers in the win over Eastern Michigan.
Since NU's passing game is still a work in progress, I can't rule out an upset if Ball State jumps out to an early lead. A couple of turnovers and their talented, young QB might be able to move the ball enough to put us in a hole. With our passing game, we don't know how well we can play from behind.
The further into the week we get, the more I find myself worrying about this game. It's definitely a potential trap game and we need to respect our opponent.
Ball State forum predictions
Most fans are picking NU but some are optimistic that they'll be able to move the ball and a few even predict the upset. Riley Neal put up some Persa-like numbers in the win over Eastern Michigan.
Since NU's passing game is still a work in progress, I can't rule out an upset if Ball State jumps out to an early lead. A couple of turnovers and their talented, young QB might be able to move the ball enough to put us in a hole. With our passing game, we don't know how well we can play from behind.
The further into the week we get, the more I find myself worrying about this game. It's definitely a potential trap game and we need to respect our opponent.
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Perhaps Thorson is the more experienced QB, but perhaps he isn't. Thorson has been the starting QB longer; however, he has thrown 47 passes for 175 only counting FBS because Eastern Illinois is too bad to count those reps. He's rushed 19 times for 91 yards in the 2 real games. Now, Riley Neal has thrown 35 passes vs FBS talent. While less than Thorson, he was able to throw for 310 yards on these passes. Despite not having watched Ball State play, I can assure you that Neal has thrown actual downfield passes to get that number while Thorson is throwing little swing and dump off passes limiting his yardage. This means that some of Thorson's passes don't count. Additionally, both Neal and Thorson ran the ball 19 times vs FBS (ie real) competition. Neal has 143 yards to Thorson's 91 yards. Additionally, Thorson only played QB in high school for 1 year. Neal played multiple years in high school at QB. As such, Neal is far more experienced than Thorson. I predict a final score of 56-11 Ball state wins
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I wouldn't go that far. But ball security will be important. My question is why is he so far along the process as a true Frosh. Or is it that Ball State has better receivers. THat said when he went in against the FBS school, probably against the backups.
Hdhntr, you got that my post was a joke right? I didn't use an alert, but I thought the 56-11 victory (I mean 2 safeties) was silly enough to make it obvious.
Ball State beat Eastern Michigan. While they are a bad FBS team, I would assume they played their main guys the entire game.
So I read this stuff and I think, "well, maybe this kid is a natural talent and Thorson is a undeveloped guy with a high ceiling. Maybe we should worry." Then I think, "No way is this guy or this team as good as Duke and Stanford." Our Lines will dominate especially on D where there is all kinds of talent and support.
Thorson only played 1 year of HS QB? While his passing in game situations has been subpar, his running, pocket awareness and game management are all very solid, perhaps then a testament to McCall.
Our D is for real. We will see how well their QB does with Lowry, IO, Gibson, et al breathing down his neck all night. People still aren't respecting our defense, and I hope our boys take that personally. I also have a feeling Thorson will have a really good game.
Huh? The MLB was the national player of the week, and all the articles I read on ESPN and other places talk about how dominant the defense has been. I think the defense is getting the respect they deserve. I worry more about over-confidence......
What's the old adage, defense wins. If he has the time to throw I foresee a few picks by GI or NVH. If he breaks containment Walker or Henry are going to light him up. But that is if our d-line doesn't chew him up and spit him out.
Thorson has made some very nice throws in key situations. The throw down the sideline for a 20-yard gain on 3rd and long against Stanford was a thing of beauty. He will be fine. The fans just need to back off and give him room to grow. This is a five-year project, not a 13-game one.
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I just wonder how the big players did not really look at him. I mean 6'5 210 should have gotten looks and follow that that he is ready to start as a true Frosh that is supposedly a dual threat, I would have thought he would have gotten some more serious looks. Just wondering.
Calling EMU "FBS talent" is being pretty generous. They're just flat not very good, losing their home opener this year to Old Dominion and coming off a 2-10 2014 campaign where one win was a three-point win over a Morgan State team that went 7-6 at the FCS level and a Buffalo team that went 5-6 in the MAC.
(Cue Feli and his "BUT THEY HAVE 85 SCHOLARSHIP FBS PLAYERS SO THEY HAVE TO BE GOOD!" schtick.)
I like how Ball State fans are trying to spin a confident Northwestern team into a positive for them.
It's all lip service. There are still a lot of doubters who are saying Stanford just had a bad day, or Duke must not be very good, or Eastern.... well, they're just Eastern.
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