QB Play - Disappointment

[ksustars754]

I went back and rewatched the game last night and was left shaking my head. To say I was disappointed with the QB play on Saturday would be a severe understatement. Everything was lined up for Thompson...Delton not suited up, Barnes thrashing them on the ground, and Baylor just being bad at defense in general. However, I saw the same stuff from him that I've seen all year. He repeatedly stares down WRs which makes safety play for the opposition extremely easy and in turn more difficult for the WRs. He is often very late on his deep balls and underthrows them with great regularity. Schoen has to come up with atleast one of those but I'm done expecting that from him, he's simply not a ball attacker. And finally and most discouraging is his lack of pocket presence and awareness. It's college football, you're not going to get 4-5 seconds to pass every down. When a blitz is coming, even when it's 5 blockers vs 5 defenders or 6 vs 6, the defense will still win sometimes. When you hit your back foot and you feel/see the blitz, you have to know where you are going with the ball. The WRs and route combinations don't help his cause but I've seen too many times where he panicks and then essentially falls down. Sometimes, a QBs body is going to be exposed but just like the saying is in hockey "take a hit to make a play." To me the "oline sucks" narrative is simply inaccurate. Of course they haven't been as good as we have hoped but they haven't been as bad as some fans like to state.

There were some positives especially the wheel route to Warmack and the speedy 50+ yard TD scamper.

My overall thoughts are that when you have the 8th-10th QB play in the conference, you really aren't going to win games. The position is way too important. Of course he can improve but it better be Saturday or else 2-7 is staring at the Cats straight in the face.

What did you guys see?

[xtrawildcat]

I agree completely and you did a great job of putting my thoughts into a post. You can still lose in the Big 12 with good quarterback play but it is very hard to win with bad quarterback play.
We were fooled last year by a couple of come back wins at the end of games. What we saw in the UCLA game, WVU game and the first three quarters of ISU is what we are seeing this year. Lets hope he can improve the deficiencies you spelled out.

[bindweed]

Klein didn't do anything as a sophomore and Roberson was bad as a sophomore. I think he will get better.

[Tbonespop]

I’ve been saying this now for weeks. This teams #1 issue is poor QB play. Then I get the proverbial our OL sucks or the WRs don’t get separation or our WRs lack talent and play making ability. But what I’ve seen all season is just very poor QB play. It’s the sole difference between this team ending up 3-9 or 9-3.

[tmcats]

Klein didn't do anything as a sophomore and Roberson was bad as a sophomore. I think he will get better.

[kswildcat]

I totally agree. I expected to see some improvement in QB play by this point in the season but really haven't seen much. While our OL and WRs haven't been great they certainly shouldn't get all the blame. QB play is the key to success or in our case, the lack of success this year.

[ksustars754]

Klein didn't do anything as a sophomore and Roberson was bad as a sophomore. I think he will get better.

Fair points definitely. I think my expectations were raised for ST10 when he performed so well @OSU, @Tech and vs ISU last year. With the last 2 maybe not being great beginnings but the comebacks were nails.

Also, watching other Fresh/Sophs around the nation playing well is why I'm against that argument and I don't just mean the stud 5 stars like Tua and Trevor Lawrence. Would anyone say Thompson is better than Charlie Brewer right now? He's a sophomore right?

Thompson showed enough last year for anyone to see that he has talent. I just don't think he's progressed much from 17-18. Of course his career is (hopefully) far from over here so he can still be very good but it's been a rough 2018.

[PurpleOnWhite]

The QB deficiencies noted previously are quite debilitating to the team. One of my main concerns with ST coming into the season was his unwillingness to throw the ball while the receiver was in his break versus when he is “open.” This was a glaring problem last year and hasn’t improved much. Imo that’s part of the reason he frequently underthrows his target. Re the OSU game last year - the OSU secondary was atrocious (wide wide open receivers), so I don’t hold that game out as anything over the top. Let’s hope ST transforms quickly.

[Tbonespop]

QB coach, OC's, and HCBS don't get passes on this either because its blatantly obvious ST does much better in a rhythm style, pseudo hurry-up style offense as opposed to a run-the-play-clock-down-to-zero-get-into-the-perfect-play-HCBS-offense. This is a case where he has the physical tools, but not the mental tools and the coaches refuse to work within his natural abilities and are thus forcing their system on his talents as opposed to the opposite.

[MajorAppleCat]

I agree with the thoughts on this thread.

I've been especially disappointed with Thompson on third downs when everyone, including my blind dog, knows that a blitz is coming. Yet, Thompson cannot call or hit a hot route receiver... and takes a 10 yard sack. For some reason, Thompson (or the coaching staff) want to call 20 yard passing plays rather than a simple 5-10 yard crossing route.

I've also been disappointed by Thompson's reluctance or indecision to run the ball when an open field is presented to him. He would rather pass the ball than run the ball. (Klein had no such reluctance.) Although he and Delton may have the same statistics running the ball, Thompson has given up numerous opportunities. He is of the mindset pass first, run only if you have too.

Until Thompson's play improves, KState is destined to have an inconsistent offense.