Shouldn't need a QB to have "it" to beat a bad Navy team at home. Delaware beat Navy this year.
Majority of schools don't have a QB that has "it" and they manage to not have bad losses.
This game reminds of getting shutout by UAB at home under GOL.
I beg to differ. Almost every team has one or more bad losses once you get out of the top 15. Even several teams in 10-15 have bad losses. Many QBs with “it” still have bad losses. I would agree a team could be elite without a QB that doesn’t have “it” but It’s rare. Once you leave the top 15, the bad losses start to accumulate and that’s the way the sport is every year. There are very few teams that are legitimately elite each year. We don’t have a QB with “it” so I never had expectations of us winning 12 games or more this season. We could still have a very good (10-11 wins) or good year (8-9 wins). We’ll see. This is also not some kind of argument for losing to Navy. Abysmal loss but let’s see what the team is made of next week.
I’ll just start with this weeks CFI top 15:
1. #7 Clemson lost to now 8-3 Notre Dame.
2. #9 Tennessee lost to now 7-4 South Carolina.
3. #12 Washington lost to now 8-3 UCLA and now 3-8 Az State.
4. #13 Notre Dame lost to now 7-4 Marshall and now 3-8 Stanford
5. #14 Utah lost to now 6-5 UF and now 8-3 UCLA.
6. #15 K State lost to 7-4 Texas.
#1 Georgia has Stetson. Elite numbers
#2 Ohio State has CJ Stroud. Elite numbers
#3 Michigan has JJ McCarthy. This is not an elite kid. 1950 yds with 14 TDs against 2 picks. He definitely hasn’t hurt them but he also has not had to carry them. Michigan has played 11 games, with 8 at home. Their OOC games (all at home) were Colorado St, Hawaii and UConn…weak as F (11-24). The combined record of the big ten teams they have played so far is 45-43. We all know of those 45 wins there are a bunch of FCS, MAC, MWC and CUSA wins in there (probably not against the better teams in those leagues). Other than Penn State (9-2), 7-4 is the best team they have played. They did crush Penn State 41-17 but the QB was only 17/24 for 145 yds with 0 TDs and 1 pick. They ran for over 400 yds. My guess is they get their ass kicked at Ohio State this weekend, unless they can have that kind of rushing game. Michigan also has the #1 defense.
#4 TCU has Max Duggan. Elite numbers
#5 USC has Caleb Williams. Elite numbers
#6 LSU has Jayden Daniels. Doesn’t have elite passing numbers but has 15 TDs against 2 picks, and has run for 740 yds and 11 TDs. Combined that is elite.
#7 Clemson has Uiagalelei. Not elite but close, 21 TDs against 5 picks, and 496 yds and 6 TDs on the ground.
#8 Bama has Bryce Young. Elite numbers
#9 Tenn had Hooker. Elite numbers
#10 Oregon has Bo Nix. Elite numbers passing, also with 509 yds rushing and 14 TDs. I did not realize he was having this good of a year.
So basically, for the current top 10, there are 8 guys you can easily see having elite numbers, 1 above average but not elite, and the other is a little better than average. You would expect that at this point because elite QBs usually lead you to wins that would put you in the top 10. For the two guys not elite, Mich has a top 5 defense and running attack. Clemson has the #25 defense and #46 rushing attack.
As you go down the rankings the QBs generally get worse, but even one’s that might be very good are on teams that have other issues.
Looking at Plumlee (who has the majority of our games played), I would consider him a very average QB (2200 yds with 12 TDs against 7 picks), with elite running ability (715 yds and 9 TDs).