Poll Results

JCloned · 09-13-2007, 05:51 PM

I put a new poll on my blog this week and thought I would share the results to date:

This weeks question was "What do You Want to See Happen with the Quarterback Position?"

25.0%
Bret Meyer continues to start and play almost all snaps

31.3%
Go with Arnaud. Future is now

9.4%
Rotate Arnaud & Bates

34.4%
Two QB system with Arnaud & Meyer

Link to Poll

.

Skyh13 · 09-13-2007, 05:57 PM

Looks like people are pretty split up on the issue..
As to be expected, I suppose.

JCloned · 09-13-2007, 08:58 PM

Other interpretation is 3 out of 4 want a change

kurimski · 09-13-2007, 09:18 PM

Unfortunately for Meyer college football has also become a "what have you done for me lately" business. All Meyer has done is throw 4 int's and shown a lack of leadership. It's time to move on and get some new fresh blood in there. It's time for Arnaud and Bates.

Baffan · 09-14-2007, 11:15 AM

I believe that Chizik's has said before that the best person for the job will be in that position. Although it may be hard to realize with Meyer throwing 4 interceptions in the first two games and only 1 touchdown pass to show for the first two games I have yet to see anyone recognize the possibility of Arnaud throwing even more Interceptions than Meyer. What he has shown us so far in my eyes is great and I believe he definitely deserves the opportunity to prove himself but I think keeping Meyer completely out of the picture at this point in time should not be done.

If we took the series where Meyer had his one and only TD pass and that was the only series he was in we would be seeing things differently.

I would like to see Arnaud getting his head in the game in preparation for next year but relying solely on him at this point could create enough pressure to turn him into not as great of a QB as he is capable of. This year is not looking good for wins to losses and I don't see it changing too much based only on the performance of the QB. If we continue to lose with Arnaud at the head of our team his confidence level might plummet.

So get Arnaud in the game and get him experienced but keep Meyer in the game more so Arnaud will not feel as if his performance is the reason for losing.

That and for some reason I have complete trust in Chizik's decision making. Even though some decisions he has made with some positions like punt returns, I believe he is doing it for a bigger picture that I can not quite see yet.

erikbj · 09-14-2007, 11:18 AM

If ISU can't beat IU, then let Bates and Arnaud battle it out for the future. No sense of winning 1 or 2 games with a senior - NO BENEFIT FOR NEXT SEASON. Let the 2 freshman go at it and see who matures the best. Going into next season you will have two guys with lots of experience and maybe one moves to another position in the off season??

benjay · 09-14-2007, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by erikbj

If ISU can't beat IU, then let Bates and Arnaud battle it out for the future. No sense of winning 1 or 2 games with a senior - NO BENEFIT FOR NEXT SEASON. Let the 2 freshman go at it and see who matures the best. Going into next season you will have two guys with lots of experience and maybe one moves to another position in the off season??

You never give up on a season. Never. The best guy plays, period.

Cyclonepride · 09-14-2007, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by JCloned

Other interpretation is 3 out of 4 want a change

I would venture to guess that 99 out of a 100 have less football experience than Coach Chizik, and are therefore less qualified to make that choice.

erikbj · 09-14-2007, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by benjay

You never give up on a season. Never. The best guy plays, period.

I agree to a point, but isn't better for the program if Bates and Arnaud get valueable time this season???? So if Meyer wins one game or 2 what does that do for the maturiation process of the two younger kids?

Plus I don't think that Arnaud or Bates can be much worse than Meyer has played, 6 turnovers to 2 td's. Time to build for the future!

ahaselhu · 09-14-2007, 11:31 AM

I think people tend to fall into the trap of considering the players to be mere pieces of the football team, rather than people. There's another side to this issue.

If, this early in the season, we put in an unproven, inexperienced red-shirt freshman in place of an experienced, relatively proven senior who's led fairly successful teams in the past, we're sending a poor message to potential recruits. I don't think high schoolers will look at that and say "thats a place I want to play".

I think we need to give Meyer the chance to get comfortable in the offense. There's still alot Arnaud can learn from the sidelines while playing the occasional series. In my opinion, if we get to the last 3-4 games of the season and we don't have any shot of postseason play, then maybe its time to start Arnaud.

DaddyMac · 09-14-2007, 11:41 AM

On the otherhand, potential recruits might be excited with the possibility of playing right away if they're the better player. And not resigned to the bench just because there's an older player ahead of them.

This all comes down to who's the better player. Scary thing to me is that if Austin Arnaud (or Bates) can't beat out Bret Meyer with the bad two games Bret has had already, then I fear the future isn't exactly bright.

Either that, or Bret must be pretty awesome in practice - and just not getting it done under the lights, which is entirely possible.

KMAC_ATTACK · 09-14-2007, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by ahaselhu

I think people tend to fall into the trap of considering the players to be mere pieces of the football team, rather than people. There's another side to this issue.

If, this early in the season, we put in an unproven, inexperienced red-shirt freshman in place of an experienced, relatively proven senior who's led fairly successful teams in the past, we're sending a poor message to potential recruits. I don't think high schoolers will look at that and say "thats a place I want to play".

I think we need to give Meyer the chance to get comfortable in the offense. There's still alot Arnaud can learn from the sidelines while playing the occasional series. In my opinion, if we get to the last 3-4 games of the season and we don't have any shot of postseason play, then maybe its time to start Arnaud.

Excellent point, i think you've captured the very essence of what i was trying to say yesterday to several individuals that think the way were going to turn around our season is to bring in Arnaud - and maybe it is, but, i will rely on our coach and his staff and the evaluations of who gives us a chance to win.

Lets just hope that this is the week that Meyer has been waiting his entire career for, senior season versus iowa and plays like the player we've enjoyed in the past.

At the same time, i would love to get Arnaud in for a few more series a game especially against Iowa.

Go clones....

ahaselhu · 09-14-2007, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by DaddyMac

On the otherhand, potential recruits might be excited with the possibility of playing right away if they're the better player. And not resigned to the bench just because there's an older player ahead of them.

This all comes down to who's the better player. Scary thing to me is that if Austin Arnaud (or Bates) can't beat out Bret Meyer with the bad two games Bret has had already, then I fear the future isn't exactly bright.

Either that, or Bret must be pretty awesome in practice - and just not getting it done under the lights, which is entirely possible.

Arnaud isn't exactly behind relegated to the bench. He's seeing playing time and its being made clear that if Meyer doesn't improve in the next few weeks (maybe even just this week), that Arnaud will be starting. If it wasn't the case that Meyer is trying to learn a new system, I think you probably would be seeing Arnaud start this week.

In any case, I thought Meyer showed signs of improvement in the second half against UNI. His first series was stopped inside the 20 after a bad snap. His second series scored a touchdown. The third series was killed by a sack. And the fourth series he was intercepted because he was hit as he was throwing, because we needed to go to the end zone and he didn't get enough protection.

If I remember right, in the last 4 drives, Meyer was 18-28 for 178 yards. That seems like improvement to me.

DaddyMac · 09-14-2007, 12:07 PM

Originally Posted by KMAC_ATTACK

Lets just hope that this is the week that Meyer has been waiting his entire career for, senior season versus iowa and plays like the player we've enjoyed in the past.

It's not my intent to get down on Bret by saying this - but what exactly makes Meyer so great? What has he done that is so special?

He has a mediocre arm with equally mediocre accuracy. The next person who says he's a mobile qb gets slapped in the face. Sure he's the leading passer in ISU history (hardly a distinguishing feat). But I submit that is due more to the fact that he's the first four year starter since ????? and without a feature running back. Anybody have stats on the number of INTs he has?

Are his faults his alone? Certainly not. His lines have S-U-C-K-E-D!!! No two ways about that. We haven't had a running attack since ???? The last two years, the competition has really ratched up, and all aspects of the team have faltered.

And I'm one who's fully in the camp of the "QB gets too much credit when we win, and too much blame when we lose." But I think most of us can look at games (the last two most notably) where we can say "man he really stunk it up tonight.

How many games in the last 36 or so, can we say "he really put the team on his shoulders and pulled it out."???

I want to see Meyer succeed and start. But he has to win the job because he's performing. We've been looking forward to that 4th year, senior starter for a while. This is his years to shine - but he just isn't. And if it doesn't get worked out fast, time for a change. And "worked out" doesn't mean W's. Guys drop passes, snaps keep going over his head, etc - we need to cut him some slack. Through game two - 90% if Bret's issues lie at Bret's feet. Poor passing, poor decisions.

What I'm most frustrated about, is the past two seasons - the weak link of this team has been the O. Last year, the reason was Oline, front and center. But I have to say QB play is number two. Probably number one this year because the line, IMO, has been ok.

I'll end this (with a fifth edit) but saying that I like him. I don't want to be neg about it, although here I clearly am. I haven't heard a single thing in 5 years about Meyer other than he's a hard worker and a great kid. And for that reason alone - and besides his experience and such benefitting the team - I want him to break out and have a great final 10(11) games.

ahaselhu · 09-14-2007, 12:47 PM

DaddyMac, I agree with you that Meyer has never been a "carry the team" type quarterback, and I don't think he ever will be. I don't think he has the skills for that. I think it is likely that Arnaud and Bates are more skilled than Meyer, but I'm not convinced that means they would be able to run the offense better.

I think given the fact that we installed a new offense this year, Meyer deserves a little more slack. If this week doesn't go better however, I think Arnaud should definitely see a lot more playing time against Toledo at least, since the next 5 games after that are going to be very tough.