Is Trevor the answer?

[EatLeadCommie]

TK would look better if anybody besides Shep would catch some balls. Neal and Young have looked good at times, and both were absent against TCU. If the guys we brought in with the last class can't crack the starting lineup, that has me concerned when Shep leaves.

[SoonerorLater]

Sounds like everybody wants a running QB that throws the ball like Sam Bradford.

[birddog]

Or within 5 yards of the receivers would work for me. It's a receiver problem. Nobody got open last Sat, and if they did the pocket had collapses already.

[EatLeadCommie]

Part of TK's problem is also that he is short and has balls batted down quite a bit. Nothing he can do about that, though, except maybe play with platform shoes.

[BoulderSooner79]

Or within 5 yards of the receivers would work for me. It's a receiver problem. Nobody got open last Sat, and if they did the pocket had collapses already.

I saw several instances where that wasn't true. He had time and open receiver(s), but didn't see them. On one play, he had Shep uncovered on a short route and Neal double covered on a longer route right behind him. He threw it into double coverage and it was broken up. I don't know the percentage of plays like this since the camera doesn't often show what's going on downfield, but this was at least 4 of incompletions I saw. There certainly were plays where no one was open and TK had little time, but it doesn't account for all the stats. Everyone needs to step up to make the passing game effective because that is going to be the game plan against us - stop the run and dare the pass.

[Tear Down This Wall]

I could not care less that Bell torched Tulsa. He threw for 152 yards against TCU, 133 yards against Texas, 131 yards against Kansas, and 150 yards against Baylor...and that was with a really good group of receivers. Even on Trevor's bad days (Saturday) he throws for 300 yards.

Here are some fun facts...

TK's passer rating against TCU yesterday: 112.2

That's pretty bad, right?

Bell's passer ratings against Texas, Baylor: 73.7, 76.9

You forgot Blake Bell 232 yards passing with 2 TD/0 INT at Notre Dame...

...but, I mean, most fans of college football forget when their schools beat Notre Dame in South Bend.

Can't remember if Bell cramped against the Golden Domers; so, Knight has that on him.

Also, you seem to like the QB rating, so we may as well throw both career QB ratings into the mix as well:
Bell = 128.7
Knight = 126.9

Bell in 2013 = 132.2
Knight in 2013 = 125.0

So, again...for review...the better quarterback is playing tight end because the current starter looked good against our scout team in bowl prep for Johnny Manziel and he had one good game last season against Alabama.

You'll have to simply face facts - any way you dice it, Bell's numbers are a bit on the more positive side that Knight's. What's the shame in just admitting that? It's all right there.

Also, if you want to dig deeper into the physical nature of the position, you can already begin building a case that Knight is injury-prone in addition to not being able to put up better numbers than Bell.

Either way, we are stuck with Knight this year - until he is injured again because our brain trust on the offense side of the ledger has designed it that way. Then, we will be piloted by a freshman or redshirt freshman. That is the position Stoops allowed his offensive coaches to put the team in. Pretty short sighted.

[birddog]

I'm sure it was a little of everything. I was leaning more towards the receivers were blanketed for those first couple of seconds after the snap. When knight finally saw em he couldn't hit em most of the time. Honestly we haven't gone without a great slot guy in years and that is a big problem for us. Young, and quick will be good options for the offense in time but it hurt us last Sat.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Would have been neat to have Bell in the same backfield as Perine. Imagine Bell as a somewhat heavier Collin Klein, the former K-State QB who, like Bell, is 6-5 and could run. That type of running paired up with the likes of Perine.

It's not as sexy as throwing the ball four yards behind the line of scrimmage...or, having telegraphed slant passes being picked off by opposing linebackers-type of sexy. But, you can picture it nonetheless.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Do we know why our offensive brain trust removed this play that resulted in 24 TDs over a two-year span? It was pretty effective in short yardage. Blake and Perine lined up in the Belldozer?

Would that be too much of a sin these days, two years down the road? Ripkowski is still on the roster, right? What's the drawback?

[BoulderSooner79]

A horizontal passing game with WR screens and outlets to the RBs is not sexy. But it is a necessary part of the game to help loosen up the defense for longer passes *AND* more holes in the running game. It's like anything else - it can be over-used or under-used and right now, we are under-using it.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Passing. Running. Jet sweeps. Handing to the fullback. All from the Belldozer package in 2011-12.

It's coaching cliche' to say 'we are going to design an offense based on the abilities of our personnel.' I think you can look back at what they used to do with Blake Bell and say that they simply gave up on it.

[Tear Down This Wall]

A horizontal passing game with WR screens and outlets to the RBs is not sexy. But it is a necessary part of the game to help loosen up the defense for longer passes *AND* more holes in the running game. It's like anything else - it can be over-used or under-used and right now, we are under-using it.

And, here is something I think we can agree on for the day! That and fish-gutting people who say TCU is a Big Game!

Our problem, as I see it, is Knight isn't too accurate long. Bell wasn't White/Bradford/Landry-like with it either (and, let's admit something here: we were spoiled enough by White and Bradford to complain about Landry...a crazy thought these days). But, Bell does have a stronger arm than Knight.

Kudos to Bell for being unselfish. But, if the TCU game is an indication of how the rest of the season goes - QB gimpy/cramped from running and unable to release quickly enough to hit open targets...we are certainly going to be rehashing these discussions two or three more times before the season is done.

[Bourbon St Sooner]

Holy sh!t! Somebody's pining away for the Belldozer? All I remember is people bitching about it for the past year and a half. Nostalgia's a funny thing.

[Eielson]

You forgot Blake Bell 232 yards passing with 2 TD/0 INT at Notre Dame...

He had a decent game against ND. Cool. That's no reason to ignore the atrocious 5 game stretch in conference that proceeded it. You claim that the Alabama game isn't a good reason to play TK, but yet you think Bell should start forever because he threw for 232 yards against ND? Yikes.

Also, you seem to like the QB rating, so we may as well throw both career QB ratings into the mix as well:
Bell = 128.7
Knight = 126.9

Are you seriously already back to bragging about how Bell torched Tulsa in the non-conference? You did watch the UT and Baylor games right? It seems this point didn't stick with you the first time, so I'll try it again; Bell averaged 163 yards per game in his 5 conference starts (excluding ISU, because he got hurt).

Also, if you want to dig deeper into the physical nature of the position, you can already begin building a case that Knight is injury-prone

You think we should bench a healthy player because he is injury prone? That's a good one!

Then, we will be piloted by a freshman or redshirt freshman. That is the position Stoops allowed his offensive coaches to put the team in. Pretty short sighted.

Huh? We're going to be starting a Junior next year. If not, it will probably be a sophomore.

[Eielson]

Holy sh!t! Somebody's pining away for the Belldozer? All I remember is people bitching about it for the past year and a half. Nostalgia's a funny thing.

It worked brilliantly for a while, but it repeatedly gets stuffed at or behind the line of scrimmage now. Nobody wants to ever see that formation again.

[Okie35]

We played vanilla ... Watch us pull out everything against Texas and KSU. We didn't motion the receivers much as decoys... Didn't use the tight end... Flowers was non existent. I hate how it always takes one loss to get it together but it is what it is. We will win out. It wouldn't matter if TCU only has one loss because if we won out we'd still be ahead in the polls. Just be a top 4 team and you make it in.

[8timechamps]

TK would look better if anybody besides Shep would catch some balls. Neal and Young have looked good at times, and both were absent against TCU. If the guys we brought in with the last class can't crack the starting lineup, that has me concerned when Shep leaves.

Neal showed up against TCU, he caught every catch-able ball that was thrown to him.

Young never got a pass he could catch, Bell caught the only catch-able ball thrown his way and it was offset by a bad offensive PI call (my opinion of course). Quick was in the game too, but the only time he was targeted, the ball was tipped at the line. Mead made one appearance in the game, and caught the Hail Mary pass...that was about 5 yards out of the endzone.

I don't think Saturday had anything to do with the receiving unit. For whatever reason, TK fell apart. Hopefully, that isn't something that continues and he'll grow from it.

I think there's plenty of young talent, but who are you going to take out to put one of those guys in? Not Shepard or Neal. Young is the only other guy, and he's played pretty good when targeted. Since Mead and Quick have both burned their redshirt, I'm sure they will see more time...but Stoops made it fairly clear that the 'young' guys have to be consistent in practice if they want to see the field. We'll see how things develop...hopefully, they got the message and clean up any practice issues.

[BoulderSooner79]

And, here is something I think we can agree on for the day! That and fish-gutting people who say TCU is a Big Game!

Our problem, as I see it, is Knight isn't too accurate long. Bell wasn't White/Bradford/Landry-like with it either (and, let's admit something here: we were spoiled enough by White and Bradford to complain about Landry...a crazy thought these days). But, Bell does have a stronger arm than Knight.

Kudos to Bell for being unselfish. But, if the TCU game is an indication of how the rest of the season goes - QB gimpy/cramped from running and unable to release quickly enough to hit open targets...we are certainly going to be rehashing these discussions two or three more times before the season is done.

I have to disagree with most of this (except the fish gutting). Knight has the stronger arm than Bell, especially on the deep ball. That quacker Bell threw on that almost (maybe was) intercepted ball against OSU should have ended game. That was typical of his long throws last year. He doesn't have the zip on intermediate throws that TK does either.

If you watch the first few games this year, TK was throwing beautiful passes to the RBs. Leading them perfectly with enough touch to make them easy for catch and run. This was a huge improvement of last year when he couldn't hit those easy ones. We stopped throwing them the last couple of games - why? When you see other QBs completing 65% it includes drops, INTs, forced throw aways and inaccurate passes, so you can't blame those on TKs stats. But those other QBs have a lot of those easy passes in there as well. It's a lot better to get 3-4yards from a play than incomplete and it helps the QBs confidence too.

[#8soon]

I have to disagree with most of this (except the fish gutting). Knight has the stronger arm than Bell, especially on the deep ball. That quacker Bell threw on that almost (maybe was) intercepted ball against OSU should have ended game. That was typical of his long throws last year. He doesn't have the zip on intermediate throws that TK does either.

If you watch the first few games this year, TK was throwing beautiful passes to the RBs. Leading them perfectly with enough touch to make them easy for catch and run. This was a huge improvement of last year when he couldn't hit those easy ones. We stopped throwing them the last couple of games - why? When you see other QBs completing 65% it includes drops, INTs, forced throw aways and inaccurate passes, so you can't blame those on TKs stats. But those other QBs have a lot of those easy passes in there as well. It's a lot better to get 3-4yards from a play than incomplete and it helps the QBs confidence too.

Our passing game is not going to improve until we put a good passer in there. That's how receivers get better. By catching good balls.

[Okie35]

I have to disagree with most of this (except the fish gutting). Knight has the stronger arm than Bell, especially on the deep ball. That quacker Bell threw on that almost (maybe was) intercepted ball against OSU should have ended game. That was typical of his long throws last year. He doesn't have the zip on intermediate throws that TK does either.

If you watch the first few games this year, TK was throwing beautiful passes to the RBs. Leading them perfectly with enough touch to make them easy for catch and run. This was a huge improvement of last year when he couldn't hit those easy ones. We stopped throwing them the last couple of games - why? When you see other QBs completing 65% it includes drops, INTs, forced throw aways and inaccurate passes, so you can't blame those on TKs stats. But those other QBs have a lot of those easy passes in there as well. It's a lot better to get 3-4yards from a play than incomplete and it helps the QBs confidence too.

Exactly why I said it seemed vanilla. We didn't throw to any RBs. We didn't motion receivers like against Tennessee or Alabama. No tight ends used we didn't even have Flowers out as a wide out like against Tulsa and Tennessee. I don't know if we just thiugh we could line up and beat them but they were not a cupcake. Watch us all say where was this and this during the Texas game. The only thing that amazed me offensively during the TCu game was the screen pass to Perine.