Which possibility would be the most likely to lead to a UT victory? (anonymous poll)

This is using hindsight. People were not clammering for Hooker in August.

 

No, they weren't. I didn't say they were. I'm saying that Hendon got a bad rap that summer because of faulty data. The fanbase couldn't see how he or any of the QBs did with live bullets. And that is when Hooker shines.

 

Also heupel had more to see than we did, and if he’s this vaunted qb whisperer/evaluator, he missed. He may not be missing with Nico, he might suck. He has more info than we do. I just like to know our coach can make hard decisions when something is wrong instead of letting it blow up first a la Milton at Pitt. But I have been assured here that he can so I digress.

 

Preemptive, but if Nico does suck we can’t roll with him and Merklinger next season. If we’re active in the portal it’d just be another sign to pump the brakes on the kid for now.

 

I think he is very good at developing QBs but people fall for these God's-gift-to-athleticism QBs all the time. I have no doubt in my mind that he would have tried to make Blake Bell work if Stoops didn't shit can that idea. The thing is with Nico vis a vis our offense, you don't know if he can run it until you put him out there. And as has been said before, if it doesn't work, you end up causing a rift in the locker room. So you have to wait for Milton to play himself out of the starter role. Hard to do if he keeps winning

 

Ya if we were 3-3 this is probably not a conversation.

 

If he was killing us with bad TOs in the first half last week, we would have seen a change.

 

The other thing, you bench Milton he probably checks out. Then God forbid something happen to Nico and you have to go back to Milton.
It’s complicated

 

I think that we have 2 scholarship QBs and need to keep 2 scholarship QBs for as long as possible. I have to think that this is at least a factor in the length of Milton's QB1 leash.

Also, Joe didn't struggle getting the team lined up in the Swamp, the QB/center combo of Joe and Ollie Lane did. Have to hope that Cooper Mays makes a difference in executing plays on the road (although I guess he was there for our disasters last year?).

I would suggest a hybrid of 1 and 4 (I guess closer to 1). You have to hope that the run game can be the focus/carry the team. Barring that, we'd probably need 2 or 3 bombs and a shutdown defensive performance.

To supplement the run, I would give Joe the easy WR screen throws that everyone hates this year but loved last year, because they're no read, stretch the defense from crashing the middle, he's been relatively accurate with them, and maybe they can help build some confidence in the passing offense, both by the players and coaches. One issue is that we don't have Bru, but I think we'll just have to do our best with Squirrel and whoever else they think can elude/break the first tackle and get positive yards.

I also think we need to take shots downfield, and stick with it even if the first couple don't hit (within reason, if Joe just throws it to the safety a couple times, I guess I'd pack it up).

I would deemphasize intermediate passing because it's going to be more receiver-progression heavy, more reliant on accuracy/pass speed (especially since our receivers don't seem to have great ball skills), and more prone to tunnel visioning and missing a guy sitting in zone. Situationally, you'll still need to hit some, but I'd be holding my breath trying it after what we saw last week.

 

Hooker was better at VT than Milton was at Michigan

 

I can cut GOAT Milton some slack for Florida (except that one moronic interception) because of our rookie center. Is it true he had never played center before? Not even in high school?