Written by Sean Hawkins
| 31 August 2009
Alright, alright, SETTLE DOWN!
Lost in the excitement/hoopla over yesterday's announcement from Coach Wulff regarding the QB decision was a little something in the details. As in, yes, the initial plan will be to play both kids.....but....if someone is white-hot? Not so fast, per Howie Stalwick:
Wulff initially said sophomore Marshall Lobbestael “will rotate” in after Lopina plays “at least a couple series,” but Wulff later backed off that statement.
“If someone has a hot hand, they’ll stay in the game,” Wulff said.
Fair enough. I think if Kevin Lopina were to open the game something like 8-for-10 with 100+ yards and a couple of productive scores to boot, well, they should probably stick with him. It gets talked about all the time, but QB is regarded by many as a "rhythm" position, sort of like a jump-shooter in hoops. You get hot, you creep into the zone where everything slows down and your focus is like a laser beam, you want to keep it rolling for as long as it lasts. From the same article, there was some good stuff about how the decision was made, per Lopina:
“Coach (offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Todd Sturdy) called us in about a week ago. He said, ‘You guys have got to step up. Somebody’s got to pull away.’
“But when he told us that, we both stepped up. We both got better.”
More or less what we were all hearing in recent days? Now personally I'm not wild about the two-QB system, but the situation really does warrant the call here. It's not like both guys are so terrible that they have no idea what to do, and hope that one of them shows enough of a pulse that he can separate from the other? The situation, at least today anyway, feels a lot different than it did after a few games into last year, when the offense was STRUGGA-LING to get anything done. Like it's been mentioned before, this is a problem, but a good problem to have. And more than likely, you can bet that the situation is going to resolve itself, one way or another. Talking with the Sutra in recent days, it's like hey, approach the season in four quarters, broken out into three-game chunks. And in quarter number one (Stanford, Hawai'i and SMU), play both QB's and see what happens. Once you get to game number four, into that second three-game chunk, if one of the QB's has created some distance with his play? Then pick one guy and roll with it. If neither guy has created some space, and they are both playing pretty well? Then keep going as-is (HOWEVER, game number four? Yeah, it's AT USC! Yikes!).
Other stuff....
Grippi's PM practice report was excellent, as usual. The buzz around the three rookies who are likely to play a ton, if not start once this week's depth chart hits, are Gino Simone at the slot WR position, Travis Long at defensive end opposite Kevin Kooyman, and in a bit of a surprise, Darren Markle has filled in so well in Alex Hoffman-Ellis' absense from the banged-up foot that he may even start if necessary! And, Grippi goes on to add that Dan Spitz has been seeing a lot of reps with the one's at defensive tackle. Wow, that's potentially FOUR frosh who could see significant action, if not start? As Grippi adds, even three true freshman in the starting lineup is something
"that’s never happened at WSU since the Pac-10 was formed."
I think when the depth chart gets released here shortly, the YOUTH in the starting lineup is going to be an eye-opener for a lot of people. Let's see, on offense you can pencil in the elder Kevin Lopina to start at QB, along with Dwight Tardy at tailback, Tony Thompson at tight end and Kenny Alfred at center. That's four seniors, most likely, on offense. That's it. Defensively, you can put down Kevin Kooyman at defensive end, Andy Mattingly at strong-side linebacker, Xavier Hicks at free safety....that's it. So, and this is simply projecting ahead, but SEVEN SENIOR starters out of an 22 combined from both sides of the ball? Plus a lot of youth sprinkled throughout as backups, etc? This is one young football team!
But if youth has to be served, then so be it. If the majority of the best players on the team aren't seniors, then who cares what class they are in? The best players are going to play, and that's been the message since day one. And while the learning curve will continue to be steep for some of these guys, let's hope all this youth pays dividends in 2010. I mean that's what we've all been kinda/sorta hoping all along, that 2010 is the year that sees a huge step towards the post-season? Even
Howie Stalwick is buying into it with his latest opinion piece. The QB situation is going to go a long way towards what happens next year, and there will be plenty of time to think about 2010 when we approach that bridge. Heck, we haven't even seen a snap yet in '09. But a lot of this youth that started to play last year and is projected to get boatloads of PT this year will all return in 2010, hopefully another year older/stronger/wiser to boot.
Finally,
Cougfan's freebie roundup from yesterday touches on the QB's, the youth, plus the health of some key Cougs like Jeshua Anderson, James Montgomery, Jesse Soloman, and maybe the biggest news of all, Brandon Jones. It's a good read.
That's it for this AM. Hope you all enjoy your Monday, GAME WEEK Monday. As always, GO COUGS!
