Will Sam have a different path than Steele and Jared?

[cycfan1]

Let me know when SR beats someone other than Kansas. Like was said above, both Steele and JB had their moments but until I see more from SR I'm not sold. I hope SR is the answer at QB for the clones. With an upgrade at QB we have a shot at getting those 4+ wins in conference in future years.

Sam Richardson probably just beat a better team on the road than Steele has beaten period. Baylor, Iowa, Iowa, Tulsa, W Illinois, UConn, and UNI. Granted Kansas sucks too, but if you have watched them play, a very impressive win. Only Barnett has beaten a good QB among all our QBs, and u shouldn't be sold on any of them,

[Luth4Cy]

Remember that when you look at first drives Richardson started out way better. I think Jantz went three and out to start the UNI game last season and couldn't score until the end of the 2nd quarter. Barnett threw a pick. Richardson on the other hand had the TD drive vs. Western Illinois and the 89 yard drive today.

[cy4prez7]

To me, it is a good but not dominating team being able to do something--anything--to not be predictable to another teams defensive coaches and game plan. In your examples, ISU was generally coming in with a surprise or something unusual for the opposing team and it worked. Tonight was classic, I think they spent all week watching film on Steel and his tells and tendencies, and then they peed their pants when Sam came in....granted Same played great. We must stay unpredictable offensively. We must stay one step ahead of the other teams' scouting and game prep. I still think we play more than one quarterback simply as part of the gameplan for the next game as well as the bowl game. I still think something was exposed--a tell or a cue in how Steel puts his feet or how he holds his hands--that all the other teams picked up on. Anyway, keep them guessing.
Hell, start Steel on senior day...tell him to run hard and head first like it is his last play. Bring in Sam in second series.

Oh God please no...Do NOT want to see two quarterbacks in and out. It does not often work. Need to put that focus and confidence into one player.

[Ficklone02]

I couldn't watch the game today, so I can't comment on that. But, I do know that other teams now have film on Richardson so that cat & mouse game will begin with opposing defenses. We'll see how good he is next week with a defense probably prepared for him to play. Great results from his first meaningful action. I look forward to seein more of this guy!

P.S. Even though our qb play has been dreadful much of the time this year, how much would that suck to be the West Virginia Defensive Coordinator to have to prepare for not 1, not 2, but 3 qb's in practice this week?

[SyracuseCyclone]

Only thing I can say is that its likely the coaching staff got it right waiting to play him.

Just look at Stanford. Hogan wasn't in the conversation at the start of the year Nunes and Nottingham were the ones fighting closely for the job. So he likely wasn't ready to start the season similar to Richardson.

[dirtyninety]

Oh God please no...Do NOT want to see two quarterbacks in and out. It does not often work. Need to put that focus and confidence into one player.

If these guys are that fragile and big babies that they need "focus and confidence" at this level, then maybe that is why we often lay offensive turds. We are not so good to only play one quarterback for an entire season. I will bet you now that we will not have a single quarterback take every damn snap next year....
Oh yeah, it often works.

[CYlent Bob]

Sunshine's only incompletions were when KU blitzed. I expect all future opponents will be persistent blitzing the young guy. I hope he picks up the read and screen passes quickly.

I see what you did there. And I approve wholeheartedly.

[johnwayne]

Last night I saw blockers block, running backs run, wide receivers catch the ball, and quarterbacks throw the ball accurately. How many games has that happened in all season? I missed the first quarter of the game so I have no idea how Jantz looked. I got distracted by my kids at the end of the game, but what I saw of Barnett was ok at best. The two things I saw in Richardson were that he seemed to be a pass first guy, unlike Jantz..but it seemed Jantz was always being chased around, where Richardson was always standing still, and that Richardson has a much better feel for how to throw every pass he was asked to throw. Jantz always seemed to be trying to get the right touch on the ball, and never could get it quite right. Too much zip..too little zip, throwing floaters instead of crisp passes that dropped in behind the linebacker. Richardson just seemed to be able to make those throws. I dont know if that helped the receivers, but I imagine it did. Just the fact that the ball was going to be there and not up there, or down there..or a half step behind has to make the receivers better..

[Stormin]

I never heard, did Steele get injured and that's why Sam came in? They never said on the radio (at least that I heard). John and Eric were speculating it was a "planned" 3rd series thing.

I read an article that Rhoads would not tip his hand as to the reason he put in Sam. But it sounded like Jantz took a pretty good lick. And Rhoads went with Sam over Barnett. We are likely to never know whether injury was the real reason or not.

As far as Sam's play at QB goes, it is doubtful that he will complete 85% of his passes every game. But the touch and accuracy of his throws was just unbelievable. And he was adept with his ballhandling which created just a split second of hesitation from the defense that our running game was effective as well. Very impressive debut. But Sam played a near perfect game. He got lucky on one pass that could have easily been intercepted. But Sam seems to throw a ball that is placed better and with the right velocity and spin that our receivers seem to have an easier time catching. That ball he lobbed over the top of the defender would have gone for a TD and hit Lenz in stride if Lenz hadn't gotten tripped up a bit by the defender.

IMO, Sam is the man. Jared Barnett is a very capable backup that can run the team and is likely invaluable with the headset on and getting info from the coaches upstairs and relaying it to Sam. That contribution should not be overlooked.

[GoClones123]

I think it was telling last night. With Sam in as QB, they rolled the pocket to the side giving him time to look downfield. I haven't seen us do that with Jantz or Barnett really all year. Is it because they didn't want pocket pressure, or to keep the KU blitz off of Richardson, or is it because he is better rolling one way when passing? I think that it makes it easier for the offensive line, for Richardson, and for the recievers to have time to run deeper routes. The fact they rolled the pocket gives me the feeling they know Richardson can throw if given time.

[cloneluke80]

If you watch Rhoads post game interview, it sounded like he knew SR would get some time tonight and did not tell him until after warmups. I think Rhoads put Jantz on a tight turnover leash and then knew he would put SR in.

Also he claimed SR was "throwing tight spirals" during warmups and that is why he got in. I found that humorous.

[Clone5]

I think it was telling last night. With Sam in as QB, they rolled the pocket to the side giving him time to look downfield. I haven't seen us do that with Jantz or Barnett really all year. Is it because they didn't want pocket pressure, or to keep the KU blitz off of Richardson, or is it because he is better rolling one way when passing? I think that it makes it easier for the offensive line, for Richardson, and for the recievers to have time to run deeper routes. The fact they rolled the pocket gives me the feeling they know Richardson can throw if given time.

The fact they rolled him out a few times probably tells us the coaches would rather have him read 1/2 of the field than the whole thing. I'm not sure why we didn't do it more with the other two QB's but it looked really good last night.

[swarthmoreCY]

If you watch Rhoads post game interview, it sounded like he knew SR would get some time tonight and did not tell him until after warmups. I think Rhoads put Jantz on a tight turnover leash and then knew he would put SR in.

The way Jantz dropped the ball after being hit in the head, I could believe he was not 100% as well.

[InMyOpinion]

Did anyone else notice that Sam completed 19 of his last 20 passes? SJ and JB can't even do that in warm ups.

In the spring game what caught my eye was how well Sam threw when rolling out and throwing on the run. The play calling just fitted his strengths. Plus, even on rollouts he threw the ball across thefield. He did an awesome job of squaringhis shoulders on those throws.

[83Clone]

What impressed me the most was Richardson's poise and ability to check down. When he ran it was not because he had happy feet. And it looked pretty obvious to me that he changed a few plays at the line.

Fun weekend and tons of Cyclones in Lawrence. Pretty campus but very few campus facilities are set up for tailgating. We settled for Lot 90 with the Lions' share of Cyclone fans but 4 porta pots for several thousand people was not a good situation