Shortell should be the starter

[STPGopher]

Look, I love the Gophers! and I love coach Kill! I emailed Maturi after he finally fired Brewster and said Hoke #1 and when it was clear they couldn't get Hoke, I emailed and pushed for Kill. I am so excited about Gopher football and coach Kill! My point is that New Mexico State is one of the worst teams in college football. I can only surmise the huge letdown because of the huge focus and effort geared toward USC for so long, and I was at that game and the Gophs did awesome! I disagreed with Kill leaving Gray in there after the 2nd pick. Scoring 19 points a game (average for first 2 games) will not beat anyone in college football. Gray can still play QB, but give Shortell his chance. Like I said, maybe it will help Gray. I believe and trust in Kill and love him, but I also enjoy having an opinion and that is what this board is for. I don't think the rest of the team is that bad! The most important player on a football team is the QB! Those of you ripping Shortell on here have no basis. What did he have, 3 series? And two of them ended through no fault of his own. He should have had his shot in this game. He should have came in after Gray's second pick and shouldn't have came out unless he had 3 three and outs because of his own fault. I was amazed watching NMSU put 9 guys within 10 yards of the ball and us never throwing it more than 10 to 15 yards. Give Shortell as much of a chance as Gray has had and then let's judge. If he gets as much of an opportunity as Gray and is worse than fine. But all of you posting on here can't say what you are saying when the playing time has been what it is. Shortell has done much more in the time he has had than Gray has with his time. I like Gray, got nothin' against him, but I'm a competitor and want to win. I don't care if it's a true freshman or whatever. You play who gives you the best chance to win, and Gray just lost to NMSU. I don't care what anyone says about the team and it's a team and what about the rest of the team bla bla bla. 21 pts against NMSU. 2 critical picks. Your QB is your leader and you're going nowhere without one. Ya got nothin to lose starting Shortell. Let's have a competition. If it doesn't light a fire under Gray then he wasn't the guy anyway. I'm sick of watching Gray's indecisiveness back there. He better step up. No one on here should accept losing to New Mexico State for God sake! There is not one excuse for that, NOT ONE!!!

Statistically, The Gray vs Shortell's QB experience (non wildcat) is about the same as Gray having 5 powerball (lottery) tickets and Shortell having 1.

 

[Khaliq]

Give Shortell as much of a chance as Gray has had and then let's judge.

He did have as much chance. He had all spring to try to win the job. He didn't. It's now Gray's and he has to show something special to warrant a change in that order.

 

[zambam]

I think the extent of thinking on the issue is it would work well on NCAA 2012.

2 problems with this
Shortell isn't on the game
Gray is a better QB than WR on the game

 

[Khaliq]

So much for that joke.

 

[Rosemountian]

It is hilarious reading peoples analysis of the game of football. Fans see it completely differently from people who coach, even High school.

 

[Some Day...Is Coming!]

Start Shortell we lose our only threat to do any running. Just thought I'd point that out since you said there is nothing to lose.

For all those people worried about losing Gray's running ability, I didn't know running ability was so important for the Quarterback position. The best thing for a running game is a Quarterback who can throw the ball downfield and spread the ball around! That will open up the running game and make things easier for the offensive line...then we can let the RUNNING BACKS do the RUNNING!!! Not to mention Shortell's 22 yard run on the first play, and his 8 yard run for a first on his first play against USC! This "we will be losing 100 to 125 yards a game rushing" is ridiculus thinking! I'm all for giving Gray chances and I love Kill and Gopher football, but Gray doesn't have to start to play. Competition Competition Competition. Look at Gray's TD drive against USC, was it 25 yards? (in 3 quarters of play) look at Shortell's, was it like a 80 or 90 yard drive in just one quarter of play? And his first drive against NMSU should have been a touchdown and his second drive may have been one if Kiese knew how to catch. How it can hurt to give Shortell more of a shot? I don't know. What, is it going to hurt Gray's feelings? If it does than he's not a competitor! I trust Coach Kill and his staff and I love them and I support them and I believe they are going to do great things and I'm excited about it! I'm not trying to be negative in the least, quite the opposite, I'm a fan and I love to discuss opinions on this board and support the Gophers. People have to understand that posts on this board have absolutely NO EFFECT on the Gopher Football team! Let's not give ourselves so much credit here. These are just opinions and people can disagree and that's fine, but to say it's negative is ridiculous. I'll watch and cheer for the Gophers every game this season no matter what happens.

 

[Arbogast]

He did have as much chance. He had all spring to try to win the job. He didn't. It's now Gray's and he has to show something special to warrant a change in that order.

Shortell was not there in the spring.

 

[Cobra]

For all those people worried about losing Gray's running ability, I didn't know running ability was so important for the Quarterback position. The best thing for a running game is a Quarterback who can throw the ball downfield and spread the ball around! That will open up the running game and make things easier for the offensive line...then we can let the RUNNING BACKS do the RUNNING!!! Not to mention Shortell's 22 yard run on the first play, and his 8 yard run for a first on his first play against USC! This "we will be losing 100 to 125 yards a game rushing" is ridiculus thinking! I'm all for giving Gray chances and I love Kill and Gopher football, but Gray doesn't have to start to play. Competition Competition Competition. Look at Gray's TD drive against USC, was it 25 yards? (in 3 quarters of play) look at Shortell's, was it like a 80 or 90 yard drive in just one quarter of play? And his first drive against NMSU should have been a touchdown and his second drive may have been one if Kiese knew how to catch. How it can hurt to give Shortell more of a shot? I don't know. What, is it going to hurt Gray's feelings? If it does than he's not a competitor! I trust Coach Kill and his staff and I love them and I support them and I believe they are going to do great things and I'm excited about it! I'm not trying to be negative in the least, quite the opposite, I'm a fan and I love to discuss opinions on this board and support the Gophers. People have to understand that posts on this board have absolutely NO EFFECT on the Gopher Football team! Let's not give ourselves so much credit here. These are just opinions and people can disagree and that's fine, but to say it's negative is ridiculous. I'll watch and cheer for the Gophers every game this season no matter what happens.

 

[50PoundHead]

For all those people worried about losing Gray's running ability, I didn't know running ability was so important for the Quarterback position. The best thing for a running game is a Quarterback who can throw the ball downfield and spread the ball around! That will open up the running game and make things easier for the offensive line...then we can let the RUNNING BACKS do the RUNNING!!! Not to mention Shortell's 22 yard run on the first play, and his 8 yard run for a first on his first play against USC! This "we will be losing 100 to 125 yards a game rushing" is ridiculus thinking! I'm all for giving Gray chances and I love Kill and Gopher football, but Gray doesn't have to start to play. Competition Competition Competition. Look at Gray's TD drive against USC, was it 25 yards? (in 3 quarters of play) look at Shortell's, was it like a 80 or 90 yard drive in just one quarter of play? And his first drive against NMSU should have been a touchdown and his second drive may have been one if Kiese knew how to catch. How it can hurt to give Shortell more of a shot? I don't know. What, is it going to hurt Gray's feelings? If it does than he's not a competitor! I trust Coach Kill and his staff and I love them and I support them and I believe they are going to do great things and I'm excited about it! I'm not trying to be negative in the least, quite the opposite, I'm a fan and I love to discuss opinions on this board and support the Gophers. People have to understand that posts on this board have absolutely NO EFFECT on the Gopher Football team! Let's not give ourselves so much credit here. These are just opinions and people can disagree and that's fine, but to say it's negative is ridiculous. I'll watch and cheer for the Gophers every game this season no matter what happens.

Well, seeing that Chandler Harnish (the NIU QB) ran for 836 yards last season and was the team's second leading rusher, I guess maybe a QB's running ability at least has some measure of importance in Kill's offense.

 

[In IT for the ∫e ͯ]

Look at Gray's TD drive against USC, was it 25 yards? (in 3 quarters of play) look at Shortell's, was it like a 80 or 90 yard drive in just one quarter of play? And his first drive against NMSU should have been a touchdown and his second drive may have been one if Kiese knew how to catch

If a SHOULD have been a touchdown but Kiese can't catch works to defend Shortell, than the drive ending in Edwards not being able to punch it in from the 1 should go to show that Gray SHOULD have lead another touch down drive. Also if Edwards would have picked up the first on 4th and 1 from the NMSU 40, that drive COULD have lead to another touch down on a drive lead by Gray.

As you said, Gray doesn't have to start to play, the same also goes for Shortell, he doesn't need to start to play.

For the record, I don't care who the QB is. At this moment, Gray is the starter and has earned it (or I'm sure Kill wouldn't be starting him), but I also thought he should have been taken out at least for a series or two after he threw his second INT.