Rewatched Ball State last night

[Deeringfish]

Some of you guys rewatch games and seem to notice things the second time around and so I game it a try and sure enough it is different when you aren't thinking so hard about what is next. Two thing noticed:

Dickerson tried to get back into the game at the end of the half. He didn't appear to be limping or anything and yet he is out this week. What is that about?

There were at least 6 passes where CT found a guy open (which is good for two reasons: he found them and they got open) but failed to put enough air under the ball to clear the lineman or linebackers.
Is that a hard skill? or is it something we could reasonable hope he figures out in just a couple of weeks now that it is obvious? (believe me if I saw it, it's obvious.)

 

[The_Waterboy]

What Thorson didn't do is relax and do what comes naturally. He didn't get happy feet or pull the trigger too quick before the target receiver got open, he just let his emotions get the better of him and he under-threw/aimed the ball instead of passing the bean naturally and getting some air under it. Vitale ran a skinny post and was open behind the Cover 2 safeties for the 3rd time when Thorson threw a dart instead of passing the bean with some touch. That was a huge TD miss. Same on the 40 yarder TD toss to the south end zone, when he overthrew his target receiver instead of a simple pitch-n-catch, another egregious miss-throw. He'll get it; but those 2 were BIG miss-throws and could have busted thye game wide open without the drama.

 

[Deeringfish]

What Thorson didn't do is relax and do what comes naturally. He didn't get happy feet or pull the trigger too quick before the target receiver got open, he just let his emotions get the better of him and he under-threw/aimed the ball instead of passing the bean naturally and getting some air under it. Vitale ran a skinny post and was open behind the Cover 2 safeties for the 3rd time when Thorson threw a dart instead of passing the bean with some touch. That was a huge TD miss. Same on the 40 yarder TD toss to the south end zone, when he overthrew his target receiver instead of a simple pitch-n-catch, another egregious miss-throw. He'll get it; but those 2 were BIG miss-throws and could have busted thye game wide open without the drama.

When I realized how close those two plays were to TDs I felt better about the offense and the possibilities for the future. The question is, How fast can CT learn those things? I feel that where CT has the skills and intelligence, he lacks the natural instinct that the Ball State QB showed. Often times he looks stiff and uncomfortable with the larger scheme of things like when he almost got in JJ's way on the running play close to NU's endzone. If he had had his wits about him he could have been a blocker but he was not aware JJ was coming.