Croft has tools to be U's best QB in a long time

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Word said:
Our OL was bad in every facet Saturday. I think for most of the year our pass blocking has been acceptable but not great.
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They, meaning the OL, looked beat up. The defense looked tired. The offense didn't help much at all. If we had a couple of bigger DE's we might have had a chance. I saw some tweaks, but then they got trapped by kickout blocks. Michigans OL looked like men amongst boys. Save M. Jackson's sack, the only time Michigan's QB saw any pressure was a few blitzes.

We were out classed on both sides of the ball. No shame in that. I do think the OL will grow. I worry most about the DL next season.

I think the one phase we "won" was special teams. Santoso punted very well. We just could never keep the field flipped.
 

Jiminy Crickets! Can someone help put some on that kid? He seems like fifteen or so pounds will fill him out.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
We need a good tight end to help with matchups. We need linemen that don't get run over. Too early to write off Croft. He's done some really bad things (another intentional grounding) and but has hit some good throws. Right now he's sort of like Leidner...frustrating but has some skills.

He's inexperienced, we've played some of the best defenses in the Big Ten (outside of the Illini). I'm interested to see if we can do anything vs Nebraska.
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Some competent coaching would do wonders as well.
 

Yeah, losing first down again and again with that stupid direct snap play didn't help anything. That and allowing #7 to run blitz unblocked all night for numerous TFLs pretty much destroyed any possibility of moving the ball. I'd say they are definitely more talented with great speed, but coaches didn't help themselves either.

More concerning was defensive performance. Poor tackling effort is a big red flag as far as I'm concerned.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Yeah, losing first down again and again with that stupid direct snap play didn't help anything. That and allowing #7 to run blitz unblocked all night for numerous TFLs pretty much destroyed any possibility of moving the ball. I'd say they are definitely more talented with great speed, but coaches didn't help themselves either.

More concerning was defensive performance. Poor tackling effort is a big red flag as far as I'm concerned.
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What is concerning to me is #7 for scUM was run blitzing all night and had free reign to do what he wanted. He was in position to make many many plays all night long. That tells me in a weeks time he was able to figure out what plays we were going to run based on formation. If a player from the opposing team is able to figure us out in a week, then every single coaching staff has been able to as well. It's tough running an offense when the D already knows what is coming based on formation, unless you have far superior talent. I'm not sure we will ever get to the point where we have far superior talent and that has me concerned with what this staff can do in the future.
 


I think Croft is going to be very good.


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GFBfan said:
What is concerning to me is #7 for scUM was run blitzing all night and had free reign to do what he wanted. He was in position to make many many plays all night long. That tells me in a weeks time he was able to figure out what plays we were going to run based on formation. If a player from the opposing team is able to figure us out in a week, then every single coaching staff has been able to as well. It's tough running an offense when the D already knows what is coming based on formation, unless you have far superior talent. I'm not sure we will ever get to the point where we have far superior talent and that has me concerned with what this staff can do in the future.
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Yep nothing to it....Here's what you have to work with:
1. Extremely limited QB
2. Couple of solid running backs
3. 1 decent receiver that lacks breakaway speed
4. Banged up offensive line
5. Bad weather
6. On the road in hostile environment
7. Top 25 opponent with very good defense

You are correct that we are super easy to gameplan for right now but I put that far more on the personnel then I do on the coaching staff. If we are saying the same thing next year and the year after that then you can certainly point fingers at the coaches but right now they are working with really limited talent at a lot of key spots on offense. Plus it wasn't like they inherited some awesome offense, offensive football has been a struggle for multiple seasons around here due to a real lack of playmakers.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yep nothing to it....Here's what you have to work with:
1. Extremely limited QB
2. Couple of solid running backs
3. 1 decent receiver that lacks breakaway speed
4. Banged up offensive line
5. Bad weather
6. On the road in hostile environment
7. Top 25 opponent with very good defense

You are correct that we are super easy to gameplan for right now but I put that far more on the personnel then I do on the coaching staff. If we are saying the same thing next year and the year after that then you can certainly point fingers at the coaches but right now they are working with really limited talent at a lot of key spots on offense. Plus it wasn't like they inherited some awesome offense, offensive football has been a struggle for multiple seasons around here due to a real lack of playmakers.
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Yep I️ agree. What was that rough non conference game last year (Ohio maybe) or even the home game vs Iowa last year.
There is a lot of room for improvement offensively.
 

bfast said:
I don't see anything in Croft that tells me that he "isn't good enough" to be a starting QB on a B1G West division champion team. Yes, it's disappointing that he hasn't been a superhero and changed some results, but I don't see any red flags with his decision making or throwing/running talent that says we need a change.

The touchdown drive was a great blueprint of what he can bring to the table. We're just hamstringing ourselves with playcalling and routes IMO. Michigan game was a bit of a wash because we couldn't stop them at all on defense (5-12 completions). It's this guy's first few games as a starter, remember. There will be rocky moments early. I'm not absolving him of his share in the team losses, but it seems that a fair number of people are anti-Croft from the get-go.

Iowa game was rough (9-29) but you saw what Josh Jackson and co. did to Ohio State yesterday and the Gophs didn't exactly opt for what Iowa gave them in the pass game - lots of tough throws. Iowa should have knocked off Penn State too.
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Croft's not awful, but I've seen nothing to suggest he's the future of the program. He's a lightly recruited player, who hasn't been able to separate himself from mediocre competition. For the sake of the program we should all hope we recruit over him.
 



Costa Rican Gopher said:
Croft's not awful, but I've seen nothing to suggest he's the future of the program. He's a lightly recruited player, who hasn't been able to separate himself from mediocre competition. For the sake of the program we should all hope we recruit over him.
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He is serviceable as a backup but yeah I agree 100% that for the good of the entire program I hope we can find a QB who can beat him out next year.
 

not the future. throws nice ball, but waits too long to pull trigger. nice backup for next year.
 


Bump.

I mean, look at how awesome and then awful Nate Stanley is looking at times but we all know Iowa will be scary under him in his next few years.

Croft is our best shot at big ten championship game/rose bowl in a long, long time.
 



There’s no doubt about the title of this thread, it will forever be one of my favorites.


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Demy has got an average arm.
He has got good speed.
He has above average quickness.
He is a slow decision maker.
He is indecisive.


There is a reason Liedner (who I hated as a quarterback) never was benched for him
 



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