calgo430 said:

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1. mcilwain
2. mcilwain
3.mcilwain
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Same.

oasisbear said:

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So I guess Ross Bowers was not the starting QB by much coming out of camp??

I was stunned by the offensive play calling and game plan!

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From the preseason observations, I expected Bowers to come out with presence, but he reverted to last year's demeanor. They talked about his taking charge, about his newfound leadership, but he showed he doesn't have it.

Start him next week and give him the first quarter to show that today was first game jitters, then give Garbers a chance. You can only give this kind of performer so many chances to dominate the game, then you've got to make a permanent change.

We don't have a Pac12 qb on the roster, maaaayyyyybe Garbers excepted. The best we can hope for is a guy who can help his teammates excel.

None of the above.

I would have liked to see Garbers finish his series and McIlwain be given his own series. It seemed like the platooning between them mid-series disrupted the momentum to the detriment of both.

Running up the middle against a huge DL on nearly every first down and then empty backfields make us far too predictable and easy to stop. I would like to see a lot more misdirection, starting with play action passing on first down. This hurt all our QBs (and our running game).

Garbers seemed to have good command, the offense seemed more confident with him at QB. I really liked McIlwain's speed. If he doesn't get the QB job I'd like to see him get some plays at RB (with a pass option).

Garbers (good footwork and anticipates pressure)
Bowers (first game rust, doesn't anticipate pressure and too slow to escape it)
McIlwain (not enough information yet but seems too short to view passing options under pressure)
Elliot (passes without looking)

Hard to say but just not Bowers. He has the experience but I saw receivers getting open down the field but he just doesn't have the ability to get them the ball.

MB Cal Golf said:

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Garbers can run ... but his accuracy down field ... did he hit any receivers past 5 yards? While Bowers struggled he did convert a few longer throws. If Garbers is the answer he must convert down the field otherwise there will be 9 in the box when he is on the field.

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Garbers threw a 6-yd pass to McMorris to set up the short 1st TD run.
Also, in the second drive of the second half, Garbers completed 3 passes >5yds:
10 yds from Cal 10 to V. Wharton for 1st down.
8 yds to P. Laird to set up 2nd-and-2.
23 yds to M. Ways for 1st down.
Nothing to get excited about, and about pretty much the same as Bowers, whose longest completions were for 19, 10, 9, 7 yds. Garbers' similar completions to Bowers' were done on fewer pass attempts (13 vs 17). Practically the same total pass yds (mid-50s). Garbers' completion% was a little better than Bowers', but again not by much (7/13 vs 8/17).

His running was considerably better.

Also, looking at the long splits below, Garbers was better in 2nd downs and in the red zone and Bowers better in 3rd and longs.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/player/splits/_/id/3858269/ross-bowers
http://www.espn.com/college-football/player/splits/_/id/4242408/chase-garbers

They were all terrible but only Garbers had the excuse that it was his first collegiate game.

UNC QB was by far the worst QB yesterday, and is the worst QB we will face all year.

He threw 4 BAD interceptions, all of which were his fault even attempting and were way of the mark. He couldn't even throw a screen until 4th quarter, and threw too low enabling our DL to get their hands on many passes.

He threw into WRs that were well covered other times showing his lack of vision.

He threw one good long pass, but even that pass was a 50-50 ball where his receiver made a tough catch.

Bowers issue was his poor accuracy but at least he threw to the right place, mostly in rhythm and avoided making mistakes

Given what we see here, yeah I think Garbers shows the most promise. Worth giving him more snaps. The offense seemed to open up with more creative play calling on the 3rd quarter TD drive.

Friend who used to be a Cal frosh qb thinks Garbers will start.

hanky1 said:

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1. Nathan Elliott
2. Ross Bowers
3. Chase Garbers
4. Brandon McIIWain


Please vote

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Bowers

None of the above.

hanky1 said:

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1. Nathan Elliott
2. Ross Bowers
3. Chase Garbers
4. Brandon McIIWain


Please vote

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JW claimed that they had planned all along to play 3 qbs. But, if Bowers had been rockin' it, they would have kept him in there pretty much the whole game. Bowers' play did not translate from the practice field to in-game performance.

Look for Bowers to play 2 series or the 1st qtr. for BYU. If he doesn't show dramatic improvement over the UNC performance, in goes Garbers.

I get coaches wanted to try out QBs because no-one separated himself yet, but I don't understand why swapping in McIlwain for just one or two plays at a time, especially swapping him in to just run the same plays. Somebody please enlighten me.

Interesting question is, which QB do the coaches believe gives the team the best chance to win games this season, after the UNC game when none of the QBs played like a solid Pac-12 starter.

If they think Bowers ultimately gives them the best chance, then they'll be trying to motivate him to play much better than in the UNC game. Whether that's pushing him in practice, telling him that he's on a short leash when he starts at BYU, or even starting one of the other QBs to give him a jolt, that's up to the coaches to figure out.

If the coaches think it's Garbers or McIlwain, then they need to somehow get them to elevate their play to a Pac-12 starter's level and seize the starting job. Neither one did that vs. UNC, and for Garbers in particular, the job was absolutely there for the taking and he didn't do enough to take it.

Bowers is not going to magically turn into Aaron Rodgers because he is feeling pressure of losing his starting job. He is what he is.I'm sure he is doing the best that he can.Not understanding this at all.

HungryCalBear said:

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I get coaches wanted to try out QBs because no-one separated himself yet, but I don't understand why swapping in McIlwain for just one or two plays at a time, especially swapping him in to just run the same plays. Somebody please enlighten me.

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And then they break up the rhythm of Garbers and what is the play call, a handoff to Laird to really fool UNC who probably thought McI would fake and run. Boy was that deceptive and a waste of play call and momentum.

And bear in mind there is a lot of comparison of QB performance, but we are comparing Garbers and McIlwain with less than a couple of quarters play to Bowers who has had 13 games. That must be considered in any type of a fair comparison.

OdontoBear66 said:

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HungryCalBear said:

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I get coaches wanted to try out QBs because no-one separated himself yet, but I don't understand why swapping in McIlwain for just one or two plays at a time, especially swapping him in to just run the same plays. Somebody please enlighten me.

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And then they break up the rhythm of Garbers and what is the play call, a handoff to Laird to really fool UNC who probably thought McI would fake and run. Boy was that deceptive and a waste of play call and momentum.

And bear in mind there is a lot of comparison of QB performance, but we are comparing Garbers and McIlwain with less than a couple of quarters play to Bowers who has had 13 games. That must be considered in any type of a fair comparison.

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Yep. And Bowers got almost all 1st team reps in the off season. Time for him to be the backup if they are going to pull him in the first quarter of the first game. The coaches can't play musical QBs even if they are all bad/average.

hanky1 said:

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I listed them in order of appearance, not how I would personally rank them.

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"Yes, I'm a troll. And yes I was under that bridge. But this time I was just picking up litter to help the community and not actually *being* a troll, per se."

Quote:

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And bear in mind there is a lot of comparison of QB performance, but we are comparing Garbers and McIlwain with less than a couple of quarters play to Bowers who has had 13 games. That must be considered in any type of a fair comparison.

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I don't think so. What's relevant is how Bowers is playing now and how he's going to play going forward. Jalen Hurts played in 28-plus games for Alabama and threw over 600 passes before being benched for the second half of the national title game. He won a lot of games. Benching him then was the correct decision because he wasn't playing well enough *at the time*, and Bama is benching him this season because Tua is the better QB *at this time*.

BearSD said:

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Quote:

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And bear in mind there is a lot of comparison of QB performance, but we are comparing Garbers and McIlwain with less than a couple of quarters play to Bowers who has had 13 games. That must be considered in any type of a fair comparison.

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I don't think so. What's relevant is how Bowers is playing now and how he's going to play going forward. Jalen Hurts played in 28-plus games for Alabama and threw over 600 passes before being benched for the second half of the national title game. He won a lot of games. Benching him then was the correct decision because he wasn't playing well enough *at the time*, and Bama is benching him this season because Tua is the better QB *at this time*.

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Wasn't talking about benching and playing, was more concerned with relative performance evals, and that certain experience levels must be taken into consideration....If Bowers is playing just a tidge better the McIlGarb after 13 starts, does that not speak to you.

hanky1 said:

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1. CHASE FORREST
4. Nathan Elliott
4. Ross Bowers
4. Chase Garbers
4. Brandon McIIWain

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Fixed it for you.