Gautier focused on being starter

[CajunFreak]

This is not a knock on Brad because I think he's a wonderful young man. But im just trying to find the justification in this post ???? As I recall Brad is 1 & 2 as a starter (Arkansas St. win & Ohio and Ole Miss lost) huuummmm....

I think we all really love what Blaine brings to the table and would be ecstatic if he turns out to be the caliber of QB we know he can be... The thing about Brad is... I have never really thought he ever got a fair shot at the starting role being all his (with the previous staff). It always felt like he was just the temparary fix. His performance in the Ark St. game is stuck in many of our heads... & I think that type of effort is what we all really would like to see from our QB no matter what nummbered jersey he may have on.

[Just1More]

I'm not sure why Brad hasn't been able to compete for QB play. Regardless, from the play so far... and I was leaning more toward Chris early on from his past passing success... there is no doubt that Chris was given the opportunity last night... with all of the conditions in his favor... and looked like he's regressed from his prior average QB skills. Blaine needs some polish... but without question he overtook Chris last night. I'm not one of these people (that apparently watch too much NFL football and/or play too much fantasy football) and think you can go out on the market and replace your personnel. We have who we have and have to make them work out.

As much as I respect Hud, I think Brad needs to be an option at QB. Let's face it... Chris looked horrible last night. I can't understand it. Our OL is in definite need of improvement, but he was given ample opportunity to get set and throw, and he was horrible. Conditions were ideal. I will add that our OC needs some serious rework. If Hud thinks that offensive playcalling was good, he and I need to talk. Just to start out, we line up 2 WRs to the short side and throw with the WRs looking back into the sun. That alone... to start the game... was downright mental midgetry. And thank goodness we didn't keep up the 4 penalties in a row! Is that a record at UL?

I'm not ready to rave about Blaine... especially in the passing department. Without any pressure, he dropped back and threw over the middle into quadruple cover to his deep route, when he had an open underneath route in his direct field of vision... wide open. Nevertheless... he made Chris look like a highschool freshman last night.

Word to Hud... be very suspicious of your OC right now... or... if you have something to do with that playcalling... set aside some of the hype for a day or two and get your heads back into Xs and Os offensively.

Good job on simply winning the game. FIU is no Nicholls State. They are going to hand us our asses on a platter if we play like we did last night. And no... I'm not getting silly about the W... it was our instate FCS game in near perfect home conditions.

[Turbine]

As I recall Brad is 1 & 2 as a starter (Arkansas St. win & Ohio and Ole Miss lost) huuummmm....

He was bad in his SEC start against Ole Miss.

If I'm not mistaken his 384 yards and 2 TD's vs Ohio were high water marks for UL last year.

With this years defense . . .

I think Blaine will be fine.

[Just1More]

I sense that Blaine not only won out last night as the starter, he also won the support of his teammates. As I read my first post, I didn't think I gave Blaine the credit he definitely deserves. He is a gamer. When Blaine threw that wabbly bomb for a TD and proceeded to fly down the field in a celebratory highstep, he showed his heart pounding desire to be the guy that gets it done. It's a little bit immature for a QB... but it probably stems from his intense desire to lead our offense. I like it. Right now... Blaine has too much desire for us not to get behind him. Even with me wanting to see Brad get his chance, I see Blaine as the go-to UL QB. Being recognized by Hud as that person may also foster improved play. Seeing what I've seen so far, that is what I would move on this week.

[SlappyCajun]

We have a QB problem, because our All American TE has one catch for -1 yards after two games. He is an unbelievable weapon, and we can't get him the ball.

I don't know enough about football to criticize the play calling, I know we had wide open wide receivers or TE's that we missed on multiple occasions though.

[cajun tom]

Wish we had an option 3.

We are becoming like LSU fans, not satisfied with winning. We have to critized the two quarterbacks.
We are 2-1.

[SlappyCajun]

We are 2-1 in spite of, not because of our quarterback play. I think it is fair to be concerned.

[Turbine]

I am giddy about the ball being in the air for 60 yards.

[RaginFan2]

I'm not sure why Brad hasn't been able to compete for QB play. Regardless, from the play so far... and I was leaning more toward Chris early on from his past passing success... there is no doubt that Chris was given the opportunity last night... with all of the conditions in his favor... and looked like he's regressed from his prior average QB skills. Blaine needs some polish... but without question he overtook Chris last night. I'm not one of these people (that apparently watch too much NFL football and/or play too much fantasy football) and think you can go out on the market and replace your personnel. We have who we have and have to make them work out.

As much as I respect Hud, I think Brad needs to be an option at QB. Let's face it... Chris looked horrible last night. I can't understand it. Our OL is in definite need of improvement, but he was given ample opportunity to get set and throw, and he was horrible. Conditions were ideal. I will add that our OC needs some serious rework. If Hud thinks that offensive playcalling was good, he and I need to talk. Just to start out, we line up 2 WRs to the short side and throw with the WRs looking back into the sun. That alone... to start the game... was downright mental midgetry. And thank goodness we didn't keep up the 4 penalties in a row! Is that a record at UL?

I'm not ready to rave about Blaine... especially in the passing department. Without any pressure, he dropped back and threw over the middle into quadruple cover to his deep route, when he had an open underneath route in his direct field of vision... wide open. Nevertheless... he made Chris look like a highschool freshman last night.

Word to Hud... be very suspicious of your OC right now... or... if you have something to do with that playcalling... set aside some of the hype for a day or two and get your heads back into Xs and Os offensively.

Good job on simply winning the game. FIU is no Nicholls State. They are going to hand us our asses on a platter if we play like we did last night. And no... I'm not getting silly about the W... it was our instate FCS game in near perfect home conditions.

Very well said. I was remarking about that first pass into the sun, too! With nearly the entire field covered in shadow, why throw a pass where the receiver has to look back into the sun. That call, plus a number of others, made me wonder if someone from the prior staff was calling plays. I was NOT impressed with the offensive play-calling last night. And the execution left a lot to be desired too. But we ARE winning some of these games, which is a huge step up from the past. But as you said, we can't play like that and continue to win. FIU will be a buzzsaw for us if the offense doesn't play much better next week. We've had 3 games under our belt now. That sloppiness (penalties and execution errors) will surely bite us in the butt next week, if we don't fix it.

[SlappyCajun]

Not saying that the play calling was or was not bad, but do you think that some of it could be because our offensive line and quaterback play is not good. I didn't see the play into the sun, sounds kind of silly.

But play calling always looks bad when the plays don't work.

[cajunfan32]

I was a Masson supporter last year. with that said, he's had his chances this year and he hasn't shown me anything. Blaine has not had the same opportunities. yea he started against Oklahoma state but that had to be an intimidating crowd for him and, it was against the #9 team in the country. I want to see how blaine does in a start against a team more on our level.

[Just1More]

We have a QB problem, because our All American TE has one catch for -1 yards after two games. He is an unbelievable weapon, and we can't get him the ball.

I don't know enough about football to criticize the play calling, I know we had wide open wide receivers or TE's that we missed on multiple occasions though.

All true Slappy... but what UL QBs passed to this All American TE to get his past notice?

When Jake Delhomme really got into his groove at UL, he developed a sixth sense... a feel... for who would be where and when... and he threw to that location. I credit the Stokley's (both) for helping that happen. Our staff needs to work with Blaine on getting that sense... or feel. Right now, Blaine works very hard to "see" where he needs to throw. He needs to sense it. It's easier, actually, to throw to a rehearsed "spot", independent of the helter skelter going on around you, than to operate in hyperspeed and only "look" for a target. Drew Brees is another example of a QB that completely senses the ball path without forcing it. When that becomes second nature, it reduces to pure throwing mechanics. For Blaine, it would work best to put LD and one other short to mid route runner in a pitch and catch workout (a variety of drills alternate doing the exact patterns with and without a full field). It works. It's limited to the creative mental limits of the QB... but it is the drill that gets LD the ball.