Cajuns win it

[zephyr]

_ sorry if im mistaken but i could of swore masson is just as good as his 3 scrimmage games showed. TD's even with INTs.... regardless of competition, and he has under thrown or over thrown the ball repeatedly to open recievers against North Texas. Considering you havent seen McGuire throw the ball in a game situation yet, how can you judge McGuire's throwing ability if the last time you saw him was in the preseason? _

First of all, I'm not saying Masson played super well. As a matter of fact, I thought it was a good move to bring McGuire in for a bit and let Masson settle down when he needed it. However, I think it would be a kneejerk response to move to McGuire as the starter until things become more consistent. You cannot base your opinion on Masson's completion percentage from recent games as they were against superior competition and he was hamstrung by the bad play of his receivers in those games. Also, McGuire was simply beat for the job in not only the spring but the fall for his job. The coaches handed him the ball in the spring and gave him every chance to keep the job and he couldn't do it with really bad play and great play by Masson. I'll take 8 months of practice and scrimmage over one decent drive last season to base my assessment. I could care less who the starter is as I actually predicted that Gautier would be our starter at some point this season. I can care less. However, I think that Masson still gives us the best chance to win and he's every bit the leader that McGuire is as he led that last drive and got the TD when we needed it

[RaginWaldo]

The last 4 games with Masson

20/36 185 yds 1 TD 1 INT vs K state
16/36 159 yds 0 TD 2 INT vs LSU
13/22 102 yds 0 TD 1 INT vs Nebraska
13/29 122 yds 1 TD 0 INT vs North Texas (far less superior Defense and cant manage better stats)

Total: 62/123 50.4% completion 568 yds (4.6 yd avg) 2 TD 5 INT

the reason why i said in previous post regardless of teams is No Matter who you play you still need a confident leader at quarterback willing to take chances and make big plays. yes you can be smart but you can take chances at times to score points and Masson is not that kind of guy, He is a game manager and when you are behind, he's not the guy you can depend on to put you back in the game.

I say this because Arkansas St. Hung with #13 Iowa away (can you see UL doing this with Masson??? not me)
Middle Tennesee St. beat Maryland away (can you see Masson doing this? not if he doesnt try to make big plays)

the QB should be confident that his team can move the ball and show compassion. ULL had confidence in McGuire to bring momentum back in the offense (not to let Masson settle down) and he did his job and did just that. McGuire is more of a Leader. Masson is more of a Game Manager.

thats my thought on the situation. but we can agree to disagree. All i know is we need to initiate McGuire more in the offense in order to win football games because he seems to WANT it more than Masson does.

the thing that led that last drive to get the TD was North Texas handing it to us with penalties and dumb mistakes. the only reason why we actually won the football game was because of the Defense's Int for TD and Blocked punt for TD.





PS. Go Cajuns

[longroof63]

A 2 QB setup may be the way to go. McGuire energized the team with his hard nose running, but Masson has shown us that he is our go to guy when the deck was stacked against us...This is our team folks, we need not give up on anyone, especially our coach. Yeah, I heard you all saying negative things about Coach tonight and I was not impressed. If you think he is the problem, you obviously haven't been a REAL FAN for long.

[ATXCajun]

Concerned about the rushing yards the Cajuns gave up, but I just saw something that makes me feel better. FSU is giving up 380 and counting to Ga Tech.

[Gbbaseball7]

_ They do have more confidence with Masson. Don't reference a game for which McGuire played last year and only passed well on the last drive. Also, he looked shaky at best in the spring which is why he is not the starter right now. It's always vogue to holler for the backup when your starter struggles but Masson is ahead of McGuire right now...Period. He definitely gave us a boost but I think you'd see the same results if he was starting to be honest. Also, you forget that Masson did NOT turn the ball over and he has consistently been plagued by his receivers dropping passes which also kills momentum.

If the coaches were so confident in Brad throwing the ball, why did they take him out when it was time to move the ball in the air and on the final drive? _

Zeph---
yyour love affair with Chris is amazing. Brad is on par with Chris in passing and surpassing in the running game. He also can get the team fired up...a true leader. Chris is a fine young man and works hard just like the rest of the players on the team. And if you thing 13 for 29 is good passing stats then I can understand your lack of any football knowledge---definitly never been on the field.....

[Cajunsmike]

_ A 2 QB setup may be the way to go. McGuire energized the team with his hard nose running, but Masson has shown us that he is our go to guy when the deck was stacked against us...This is our team folks, we need not give up on anyone, especially our coach. Yeah, I heard you all saying negative things about Coach tonight and I was not impressed. If you think he is the problem, you obviously haven't been a REAL FAN for long. _

I believe you will see a two QB system for awhile. McGuire definitely is better for the running game, not only because he is a better ball carrier but he is also a better ball handler. He is more decisive in making the zone read. Masson does throw a better ball and his stats are not reflective of that as receivers continue to have drops. Having said that, if McGuire plays more, he will have to throw it some to keep the defense honest.

[CrappDaddy]

_ I say this because Arkansas St. Hung with #13 Iowa away (can you see UL doing this with Masson??? not me) Middle Tennesee St. beat Maryland away (can you see Masson doing this? not if he doesnt try to make big plays)

You say Masson couldn't beat Maryland, he already beat Kansas State. I promise you K-State is every bit as good as Maryland. The bottom line is that no matter who plays quarterback, there will be a big learning curve. To say that sticking in Mcguire is the magic fix, is idiotic. If he was that superior, the coaches would be starting him. Sure he made some poor throws, but none of them scored six for the other team. Babb and Desormeaux both had several games like this against Sunbelt D's. No need to freak out.

[Gbbaseball7]

_ Also, McGuire was simply beat for the job in not only the spring but the fall for his job. The coaches handed him the ball in the spring and gave him every chance to keep the job and he couldn't do it with really bad play and great play by Masson. _

Actually, Brad was injured in the spring, and they didn't want him to play at all in the spring game, so I really don't know what you're talking about!!!!

[Hammer58]

_ First of all, I'm not saying Masson played super well. As a matter of fact, I thought it was a good move to bring McGuire in for a bit and let Masson settle down when he needed it. However, I think it would be a kneejerk response to move to McGuire as the starter until things become more consistent. You cannot base your opinion on Masson's completion percentage from recent games as they were against superior competition and he was hamstrung by the bad play of his receivers in those games. Also, McGuire was simply beat for the job in not only the spring but the fall for his job. The coaches handed him the ball in the spring and gave him every chance to keep the job and he couldn't do it with really bad play and great play by Masson. I'll take 8 months of practice and scrimmage over one decent drive last season to base my assessment. I could care less who the starter is as I actually predicted that Gautier would be our starter at some point this season. I can care less. However, I think that Masson still gives us the best chance to win and he's every bit the leader that McGuire is as he led that last drive and got the TD when we needed it _

Sorry, I have to disagree about the leadership. Not saying that Chris isn't a great kid, team player, hard worker, etc. But the team seemed to get an instant spark when Brad took the field. You can see Brad visibly pushing, cajoling, motivating (whatever you want to call it) but most of all leading the players in the huddle.

IMO, if they do not insert Brad in the 4th quarter we lose that game.

[Just1More]

_ I believe you will see a two QB system for awhile. McGuire definitely is better for the running game, not only because he is a better ball carrier but he is also a better ball handler. He is more decisive in making the zone read. Masson does throw a better ball and his stats are not reflective of that as receivers continue to have drops. Having said that, if McGuire plays more, he will have to throw it some to keep the defense honest. _

I've never seen an issue with situational QB usage. That is what I thought I saw last night. Smart coaching if you ask me. For those looking at Chris's stats aren't taken into account that with 50% of the easily dropped passes in his stats... Chris's stats would not be so shabby. You don't pull the QB because your receivers keep dropping passes.

But, if the coaching staff sees some intangible that makes Brad their choice, they are the ones responsible for deciding... not us. If I ever thought that a coach considered what fans wanted as a starter... I would fire that sucker before he started.

I like every one of our Cajun players... because they chose to come and stay at UL. I want the best guy to start who can help the team. The coaching staff has to know how to use the talent. First, with our running game, we absolutely, as you said, have to succeed throwing the ball. I do think Brad may add more to the running game, but at the end of the day, the coaches have to decide if the complete offense is better suited to Chris, Brad or another.

I thought it was excellent coaching late in the game to use both Chris and Brad. I would like to be out on the field this morning throwing 8000 balls each to our receivers. I know we don't like making comparisons, but watching footage of Jefferson at LSU rifle bad passes that his WRs snatch from behind their backs and over their heads, makes me have way more questions, right now, about who picked these WRs when we recruited. Our WRs and TEs need to learn how to catch the ball. I'd make them practice without the "anyone wearing these can catch any ball" gloves. Good receivers are catching passes with those gloves single-handed nowadays. Our receivers use both hands without anyone contesting them, and cannot hang onto it. I'd drill them into perfection or rejection... bank on it.

[cjr3888]

Flat out, the team plays on another level when Brad comes into the game. Even Masson picked up his game. I liked what I saw with both shuffling in. Just need Brad to throw and Masson to run, and that will keep the defense honest.


igeaux.mobi

[zephyr]

You are all assuming that utilizing a two QB system will make this offense run more efficiently and it won't. It worked last night but that doesn't mean that it becomes the wave of the future for this team. What's funny is that Brad is not that much more of a runner than Chris is. The coaches chose to use him in that role last night but he truly doesn't do anymore in the running game than Masson does. The coaches showed that they didn't want McGuire passing the ball as they removed him in any and every passing situation and put Masson in. I'm also not a fan of the dual QB system because we are not using two QB's who have skills that are contrary to one another. In other words, we don't have a QB who is a speedy runner and a pocket passer who can throw but gives you nothing on the ground. Florida used this system with tebow and Leak because Tebow had the legs and Leak could pass but they never passed with Tebow and when he came into the game, you knew what was coming. I don't mind that except I don't see McGuire being a Tebow type of skill set and really think that he and Masson are similar in the things they do well. Masson showed some speed when he took that run to the house. He can do it if the offense allows him to.