TA & POB

Undone said:
Count 'Bility said:
Each time Tommy gets dinged up and status is still kinda unknown, Obrien is as quick to warming up as Fyfe. So i think that is quite telling as well.
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I'm not sure this is an accurate statement. He's the one catching Fyfe's warm-up balls, is how I would describe it.
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Your "guess" is as good as mine. Only difference is, what I said is accurate. They are literally both warming up. Im just saying. If they were so hard up on a POB redshirt and it's so clear that he'll never play, why are they wasting a roster spot on road trips on him when we're already so badly limited with just 70? There's a lot of lines we can read between.

 
Count 'Bility said:
Undone said:
Count 'Bility said:
Each time Tommy gets dinged up and status is still kinda unknown, Obrien is as quick to warming up as Fyfe. So i think that is quite telling as well.
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I'm not sure this is an accurate statement. He's the one catching Fyfe's warm-up balls, is how I would describe it.
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Your "guess" is as good as mine. Only difference is, what I said is accurate. They are literally both warming up. Im just saying. If they were so hard up on a POB redshirt and it's so clear that he'll never play, why are they wasting a roster spot on road trips on him when we're already so badly limited with just 70? There's a lot of lines we can read between.
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It was discussed early in the season that POB is the 3rd string, but would only play if both Armstrong and Fyfe were out for an extended period of time. Riley said this. If Fyfe would have been knocked out for a play against Ohio State, Darlington would have came in as the emergency QB.

Now, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Fyfe suffered an injury in the 3rd quarter where he was knocked out for the rest of the game. Darlington would have probably come in at QB in that situation, because NU was getting smoked. But, if it were a close game, I am not sure what Riley would have done.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Count 'Bility said:
Undone said:
Count 'Bility said:
The gap from Tommy to POB is closer than many want to admit. POB is better than Fyfe.
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Count, I've skimmed through to this post, so maybe you've already explained it...but what evidence do you have for this exactly?
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just heresay from folks who have seen practices. No claim to it's accuracy. I think it's believeable though. I think most can watch his high school films and come to a clear conclusion that he was even better then than anything Fyfe has showed, just raw ability alone. Obviously i believe it. Each time Tommy gets dinged up and status is still kinda unknown, Obrien is as quick to warming up as Fyfe. So i think that is quite telling as well.

I think at this point, if Tommy is out for foreseeable future, i agree with saving the redshirt. if this were week 5, and the season still needed saved, i'd bet we'd see POB.
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From what I heard early in the season, POB wasn't grasping the offense very well, and the coaches were frustrated with him. Yes, he might show glimpses in practice, but early in the season the coaches were pretty down on POB.
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I recall. but I think that was in more regards to any chance of taking the starting job from Tommy, and any frustration of the off staff that he couldnt do so. Just sayin. I still dont feel like there much comfort with the skill set of Armstrong. is what it is. Plus that was almost 3 months ago. What i heard was a couple weeks ago. but again. it's just heresay that I'm going off of.

At the end of the day, he's not gonna play. it's too late in the year. Save the shirt. Do what we can.

 
Sure. Not trying to bust your balls, just trying to figure out what might be true and what's not and what evidence there is for any of it.

Let's assume O'Brien is a small, measurable amount better in-game than Fyfe. I don't think I want to burn his redshirt. And here's the reason - There is no way Wisconsin drops a game in these last three. That's the reason.

We're not playing for Indy right now. Let's play the long game.

 
Undone said:
Sure. Not trying to bust your balls, just trying to figure out what might be true and what's not and what evidence there is for any of it.

Let's assume O'Brien is a small, measurable amount better in-game than Fyfe. I don't think I want to burn his redshirt. And here's the reason - There is no way Wisconsin drops a game in these last three. That's the reason.

We're not playing for Indy right now. Let's play the long game.
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careful.....

 
Undone said:
You know how bad I want to be wrong. Seriously.
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Youre probably right. I dotn see it either. it's just that its not a given West is still wide open. Wisconsin and Minny still control own destiny. They still play head to head. We're just wait for a Wiscy slip, which, knowing college football as it is today, you gotta think has to be coming as some point. But after saturday and the crazy instinct of fans to use one bad game as a way to overwrite any narrative of a season, I get this feeling folks think we're all a sudden 6 games out of first place with no chance to accomplish priority #1. Get to indy. (cue the "I dont wanna go to CCG. I cant handle another blowout loss" posts)

 
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Agreed. Winning the division is definitely what anybody should hope for.

It's like a comedy of errors watching Fyfe out there. I'm hoping for a miracle clean bill of health for Tommy this weekend. If O'Brien were to somehow get the start, well...at least we can't say that the tail end of this season isn't interesting!

 
teachercd said:
Start POB, redshirt him next year while Lee starts and go from there?
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I think the whole redshirt notion is one that ought to be looked at when talking about undersized linemen and tight ends and even full backs that need to add weight and strenth or need just don't know their positions. Skilled position players (WRs, RBs, QBs and TEs and CBs etc) should NOT redshirt unless they are clearly playing behind top notch starters, etc and buried in that way. Just my opinion. Play your best players. Great athletes need to learn on the field if at all possible. We know that POB is physically big enough and likely as big as he will ever be. Hopefully he doesn't add 30 lbs and become a Clydesdale (a beautiful horse pulling a beer wagon but not gonna win the Triple Crown). He is taller and hopefully more able to see over those skyscrapers on the line of scrimmage. This limits Tommy in my view although nobody seems to bring up his 6 feet of height behind a 6'5" row of O and D linemen flailing arms and etc. Fyfe is taller but I guess I don't recall how tall he is or plays. We know Tommy has had a number of passes batted down near the line in last several weeks. These hurt as we don't know if the pass was headed to a receiver or not. One or two got deflected and picked as well.

The future is NOT with Fyfe for sure. I still think we should always have a one or two year eligibility gap between the top two QBs unless both are underclassmen.

I am OK with Fyfe playing the first half vs. Minne but if we are not moving the ball well and leading reasonably, then POB better be ready to go in the second half as I don't feel we can simply punt the rest of this year. There is too much to sacrifice. This recruiting class is atleast in part dependent on the team winning atleast 10 games and hopefully not having any more gross embarrassments on national TV.

 
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Elf said:
teachercd said:
Start POB, redshirt him next year while Lee starts and go from there?
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If you do this, then who is your back up next year? Gebbia? I don't think that works well at all.

Don't pull O'Briens redshirt this year unless Ryker goes down. That way next year Tanner Lee can start (assuming he beats out POB) and POB can be his backup while Gebbia redshirts.
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+1. We have to break this cycle we're in with quarterbacks. No successful team does what Bo brought about to get us where we're at.

Successful teams have a guy there that can actually get you by until your starter comes back. Let's start trying to at least *try* to do this.

 
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