Agree. Some wild cat or even some options would be pretty nice for his skill set.

Excellent analysis. You are absolutely correct in regards to learning to play through mistakes, this is very important for long term development. Good point. I love talking football strategy. 3/4, 4/3, stunt, nickle, cover 2, etc. I love all that stuff. Feel free to engage me anytime. This is why I'm on here, I love talking football and trying to figure out how we can make our Aggies champions.

You hit a key point on running QB's and how susceptible they can be to hits over time. There was a couple plays CP got hit and it looked like he might be done. I'd much prefer a bam bam QB who can go through his reads fast and deliver the ball before the rush gets through. Hike, 1, 2, 3, set, throw. But that takes time.

You are probably right regarding getting to deep in the QB order, but I would like if the the opportunity rises to get these other young QB's some game action. Cleeland is very interesting. That kids arm is nice. I'd love to see how he does with a rush in his face. Can he stand in the pocket and drop dimes?

What do you think the issue is with our Defense (understanding we loss the Conners brothers, which was a huge loss). Do we just not have enough big bodies up front? I couldn't really see how their RB was getting through so easily. For the most part, tackling looked good. Was it the scheme?

Man we’re seriously talking about benching and ruining the development of statistically the most efficient QB in the toughest league in all of FCS. A Joke. This is the problem with the QB position in college football and it’s worse in the Pros. We want guys already developed. Be careful what you wish for, seems you would’ve traded Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold.. We saw Grant was horrible in the second half, so you want to throw a true freshman in there at the most pivotal point of our season?! Don’t get it at all lol

I will concede that you are partially right on the loaded boxes but this is 4th qtr and you have to remember, we play a lot of 21 personnel.

You don't need to be super athletic to play QB. Never have. To play QB you have to process quicker than the rest of the players. You have to be able to read the defense presnap, adjust to adjustments, and throw the ball to the right player. If you can do that, you will win. Period. If you can't do that but rely on running to bail you out, you are either going to get hurt or defenses will start stacking the box to prevent you from running. Now you REALLY have to be able to make your reads fast because they are coming.

Do you have context on this series? I know they liked to start out in cover two but they would bring up the strong safety close to the line. You see the SS looking into the backfield? If I remember correctly, as the game progressed they kept moving him closer and closer to the line, which we should have countered with a TE slip up the middle or a wheel route for the RB to get him from spying, which they might have been trying to do, but CP either doesn't let the play develop or misfires into double coverage. I think he was just having a bad game and started seeing shadows..it happens with young players as another poster mentioned.

It was a second down run. They were in basically an inverted cover 3.

Wanted to also say that sure Caden has a couple nice 10-15 yard runs, but why is the discord about how good of a runner he is? He’s average at best outside the pocket and as a scrambler. Gets the job done with his legs but he’s no Lamar. Meaning he’s getting it done mostly with his Arm.

In an inverted cover 3 we are basically flipping the safeties responsibilities right? If so then they are daring CP to throw because in a cover 3 the deep middle should be wide open - this is where a TE slip to the vacated spot right behind the FS/SS who is creeping up should be money. I think we tried it early and it was wide open but CP overthrew the TE. We should have gone back to it to keep them honest.

I think CP has a good grasp on running. He is good for a 15 yard run now and then and its good, but the problem is when he pulls it down too fast, he leaves the pocket, exposing his OL and then it becomes chaos...sometimes he hits a wide open receiver sometimes not...if he keeps his head down he misses wide open receivers and this usually leads to a sack.. If I were guessing I'd say he relies on his legs vs his arm when he needs to make a play. This can provide some pretty spectacular plays, but over time, DC's are going to start focusing on this and spying him. He has to make those throws to keep them back.

An inverted 3 is daring you to run because you swap flat responsibility from a SS/LB to a Corner who is completely out of the run game based on alignment. You run that if you are getting gashed in the pass game. Seems are weakness, not so much middle of the field.

He has maybe 3 plays outside of the pocket that WOW’d me (Mercer run and 2 Cal Poly passes). Other than that in my opinion, he’s been a pretty bad decision maker outside of the pocket. I think he’s better in the pocket with timing throws.

What do you think the issue is with our Defense (understanding we loss the Conners brothers, which was a huge loss). Do we just not have enough big bodies up front? I couldn't really see how their RB was getting through so easily. For the most part, tackling looked good. Was it the scheme? — Sailorgabe

Listen to Plough at the presser today. I posted it in the Idaho game thread.

He really talks a lot about what happened on some of those big ISU rushes and he also talks about some of the things that ISU did that caused us problems. He also discusses how thin we are at DB. Apparently Vargas, Dobbins and Jones were all injured in the 3rd quarter also so we had several new WR's in the game which made the timing on the passing routes more challenging for Pinnick.

Well that changes everything. Thank you for providing that clarification. The loss of those two players Dobbs and Jones must have really impacted his confidence in passing. Just a tough day overall. Hopefully he bounces back strong next week.

I'll take a look at the presser, thanks for posting!

Only if the LBs are playing back, but if they are up near the line, then they should be fried chicken with a leaking TE to the open space right behind them, right? Corners are too far off to mitigate in time.

This I agree with. Maier and Hastings are great examples of this type of QB at Davis.

Pinnick has all the raw athletic stuff to a greater extent than those two great QBs. He is going to be a great one in year 3 & 4 if he continues to develop. He clearly has the work ethic.

Caden opened 18 of 19 ... all after a stay in the hospital and no game action for two weeks. Might be a record.

CP: 2 INT, 1 Fumble, 3 sacks. He ran 15 times!!! He was not very good that day. Teams have film on CP now. They know his tendencies. It's not going to get easier, it's only going to get harder. As Socher said, Hastings and Maier didn't have to be super athletes to run the offense, they need to be quick decision makers. If CP can develop this on top of his athleticism then that is a huge win. If he can't well...

I see you're not giving the freshman who rebounded from a hospital visit and three consecutive POTW awards any benefit of the doubt. BTW, why was he under so much pressure? It's a team game, so maybe it was the O line, sub optimal play calls, a TE who missed his assigment, or WRs who zigged instead assignment. It's our first league loss, and the Hawkins clan brought their A game.

No I don't give brownie points. I'm a military man. You either do or don't do. We are UC Davis, our bar is high. We don't lower the bar if you can't make it, you get stronger until you meet it. If he was not ready to play he shouldn't have played. In all honesty, if the coaches had gone with the backup, we probably win this game.

what about the backup play last week inspired you to think they would score more than 36 points and go for 570 yards

You are asking the wrong question. The right question would be if the backup QB played would we have had 3 turnovers and multiple sacks that killed drives? Who really knows, but a 5th year senior who has been developed in our system should have played if our starter wasn't 100%. We were playing an avg team, not NDSU or Montana St.

I do not believe Plough said Pinnick was less than physically 100%
Correct me if I'm wrong. I think people on this board alluded to that, but not the HC.

I didn't see anything on Saturday to make me think the starter wasn't 100%. I saw a lot of what we've seen in previous outings, minus the turnovers/sacks. Bottom line, no matter the level of football: rarely can you go -1 in turnovers/-3 in QB sacks, and allow a punt to be blocked (for a TD no less) and expect to win the game. EVER.

Facts.

Wonder when we'll know more about Connor's bros appeals to NCAA for medical yr

Having Sailorgabe back and Pacifico here has made this forum more fun. Glad to have all you folks :)!

Coach Plough and staff played the QB that gave us the best chance to win. Do I think a QB who was bed ridden for several days, and admitted to the hospital, was a few days later at 100%? No. Maybe he was 95%. Maybe he was 100% in the first half, and 90% in the second half. (Stamina, missed prep time.)

Caden did a fantastic job, 18 of 19 at one point, with one tipped INT. It's a team game, our D has had the injury bug, and ISU came dialed in. This could have easily been a rebuilding year, yet we're ranked a top 10 team with one FCS loss.

The tricky part is how to hold the D together. More ball control, move players to fill holes?

Losing O'Brien before the national championship was one thing, losing six defensive studs is a different challenge.

Happy to be here talking ball! I struggle keeping the threads straight, but I do remember saying that I supported CP as the starter 100%. I still do, because I believe he gives us the best chance to win. Grant positioned us to win the game at UNC but we played great defensively and on STs that week. That being said, the fact remains that:
a. Teams that get a punt blocked lost 90% of the time
b. Couple that with catastrophic turnovers as far as when they happened in the game and the fact we lost the turnover margin
c. Sacks are essentially considered turnovers by most coaches I've been around
= LOSS to inferior opponent

No excuses, but we can have some grace. CP practiced all week last week, looked great to start the game, and made some mistakes that inexperienced QBs will make. Part of the process, and part of being on the big stage. Growing pains. He's a big boy and there is nothing personal here, and I'm sure he has certainly heard it from his two QB coaches in film. No they've moved on. "You're either winning or learning." Tim Plough

I'm moving on to the Vandal thread, unless that's where I'm at right now. Love you guys, good night! GO AGS!

In all honesty, if the coaches had gone with the backup, we probably win this game.

. Well if the backup could have prevented the blocked punt to the house and 2 successive penalties (holding and illegal shift) that took away touchdowns, then I might give your statement a small possibility. You don’t swap quarterbacks mid-stream or mid-season without a sound reason. Look at Montana last year with their QB rotation and how going with one is turning out for them this year. Pinnick is the guy and is the reason we have won some games we might have not otherwise. Yes, he will get better a getting rid of the ball more quickly. I for one was not a fan of Hastings when he was first inserted but he developed through repetition and through necessity got real good at getting the ball out. I turned into one of his biggest fans. Lesson is don’t play musical chairs with the QB as repetition makes QBs better and with Pinnick the Aggies already have an excellent QB who will only get better.