Even if he is such a place holder it would be for another year or to. Would seem unlikely that they would try to start a guy right out of HS. And by that time Lausch could potentially have 2 years of starting under his belt and would only have one more year of eligibility
Where we stand post-Washington debacle
- Thread starter Baz=Heisman
- Start date
That is what I was hoping for, a dynamic OC being hired, when Fitz was canned. A dynamic system that would attract top recruits, knowing they can thrive in a high powered offense. All I know is that our starting qbs so far aren't cutting so far. I hope Lausch gets better as time goes on. I am sure he will to some extent, but we can't go back to 2019 and expect good recruiting classes. Hopefully we can get 100% healthy with the bye. A win vs Indiana and/or Maryland will go a long way to build Lausch's confidence if he has all his weapons and line around him. Not bowling this season is going to set the program back a bit. I guess a lot of patience is in order, as always.
I think he was just talking about the challenge the represent this year. They have shown that they can score pretty prolifically and it looks like a difficult task to deal with them this year. DOes not matter if he is going to be here for two more years. Heck we don't even know if we will be playing them. But we are in a couple weeks and we seem less able to deal with it
No it wasn’t. The WR fell down, but he was behind the LB and Lausch threw it into the defender’s lap.
Illinois looks to me like one of the stronger teams they will play, so you can count that one out. We did see Lausch play well in the Eastern Illinois game, so we know he can throw accurately if he has time. Obviously, on Saturday he didn’t. The other issue is that his receivers rarely got any separation at all. Kurtz also seems to be in a funk.
And yet, if Lujan would’ve let him run it in from the 1 on the infamous FG drive and if 2 successive well placed TD passes (challenging catches but placed where they had to be) were caught, it would’ve been a 1 score game and winnable. Not to mention the last drive where a 100% accurate 20 yard first down pass to put us in scoring range, bounced off the WR chest and goes the other way for an INT return.
Yes, the first 2.5 quarters he was inaccurate and indecisive or not reading the field. But like last game, he improved and led the offense well but was not helped by bad drops and bad playcalling.
Lausch was too inconsistent and randomly inaccurate to put in an average or better performance, but he did do a lot of things to be built on: he continues to be a good decision maker, a good runner, and a competitor. He delivered some good, catchable balls into tight coverage. It was something to build on for a young player.
The same can’t be said for senior, multi-year starter TEs and WRa who couldn’t catch the ball all game, lines that can’t block, RBs who can’t hold onto the ball, etc. I think everybody obviously agrees the QB needs to be better along with the rest of the offense, but he was far from the worst offender. He was a heck of a lot better than, say, Michigan’s QB on Saturday.
You'll have to wait for a couple of losses where everything else is OK and for Lausch to still struggle for some of the people here to give up (Like Wright in the Duke game - any mediocre P4 QB wins that game). Until then, we will get excuses
I don't think anybody is giving Lausch a passing grade, but it's also pretty damn dumb football analysis to just say "offense struggled, probably just the OC and the QB." Like Braun said, Jack needs to play better.
Lausch kind of looks like a guy who has played less football than most other guys that come into D1 programs, which he almost certainly is.
Just some occasional inaccuracy and maybe even a few cases where the ball came out a little wobbly.
Despite the relative inexperience, Lausch generally seems to have a pretty good pocket presence. He doesn’t scatter at the first since of pressure, which was a significant problem with the quarterback who chose to transfer this offseason, though less with Wright. But Lausch doesn’t put the ball in danger like Wright did, especially against Duke.
We “just” need to get to 6-6 and Detroit with this schedule after last year’s work. I’m not giving up on that yet but also realize we have zero margin for error now. Have to win the home games at the lake and at Maryland and at Purdue. Possible? Yes. Difficult? Hell yes. But if Cam comes back and Jack feels more comfortable after the bye we’ve at least got a chance.
We've pretty much won the ones we came in expecting to and vice versa. But yes, the offense needs to improve a whole hell of a lot.
Fortunately the defense is pretty damn capable - our D line is LEGIT - so an okay offense will win some games.
If Cam is back and the WRs actually can catch a ball, Purdue and Wisconsin should be wins. Maryland, along with Indiana are probable losses though, unless the Cats get their act together.
Exactly right. All we need is a C+ offensive to go bowling. If Lausch stinks though against IU, with Cam back, we are toast.
C+? I think not!!!!!! We will need a B offense at the least against both IUs, Maryland, OSU, U of M,
and Illinois. Purdue is the only game where we can have a C+ offensive output and still expect to win.
Not sure. We had an F minus offense Saturday, against a good team on the road, and the game was closer than it looked. Nearly won the Puke game with a poopoo offense. Now, the OC also has to be C+
I would disagree and say all we need is a C- or even D+ offense to bowl, but our schedule is so unfriendly (and getting unfriendlier with the emergence to feistiness of Indiana… Maryland scares me zero) that I’m afraid we do need a C or better offense to get to 6.
To get to 5-7 we can maybe just Big Ten West zombie rock fight it out.
Buddy, we arent beating OSU or Michigan barring major self-inflicted wounds by them. I’m talking to make a bowl with our “B/B+” defense although I’m definitely a little worried about our secondary.
NU is 2-2 after four games, having split in the way that all reasonable Cat fans expected.
Compared to mid-August,
Indiana looks tougher
Maryland looks the same
Wisconsin looks weaker
Iowa probably the same
Purdue looks weaker
OSU and Michigan both look like 1 in 100
Illinois looks better
And, Northwestern looks worse than I expected. I expected some dynamism in the offense, but neither Henning nor Kirtz have made many plays, and the tight ends have regressed, and the line questions have not been answered (or perhaps they have, unsatisfactorily).
ESPN lists Purdue (50/50 matchup predictor) and Wisconsin (56 for the Badgers) as tossups.
Illinois is 70%, Iowa and Maryland and Indiana both 80+.
Lots can change between now and the end of the year, but the fact is that it needs to change in the next 12 days.
I sincerely hope Indiana comes to Evanston 5-0 and ranked. That win would give the Cats nice momentum and nice publicity , and would probably not turn out to be as impressive at season’s end as it seemed at the time.
Getting ahead of myself? Yup.
Go Tigers Go Tigers Go
Compared to mid-August,
Indiana looks tougher
Maryland looks the same
Wisconsin looks weaker
Iowa probably the same
Purdue looks weaker
OSU and Michigan both look like 1 in 100
Illinois looks better
And, Northwestern looks worse than I expected. I expected some dynamism in the offense, but neither Henning nor Kirtz have made many plays, and the tight ends have regressed, and the line questions have not been answered (or perhaps they have, unsatisfactorily).
ESPN lists Purdue (50/50 matchup predictor) and Wisconsin (56 for the Badgers) as tossups.
Illinois is 70%, Iowa and Maryland and Indiana both 80+.
Lots can change between now and the end of the year, but the fact is that it needs to change in the next 12 days.
I sincerely hope Indiana comes to Evanston 5-0 and ranked. That win would give the Cats nice momentum and nice publicity , and would probably not turn out to be as impressive at season’s end as it seemed at the time.
Getting ahead of myself? Yup.
Go Tigers Go Tigers Go
To me, the problem is at QB. We've had some drops, but with a Bryant level QB, we're 4-0
I understand Lausch struggled. But our redzone play calling HAS to get better. I felt like I was watching another Bajakian offense in the redzone. I don’t understand why we don’t go under center and stuff it up the middle with a power run 4 times in a row especially with a QB that’s struggling with the pass game. That made no sense to be in shotgun when you are on the 1 yard line. We left 14 points on the board there and I blame Lujan for those!
Sorry but we just did not have the personnel up front. We had a new center and a direct snap could have been a disaster
To catch a ball, the WR's and TE's need a QB to throw it accurately to them provided they do their job of getting open. So far we have disappointing results from Wright and Lausch although there were a few drops by the receivers. Is R Hilinski completely out of the picture? Maybe Lou, MShelton or someone closer to the action can weigh in on that. We can get to 6w's since our D will keep us in most games but the offense has to do its part.
I appreciate Ryan hanging around but you won't see him unless emergency. Now, I define a 5 game losing streak as an emergency, so...
How could a kid that was a 4 star recruit that started as a true freshman not have any value at 24 years old.
Hilinski was named backup quarterback prior to the start of the 2019 season. His first game appearance came during the 2019 Belk Kickoff Gameagainst North Carolina after then starting quarterback Jake Bentley was injured in the game. Hilinski was named starting quarterback later that day. He made his first starting appearance in the second game of the season, a 72–10 win over Charleston Southern. With Hilinski starting, the Gamecocks would set a school record 775 yards of offense, as well as a school record 493 rushing yards. Next week, Hilinski would start in a home game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, a 47–23 loss, where he would complete more passes against Nick Saban's Crimson Tide than any other freshman quarterback
I don’t know what Bajakian did to him, but freshman Hilinski looked like he could ball and help us this year.
His last two outings for us were disastrous. He is mentally finished, unfortunately. Use only in emergency situations, which we may be in right now frankly.
This apparent genius was South Carolina’s OC in 2019, when Hilinski had good freshman numbers.
Bryan McClendon - Wikipedia
This note is hilarious:
However, he was demoted after the conclusion of the 2019 season as South Carolina's offense only scored one touchdown in their last twelve quarters of football. After being demoted he resumed his prior role as wide receivers coach, with no coordinator responsibilities.
(He then joined Oregon’s staff in the spring rather than continue with reduced responsibilities. The new OC at South Carolina, Mike Bobo, brought his grad transfer QB with from Colorado State, which is how Hilinski came to transfer.)
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I was around superb college athletes that just lost the desire and motivation to work through issues. I have no idea if this is what happened to Ryan, but mental fatigue is real. He didn’t look the same after being benched.
He was better than Hunter Johnson was for us, but not that much. Braun talked about being a developmental program, hopefully he can make that happen. That, along with coming up with a dynamic offense is the only way we will bring in better quality quarterbacks. Lausch has some potential, but we will see what Lujan and co will do. Way too early now to try and gauge if these guys can develop qbs.
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