Zac

[rbarthle17]

I don’t think many people understand how hard it is to throw a wet ball in 23 mph wind.

ESPN put up a graphic in the 4th that had the wind at 39 mph.

[AppSt94]

Does anyone know if drinkowitz is making Zack stay in the pocket instead of running.. Telling him not to run. He seemed to have running opportunities that he chose not to take. He used to take them.

Yes. He also has stated that he would prefer to run less to reduce the risk of injury. His reason for this is so that he doesn’t miss anymore games. We have a warrior, who wants nothing more than to win and has done it better than most qbs in the nation and some of you want to nit pick a performance in horrendous conditions to say that he might not be the right guy. Give me a qb that starts his career 17-3 all day long.

The thing is though, that a lot of that success Zac has lead us to has come from him being a true dual threat QB. Think of all the games we might not have won during that 17-2 stretch if it weren’t for big plays that came from his legs. We saw the result Thursday night when there were several opportunities for him to pick up a drive-extending first down but he threw it instead, frequently incomplete. His legs are just as big a weapon as his arm. Its what got him where he is. Taking that away is a questionable move.

I understand your point, but it doesn’t matter what happened last year. The offense that Drink WANTS to run does not involve a running QB. However, he knows that he has one so he uses him judiciously in that manner. He isn’t averse to having him run if needed, but he and Zac both want to limit his chances of injury by reducing the designed runs. Zac played a few games hurt last year due to excessive hits. He doesn’t want to miss any games.

[WASU 93]

100%. Best player should play. If he was so ready to play now and Zac is truly injured then I have no doubt Drink would play him. If that is the case and Drink is not then he is making a massive mistake. I don't see practice but he does so I have to trust he is going about this the way it should be done, unless he states regret otherwise. Baldwin has a shot to be a good player but I don't think we see him this year unless we blow out Texas State or are getting blown out by South Carolina. Even then, I'm not sure I would put him in over Gibbs and Huesman. Last thing we need is to make our #2 guy mad and want to transfer.

If Zac is hurt, then Huesman comes in. End of story.

I would guess Huesman like you but we did have one game where Gibbs came in when we took Zac out. It should be Huesman unless Gibbs is outplaying him in practice.

Not sure why Gibbs came in for Huesman. Could just be a reward for effort in practice or it could be that he earned it. I don't think that question gets asked by those who get to interview Drink weekly, and honestly, I wouldn't expect an answer that I could accept as being 100% true. DGB may be as good as some of you anticipate him to be. But to your point above, I agree that you have to be careful on how you use him as you could lose some experience and maturity from your QB room next year.

I have no clue how good Baldwin will be. We have yet to see him and some who look bad in practice can look good in a game. You never know until you see them in real games.

As for Huesman, I would guess he is the guy as well but yeah you never know if it was a reward or what. If it was, then Gibbs could come back in as #2 in a game. Maybe it is a week to week thing as to who the #2 will be solely based on practice performance?

When Gibbs came in vs. USA, that wasn't really a #2 QB situation. It was merely, a close out situation. My thought was that Drink just wanted to get Gibbs a snap or two in case we get down to a need for a #3 QB at some point (GaSo last year)

[APPRIDE]

Does anyone know if drinkowitz is making Zack stay in the pocket instead of running.. Telling him not to run. He seemed to have running opportunities that he chose not to take. He used to take them.

Yes. He also has stated that he would prefer to run less to reduce the risk of injury. His reason for this is so that he doesn’t miss anymore games. We have a warrior, who wants nothing more than to win and has done it better than most qbs in the nation and some of you want to nit pick a performance in horrendous conditions to say that he might not be the right guy. Give me a qb that starts his career 17-3 all day long.

The thing is though, that a lot of that success Zac has lead us to has come from him being a true dual threat QB. Think of all the games we might not have won during that 17-2 stretch if it weren’t for big plays that came from his legs. We saw the result Thursday night when there were several opportunities for him to pick up a drive-extending first down but he threw it instead, frequently incomplete. His legs are just as big a weapon as his arm. Its what got him where he is. Taking that away is a questionable move.

This is the #1 difference between this year and last in my opinion. Why he doesn't tuck and run as needed is baffling...he's got wide open lanes to the 1st down many times when receivers are covered well.

[AppStFan1]

If Zac is hurt, then Huesman comes in. End of story.

I would guess Huesman like you but we did have one game where Gibbs came in when we took Zac out. It should be Huesman unless Gibbs is outplaying him in practice.

Not sure why Gibbs came in for Huesman. Could just be a reward for effort in practice or it could be that he earned it. I don't think that question gets asked by those who get to interview Drink weekly, and honestly, I wouldn't expect an answer that I could accept as being 100% true. DGB may be as good as some of you anticipate him to be. But to your point above, I agree that you have to be careful on how you use him as you could lose some experience and maturity from your QB room next year.

I have no clue how good Baldwin will be. We have yet to see him and some who look bad in practice can look good in a game. You never know until you see them in real games.

As for Huesman, I would guess he is the guy as well but yeah you never know if it was a reward or what. If it was, then Gibbs could come back in as #2 in a game. Maybe it is a week to week thing as to who the #2 will be solely based on practice performance?

When Gibbs came in vs. USA, that wasn't really a #2 QB situation. It was merely, a close out situation. My thought was that Drink just wanted to get Gibbs a snap or two in case we get down to a need for a #3 QB at some point (GaSo last year)

I thought that might be it as well. I don't remember him saying either way so I did not want to assume on it. Hopefully both of them are ready in case Zac goes down.

[Mjohn1988]

Does anyone know if drinkowitz is making Zack stay in the pocket instead of running.. Telling him not to run. He seemed to have running opportunities that he chose not to take. He used to take them.

Yes. He also has stated that he would prefer to run less to reduce the risk of injury. His reason for this is so that he doesn’t miss anymore games. We have a warrior, who wants nothing more than to win and has done it better than most qbs in the nation and some of you want to nit pick a performance in horrendous conditions to say that he might not be the right guy. Give me a qb that starts his career 17-3 all day long.

The thing is though, that a lot of that success Zac has lead us to has come from him being a true dual threat QB. Think of all the games we might not have won during that 17-2 stretch if it weren’t for big plays that came from his legs. We saw the result Thursday night when there were several opportunities for him to pick up a drive-extending first down but he threw it instead, frequently incomplete. His legs are just as big a weapon as his arm. Its what got him where he is. Taking that away is a questionable move.

This is the #1 difference between this year and last in my opinion. Why he doesn't tuck and run as needed is baffling...he's got wide open lanes to the 1st down many times when receivers are covered well.

Drink wants a “pro style” QB and I’m sure Zac wants that too. I think it’s hurt us this year.

[AppSt94]

Does anyone know if drinkowitz is making Zack stay in the pocket instead of running.. Telling him not to run. He seemed to have running opportunities that he chose not to take. He used to take them.

Yes. He also has stated that he would prefer to run less to reduce the risk of injury. His reason for this is so that he doesn’t miss anymore games. We have a warrior, who wants nothing more than to win and has done it better than most qbs in the nation and some of you want to nit pick a performance in horrendous conditions to say that he might not be the right guy. Give me a qb that starts his career 17-3 all day long.

The thing is though, that a lot of that success Zac has lead us to has come from him being a true dual threat QB. Think of all the games we might not have won during that 17-2 stretch if it weren’t for big plays that came from his legs. We saw the result Thursday night when there were several opportunities for him to pick up a drive-extending first down but he threw it instead, frequently incomplete. His legs are just as big a weapon as his arm. Its what got him where he is. Taking that away is a questionable move.

This is the #1 difference between this year and last in my opinion. Why he doesn't tuck and run as needed is baffling...he's got wide open lanes to the 1st down many times when receivers are covered well.

Drink wants a “pro style” QB and I’m sure Zac wants that too. I think it’s hurt us this year.

It certainly has. Being 7-1 and beating a local P5 sucks.

insert sarcasm font.

[Mjohn1988]

Yes. He also has stated that he would prefer to run less to reduce the risk of injury. His reason for this is so that he doesn’t miss anymore games. We have a warrior, who wants nothing more than to win and has done it better than most qbs in the nation and some of you want to nit pick a performance in horrendous conditions to say that he might not be the right guy. Give me a qb that starts his career 17-3 all day long.

The thing is though, that a lot of that success Zac has lead us to has come from him being a true dual threat QB. Think of all the games we might not have won during that 17-2 stretch if it weren’t for big plays that came from his legs. We saw the result Thursday night when there were several opportunities for him to pick up a drive-extending first down but he threw it instead, frequently incomplete. His legs are just as big a weapon as his arm. Its what got him where he is. Taking that away is a questionable move.

This is the #1 difference between this year and last in my opinion. Why he doesn't tuck and run as needed is baffling...he's got wide open lanes to the 1st down many times when receivers are covered well.

Drink wants a “pro style” QB and I’m sure Zac wants that too. I think it’s hurt us this year.

It certainly has. Being 7-1 and beating a local P5 sucks.

insert sarcasm font.

94, I think I’ve stayed pretty positive about our season. Your right we’re doing really well at 7 and 1. I just think that at least in the short term the changes we’ve seen in Zac’s game have hurt the overall performance of our offense. I’ll hope the changes start paying off big on Saturday and going forward from there.

[AppSt94]

Agree to disagree.

[Rick83]

Last year we lost Zac for two games because of an injury incurred while running, fortunately it wasn't a season-ending injury. If Drink allows Zac to run like he did last year and he ends up injured, then the critics on this board would be all over Drink for not learning the lesson from last year. I personally like the current philosophy of him sitting in the pocket, going through the progression, and then tucking and running if necessary and sliding when he can to not take the hit.
Does it work out in every single case? No, but Zac's too valuable to the sustained success of the team and we have a boatload of play-makers that we can go to. They just didn't get the job done last week, it happens..

[AppState89]

Last year we lost Zac for two games because of an injury incurred while running, fortunately it wasn't a season-ending injury. If Drink allows Zac to run like he did last year and he ends up injured, then the critics on this board would be all over Drink for not learning the lesson from last year. I personally like the current philosophy of him sitting in the pocket, going through the progression, and then tucking and running if necessary and sliding when he can to not take the hit.
Does it work out in every single case? No, but Zac's too valuable to the sustained success of the team and we have a boatload of play-makers that we can go to. They just didn't get the job done last week, it happens..

You are spot on for sure. 100% the reason.

[Rekdiver]

Zac is a stud. He had a sub par game at USA. I will not put any blame on him for the GS loss. It was crappy weather, we couldnt block, dropped balls and coaches didnt adjust......

[AtlAppMan]

Here is bottom line. We got outplayed especially their D line vs our O line. Our offense played poorly across the board, line got outplayed and RBs didn't have good lanes, QB and receivers didn't execute well. The best summary I saw was on ESPN Gamecast write up. It is simple, we got beat in the trenches and that is key to every game.

THE TAKEAWAY

Georgia Southern: The Eagles played like a team on a mission, controlling both sides of the ball from the onset. The offensive line fired off the ball, creating big holes on the edge for Kennedy. When the Mountaineers began over-pursuing to the outside, Werts burned them between the tackles.

Appalachian State: The defense that had been so good over the past three games -- allowing just 17 combined points -- couldn't figure out the triple option offense until the fourth quarter. But the Mountaineers got beat in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

[AppFan11]

While that was the case, that does not mean that there weren’t plays you could run (or throw) that would have taken advantage of their aggressive style. We did not. And the “gapping “ holes were not so much because of some blocks as it was about two different players didn’t “fit” their gaps that created the space for the two runs in the third qtr.

[hapapp]

It was pretty evident in person that they were more physical than we were at the line of scrimmage. We did miss some assignments and there were broken/missed tackles but they were getting good yardage right up the gut as well.

[AtlAppMan]

While that was the case, that does not mean that there weren’t plays you could run (or throw) that would have taken advantage of their aggressive style. We did not. And the “gapping “ holes were not so much because of some blocks as it was about two different players didn’t “fit” their gaps that created the space for the two runs in the third qtr.

The quote from ESPN is correct, yet we still had two chances (drives) for the win in last 4 mins and couldn't get it done.

[Overcashed]

I don’t think many people understand how hard it is to throw a wet ball in 23 mph wind.

ESPN put up a graphic in the 4th that had the wind at 39 mph.

Brad Panovich in Charlotte said that there were gusts up to 65mph at points in Boone that night.

The fact that Zac put up his 3rd highest passing yards total in those conditions is kinda astounding. If only we had gotten rolling a little earlier in the game we wouldn't be having any of these conversations right now.

[Rick83]

I don’t think many people understand how hard it is to throw a wet ball in 23 mph wind.

ESPN put up a graphic in the 4th that had the wind at 39 mph.

Brad Panovich in Charlotte said that there were gusts up to 65mph at points in Boone that night.

The fact that Zac put up his 3rd highest passing yards total in those conditions is kinda astounding. If only we had gotten rolling a little earlier in the game we wouldn't be having any of these conversations right now.

I wonder what his passing total would have been if some or all of the 7 dropped passes had been caught.

[AppFan11]

Hey Happ, I did agree that their leading rush defense gave our Oline all they could handle. My comments were about the two big runs that totaled 110 yards or 30% of their total rushing yards.

[TheMoody1]

I wonder what his passing total would have been if some or all of the 7 dropped passes had been caught.

If those were caught, he may have had a "W" to go with the extra yards.