Nice press from ESPN+ to those who have it, Adam Rittenberg answered with us as Most Improved From Week 1:
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If we adjust our offense to Aveon’s strengths and the D/Special Teams play lights out, there’s no reason we can’t finish 4-0 and set up a rematch against Toledo in Detroit. But based on what I saw last night and the staff’s track record of managing the offense last year, 2-2 followed by a disappointing bowl loss is unfortunately more realistic.
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2-2 Should be the worst finish. Only Ohio is better IF they are healthy Hopefully Smith shakes the rust off by getting 1st team snaps this week.
Who was the MORON who called for Brett to sneak from the 2 given his history with injuries?
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I agree completely this trend in football of treating QBs like they are RBs started with Josh Allen and has grown with Jalen Hurts is really dumb they fumble more often if they get hurt it is a devastating injury for the offense and the team as a whole. Running backs have this role as their primary job and are better suited for it running QB power on that play was dumb and cost Miami at least a game of not more and their star QB
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Amen to that.
I watched a replay of the fourth quarter today. I didn’t see any reason to be optimistic about our offense going forward. Two passes were badly thrown and two others should have been intercepted by Toledo. And then there’s a lost fumble.
Aveon is going to get hurt too if he sits in the pocket as long as he did Saturday and/or continues to try to run the ball between the tackles. I hope I’m wrong, but the final 15 minutes of offense wasn’t pretty.
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Just as he did last year, Aveon will get better each week he play. You can’t expect much of him (or any G5 backup IMO) coming in cold to a game with no practice reps. I actually thought he should have kept the ball on the RPO and ran it a few more times Saturday.
His game and body type is built on running the football as a QB, so don’t expect that to go away. He’s a durable, thick, tough kid who hopefully will refine his accuracy thorning the ball.
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He’s had three years to improve his accuracy and he hasn’t.
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“Aveon’s been running this offense all year,” Martin said. “Things won’t change much on offense as far as structure and all the stuff we’re doing. We have a backup whose been repping all along. He’s been practicing all year, hasn’t played much all year, but he’s been practicing all these things. He’s an improved thrower by a wide margin and now he’s gonna have the chance to go out in a game and show everybody he’s an improved thrower now. It’s a great opportunity for him.”
Or perhaps my prophesy of throwing O’Henry bars onto the field after his first TD will finally happen. Either way, at least we are still in it to win it!
I was a big Aveon detractor last season no doubt. For some dumb ass reason I’m optimistic that with a full week of practice reps with the 1st team we’re going to see a vastly improved QB. I think he can more than just keep us in the game if they’re making the right calls for him. For the Bobbies he knows he’s the man, like he was for much of last season and starting and needs to be uber prepared.I think he will be and not wide eye while being thrown into the barn burner Toledo was last Saturday.
I only saw Aveon play in the UMass game and I do feel he has improved his throwing. Mechanics look dramatically improved
But for Martin to say nothing is going to structurally change is beyond asshattery. I guess we’ll still have one of the largest OLs in the MAC. Two big downhill runners at RB……but nothing is going to change with Aveons ability to run? Cmon man
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Hope you are right, Dave, but I am not quite as optimistic after seeing Aveon throw in the UT game. Hope I am wrong.
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Anyone know who’s next man up at QB after Henry?
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I have to assume it would be Ben Tarpey. No insight but he has 5 years and don’t think anyone else is likely to know the offense.
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Tarpey
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Well it’s tough Smith and Gabbert are such different players the entire offense needs reworked they can still be productive but this OU game will be tough after this they get an extra half week off might give them more time figure things out.
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Aveon might have improved his mechanics but he hasn’t shown me any ability to drop dimes on deep balls or at the boundaries. Brett’s pinpoint accuracy on those patterns will be the missing piece of our offense going forward.
We sure don’t have any kind of depth in that QB room now. Henry’s thrown five passes in about three FCS game series in his career. Ben - in his role as a signal QB - probably does know the offense better than anybody. But he hasn’t played a down in a live game since he was in high school in Illinois in 2018.
That O-Line sure better keep AV healthy!
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In the FWIW category, today CFN updated conference bowl eligibility chances for each team along with a forecast of final records… Somewhat surprisingly, they have us winning out in the regular season w a 10-2 record.
CFN did make 1 change. Now they have Toledo over Miami in MACC, Last week they had Miami winning