Who starts for Kansas at QB
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@Texas-Hawk-10 very true
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Bender needs to start for one reason and one reason alone. Recruiting.
We need to open up the offense this year big time. Even if it means more turnovers. Throw the ball all over the field and let receivers make plays. Make games exciting to watch.
You can sell that to recruits at least.
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It’ll be Bender. If the line is halfway decent (looking at the tackles) he should have a big year. Losing Quiv as a deep threat isn’t optimal, but Sims is still a legit threat, and Quan Hampton has apparently been great in that role too. I look for things to be opened up more under Meacham. TCU ran a ton of 10 and empty personnel sets. Not sure we’ll do that much this year, but it’s something to watch for.
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I thought we needed more down field pass plays last year and fewer sideline passes. I always thought our QBs had enough time to throw the 15 yd. pass, but our pass plays were in the 0-6 yd. range. I sure hope Coach Meacham airs out the Air Raid offense. RCJHF
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@stoptheflop I don’t think that time was the problem as much as arm strength…
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@stoptheflop Cozart didn’t have the accuracy for those passes, Willis was gun shy on making passes, and Stanley didn’t have the arm strength. Since Bender was recruited to run Mike Leach’s offense, we know arm strength isn’t an issue for him. His decision making and accuracy will be what determines his level of success this year.
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@FarmerJayhawk I honestly don’t think losing Quiv is all that big a deal this year. His name was mentioned as an afterthought to Sims, Charlot, and Hampton so I don’t think he probably developed all that much this spring. KU has enough quality and depth at WR even without Quiv that I wasn’t concerned when he booted, and I’m still not concerned about the WR position.
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@Kcmatt7 I agree about taking more down field risk but not about the turnovers. We are ready had the worst turnover margin in the country and ranked in the bottom 5 with 36 turnovers total. If we turn the ball over even more this year, we likely win a single game over SEMO. Turnovers lost us 3 games last year. Opening up the play book and not running the same 6 plays should help not hurt the turnover battle for sure. Please no more 20 tunnel screens a game.
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I agree with the designation of one starter and then sticking with him for a least the first three games. Last year I didn’t know Cozart was going to start until he took the field for the first offensive series against Rhode Island. It’s silly to think waiting until game time to show our hand at QB gives us some advantage over an opponent that we should be able to beat without any trickery.
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@kjayhawks See I didn’t see a lot of tunnel screens. A ton of bubbles, but not a lot of tunnels. And when we did run a tunnel our QB doesn’t zip it our there accurate or fast enough.
And, as far as turnovers, a turnover 30 yards down the field sets the D up much better than a turnover on a 5 yard pass that gets returned for 15 yards.
We can’t turn the ball over on simple passes or lose fumbles. But a pick on a deep throw is basically a punt, and I’m ok with that.
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@Kcmatt7 It helps to have turnovers down the field for sure but we have to cut down on them, mark these words if we turn the ball over 35 plus times again we will only win 1 or 2 games max. We beat TCU, ISU and maybe even Ohio with an average teams turnover ratio. I also would call what we run a tunnel screen because of the WR moves toward the QB and its slow developing but ether way running it hundreds of times was a big mistake that lead to several wasted plays and INTs.
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@Kcmatt7 The only time a turnover downfield doesn’t hurt much is if it’s on 3rd or 4th down and KU isn’t backed up on their own side of the field and they’re not yet in scoring range. An INT 30 yards downfield on a 2nd and 8 from your own 25 yard line is not good under any circumstance. An INT thrown because of a poor decision like throwing into double coverage, even downfield, is still a bad INT no matter what because it was a bad decision.
INT’s that result from the defense making a great play are turnovers people can deal with as opposed to INT’s that came from a bad decision by the QB like telegraphing a pass or throwing into double or triple coverage or a WR not catching a catchable pass or running the correct route are the INT’s KU has to avoid at all costs.
Protecting the football, being smart about the stretching the field, limiting turnovers, these are how the offense the is going stay on the field and allow Armstrong and Wise to terrorize opposing offenses the entire game instead of wearing down in the 4th quarter like we’ve seen the past few year.
I’d love to see KU under 10 turnovers for the year, but that’s probably not realistic so more realistic goal would be commit under 24 turnovers this year. That’s 1 less TO per game on average and not turning it over against teams like Ohio, CMU, Texas Tech, ISU, TCU, Texas, KSU, Baylor, WVU makes those potentially winnable games for KU. If KU wins the TO battle against any of those teams, I really wouldn’t be shocked if KU wins any of those games.
KU was +4 in TO’s against Texas last year, that’s why that upset happened. KU has to win the TO battle to have a chance to win these potential upset games this year. If KU is turning the ball over 3 times per game like last season, they won’t win because our offense needs as many opportunities to score as possible and turnovers take away an opportunity every time.
Whoever wins the starting job has to protect the football above all else for KU to start taking steps forward in the win column.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I’m just not expecting major improvements. I’m going to expect mistakes. I just would rather them be 30 yards downfield instead. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t see us turning the ball over less than 30 times this season. So lets at least air it out if we are going to turn the ball over regardless.
I mean it all depends on what Meachem’s scheme does for us. If he can help alleviate turnovers, that is a huge help. I just think between fumbles and INTs we are good for 3 turnovers a game. But who knows, maybe Bender can really play.
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@Kcmatt7 You don’t throw the ball down field for the sake of throwing it down field. There has to be a reason to do so. The offense is better than a year ago so there’s no logical reason why turnovers should go up this year.
That’s why the Chiefs win so many games every year. Alex Smith doesn’t turn the ball over. The Chiefs offense is far from the most talented and Alex Smith isn’t a top QB, but they’re effective because they protect the football.
Brady and Meacham have to call plays to limit turnovers and not take away scoring opportunities from the offense and not force the defense on the field even more than they were last year.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Assuming a better offense will make us turn the ball over less is a dangerous assumption. We will probably score more points this year. Doesn’t mean we won’t average 3 turnovers a game.
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@Kcmatt7 one would think we could improve from being dead last in that category returning just about everyone as we do. Most players get better with experience.
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@kjayhawks I think it will be from less fumbles if we improve turnovers.
We threw 15TDs to 22INTs last year. Kind of expect a ratio more like 30TDs to 22INTs this season. That would be a huge improvement and would certainly allow us to be in more games. If we have something like 15 TDs and 10 INTs we will still get curb stomped every week of conference play except the ISU game.
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@Kcmatt7 No it’s not because if they’re still turning the ball over 3 times a game this year, that’s flat out not an improved offense over last year.
Reducing turnovers has to be the absolute top priority for Beaty and Meacham on offense this year. If they can’t find a way to reduce the TO’s, the scoring and ypg won’t be significantly different than last year a d the defense’s ppg won’t improve either because of the regular defending on a short field.
Significantly reduce turnovers and penalties on offense. Do those two things alone this year and KU scores 7-10 ppg more this year at least, gives up 5-7 ppg less at least and wins at least 4 games this year.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 First downs per game and fewer punts are the metric to look at this season. Prove you can move the ball. Once you do that, then you fine tune everything else and worry about protecting it more. In the scheme of an entire game, we are talking about 3 bad plays if we average 3 turnovers. But, averaging 5 more first downs and 1 or 2 fewer punts per game is a much larger improvement than averaging one less turnover per game. That means we are averaging closer to 12 or 13 plays per game where we made something positive happen that we didn’t last season.
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@Kcmatt7 @Texas-Hawk-10 why not both? Get more first downs and less turnovers, those kinda go hand in hand anyways
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@Kcmatt7 You can have all the 1st downs in the world, but if you turn the ball over at the end of that drive, those 1st downs don’t mean a thing.
More 1st downs will naturally come as a result of not turning the ball over and not committing as many penalties.
Fewer turnovers and penalties will lead to more plays run which which will lead to more 1st downs which will lead to more scoring opportunities which will equal more points.
Let’s say KU starts a drive at their own 25, they pick up 5 first downs which will have them down near the red zone or ij n the red zone and then the QB makes a dumb decision and throws a pick into double coverage.
How do those five 1st downs benefit KU when there’s a turnover at the end of that drive and KU loses out on a scoring opportunity?
Don’t turn the ball over there and it’s at least a FG opportunity at the end of that drive. Don’t turn the ball over and don’t commit stupid penalties and everything else will fall into place after that.
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@kjayhawks That is obviously the ideal scenario.
I just don’t see this as the season to TRY to win games. They should be a result of progress. Playing conservatively limits the progress we can make. Throwing nothing but 5 yard passes again just so we don’t turn the ball over didn’t work last year. Why would we expect it to work this season?
I’m just tired of getting rolled through like toilet paper. Let’s go down swinging instead of curling up in the fetal position and hoping our opponent knocks themselves out like Texas did last season. At least we make teams show up to beat us. If you can’t score or move the ball because you are so concerned about turning the ball over you won’t ever beat anybody.
It is a lot easier to play aggressively and have a great game with no turnovers than play conservatively and get lucky enough to outscore your opponents.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Yea you’re right, a drive where we are at the 25 and throw a pick is terrible. Except that isn’t the majority of interceptions. So you can’t use that as your example in this argument.
And I’m talking about measuring progress. If we put up 100 more yards per game, have a longer time of possession, have more first downs and punt less but turn the ball over just as often, we will be in more games than if we keep everything else on offense equal but have one less turnover a game.
Go look at the list of teams who lead the NCAA in turnovers last season and then look at their records. There are quite a few teams towards the bottom that aren’t bad. Like Clemson and Louisville and Baylor. Then look at the teams who had the fewest first downs and the most punts. Those teams SUCK. There is a better correlation to a teams success looking at first downs and punts than there is looking at turnovers.
Wins don’t necessarily show progress with this team. So playing conservatively and trying to steal an extra win or two isn’t something I care about. That isn’t the end game of this rebuild. I want to see consistent drives of 40 or 50 yards that may or may not end in points. At least we are showing that the offense will be able to score points once we have a full cast of talent on the line and at receiver. We can see the direction the program is heading. A season of conservative play where we won 4 games but got smoked in the other 7 isn’t what I want to see.
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I think our difference of opinion stems on what we would like to see. I think you want to see us sneak out a 4th win for sure, but really shoot for a 5th. I want to see us play 11 competitive games. I would see more progress in 11 close games than I would in 4 wins and 7 blow outs.
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Where are you getting that I want conservative play calling from? I want play calling that compliments the strengths of the personnel KU has on the team right now. KU has a bunch of smaller, speedy receivers, which means that KU will probably see a lot of cover 2 defense this year to keep those speedy guys from having single coverage deep. You beat cover 2 with intermediate routes and passes to flats.
The reason I want KU to reduce turnovers and penalties is because that’s how less talented teams pull off the upsets. KU doesn’t have the talent to overcome turnovers and penalties like a Clemson or Louisville do. KU has protect the football as much as possible to give themselves as many scoring opportunities as possible this season.
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Stanley has a hand injury per kusports.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 You can’t play like Alex smith and reduce turnovers without playing a conservative style. Both things that you have said.
You also can’t beat a cover 2 doing that the entire game. Unless you are willing to take the top off of a cover 2 they won’t respect the deep routes you run and will end up taking away the running game and intermediate game as a result. Just like what happened last season… We have to be willing to hit a backside post or run a 4 verticals scheme at least once almost every drive. We also don’t have a good enough running game to score when we get in enemy territory and the field shrinks. Which is why it is important to try to take the top off of a defense and score from 30+ yards out on a deep ball.
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@Kcmatt7 The Chiefs play conservatively because Alex Smith has one of the weakest arms in the NFL. The west coast offense the Chiefs run is a naturally conservative system designed for QB’s with weaker arms like Alex Smith, like Joe Montana who the offense was created for.
Peyton Bender has a cannon, but that doesn’t mean throwing deep every other play is a good strategy. That’s not what the Air Raid or spread offense is about. It’s about creating space and one on one match ups for receivers.
If KU runs as many deep routes as you want to see, those routes will not be successful because defenses will keep leaving safeties deep to take away those go, deep post, and deep corner routes.
You have to build to running those home run plays where you’re sending 3-4 receivers down field. You that by running plays where 95% of the time, the progression starts with the short to intermediate routes, the have one deep route in case of a one on one or blown coverage down field, and then a back or TE in the flat somewhere for a check down as the last read. As you continue to do this, opposing defenses start bringing the safeties closer to take away those short to intermediate routes, that’s when you hit them over the top. That doesn’t happen in a few plays, it has to be built to over the course of the game and you might only get to run 2-3 of those types of plays a game.
KU doesn’t have the appropriate personnel to run the version of the Air Raid you want to see. To run that version, you need a bunch of tall receivers who can go catch jump balls and Chase Harrell is the only guy KU has that fits that mold. Most everyone for KU are the smaller receivers that have to be great route runners to be effective because they aren’t going to go win many jump balls. KU’s receivers need to be able to beat press coverage and run lots of slants and crossing routes and getting open that way.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Its also worth considering its all a bit relative: judging Bender, recruited for the AirRaid, but how good was the guy that took his starting spot at WSU? Just how close was that battle between Bender and his replacement? Bender clearly thinks he’s better than being a backup, and now he’s got that intangible “something to prove”…This could be good for KU…
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Regarding your mention of Alex Smith, what then, is your impression of Patrick Mahomes so far in preseason?
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Pat has big potential. Well see what Reid can do for him over the last two years of Alex’s contract. The QB future is rosey at the moment for Chiefs fans.
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@JayhawkerRedLegs I’m not a Chiefs fan so I couldn’t tell you anything about how he’s looked.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Who is your team? Or do you just not care for the NFL?
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@BShark Let’s guess: Dallas?
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@mayjay Don’t you put that evil on me.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Houston? Maybe you like the classics, like Green Bay?
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@mayjay I’m from Houston, I’m a Texans fan. The QB situation here is that Savage will start until he gets injured or until DeShaun Watson is ready in a few weeks, maybe after their bye in Week 7 if not sooner. Watson will end up starting in Houston at some point this year.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I’d hope so. Savage is crap.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Ironically, the two cities whose teams you said you are not a fan of, Kansas City and Dallas, are joined by coincidence in the AFL history books to your real team because before they became the KC Chiefs they were the Dallas Texans.
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Peyton Bender da gawd.
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And Tyler Patrick is done as a retuner, or at least should be.
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Wow what a terrible quarter from half of 1st to half second. No way Neal’s pick has evidence to be overturned.
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Shades of Cozart with that pass
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Good end to the half, a couple of KU turnovers is the only reason why it’s a contest
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Ehhh, hoping for better 2nd half. - need work on the run - -17 yds on 11 carries- - isn’t gonna get it done, got to make them respect the run. - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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jayballer54 said:
Ehhh, hoping for better 2nd half. - need work on the run - -17 yds on 11 carries- - isn’t gonna get it done, got to make them respect the run. - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
Yeah the run game has been embarrassing against a weak FCS opp…
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Nick Schwerdt @nick_schwerdt 4m4 minutes ago
Peyton Bender just became the first #kufball QB to throw 4 touchdowns in a game since Reesing in 2009.
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How about Turner Gill about to beat Baylor!?!?
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@Texas-Hawk-10 crazy, glad to see him doing well. He was a super nice guy, sadly he wasn’t given a fair chance here. Don’t think he was the answer but Weis ruined us.
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We won - - -on to the next game, improvement every week. - - I PREDICTED 41-13 KU - - off by 3 pts for KU - -off by 3 pts for SEMO
