The Nation's Best Quarterbacks Are In The ACC, And It's Not Even Close, LINK!

[CaptainSidneyReilly]

"I've never seen these many good quarterbacks in the ACC at once," said ACC television analyst Tommy Bowden, a former Clemson coach. "Right now, the most impressive guy is Lamar Jackson, then Francois, then Kaaya and Watson kind of tied for third. Who would have ever thought those two would be third?"

Why is the ACC nationally relevant again? Look no further than its quarterbacks. Jameis Winston won the national title and reached the College Football Playoff at Florida State. Watson took Clemson within a few plays of beating Alabama for the national championship. The SEC may still be king, but the ACC owns the quarterback crown this year.

The hit-rate scoreboard on these quarterback recruits: 25 percent for the ACC, 6 percent for the SEC. "Quarterback is where I think the rest of the country, especially the ACC, has been able to close the gap to a degree on the SEC," said Senior Bowl executive director Phil Savage, a former NFL general manager. "The quarterback play is just better than in the SEC. People argue the defenses in the SEC are better, and that's probably true. But for just the pure spinning of the football and the overall arm talent, that's a quartet of [ACC] guys right now that can really throw it."............

There are other ACC quarterbacks who could make noise in 2016: Syracuse's Eric Dungey (Dino Babers throws so much that the stats will follow), Virginia Tech's Jerod Evans (five TDs, no INTs) and North Carolina's Mitch Trubisky (his scholarship offers included Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan State and Tennessee.
LINK:
http://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...rbacks-are-in-the-acc-and-its-not-even-close/

 

[Swervin27]

"I've never seen these many good quarterbacks in the ACC at once," said ACC television analyst Tommy Bowden, a former Clemson coach. "Right now, the most impressive guy is Lamar Jackson, then Francois, then Kaaya and Watson kind of tied for third. Who would have ever thought those two would be third?"

Why is the ACC nationally relevant again? Look no further than its quarterbacks. Jameis Winston won the national title and reached the College Football Playoff at Florida State. Watson took Clemson within a few plays of beating Alabama for the national championship. The SEC may still be king, but the ACC owns the quarterback crown this year.

The hit-rate scoreboard on these quarterback recruits: 25 percent for the ACC, 6 percent for the SEC. "Quarterback is where I think the rest of the country, especially the ACC, has been able to close the gap to a degree on the SEC," said Senior Bowl executive director Phil Savage, a former NFL general manager. "The quarterback play is just better than in the SEC. People argue the defenses in the SEC are better, and that's probably true. But for just the pure spinning of the football and the overall arm talent, that's a quartet of [ACC] guys right now that can really throw it."............

There are other ACC quarterbacks who could make noise in 2016: Syracuse's Eric Dungey (Dino Babers throws so much that the stats will follow), Virginia Tech's Jerod Evans (five TDs, no INTs) and North Carolina's Mitch Trubisky (his scholarship offers included Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan State and Tennessee.
LINK:
http://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...rbacks-are-in-the-acc-and-its-not-even-close/

well considering we don't have one, this kind of sucks for us. Great for the acc but sucks for us.

 

[Pitt79]

I don't follow recruiting, you'd think with his enthusiasm and a pro style offense that would prepare you for the NFL, Narduzzi could get a 4-5 star QB who's a lights out passer in high school. I'd even promise that the plan is to pass the ball more, because we should, I can't see competing for a national title running 80% of the time, someone will stop your run game eventually.

 

[VAPITTALUM]

I don't follow recruiting, you'd think with his enthusiasm and a pro style offense that would prepare you for the NFL, Narduzzi could get a 4-5 star QB who's a lights out passer in high school. I'd even promise that the plan is to pass the ball more, because we should, I can't see competing for a national title running 80% of the time, someone will stop your run game eventually.

I understand the point you are trying to make, however, the National Champions from the last 5 years (2011-2015) ranked 17, 12, 22, 5, and 18 in the country in rushing yards. Those same teams ranked 66, 62, 7, 22, and 34 nationally in passing yards. While it would be great to have a QB who can fling the ball all over the field at ease, similar to to BIG XII, throwing for 400 yards/game is not the goal for all teams.

PITT is currently at a 60/40 run/pass ratio right now. I think most would expect that to continue even with an incredible talent at QB due to the current coaching staff.

 

[Pitt79]

I understand the point you are trying to make, however, the National Champions from the last 5 years (2011-2015) ranked 17, 12, 22, 5, and 18 in the country in rushing yards. Those same teams ranked 66, 62, 7, 22, and 34 nationally in passing yards. While it would be great to have a QB who can fling the ball all over the field at ease, similar to to BIG XII, throwing for 400 yards/game is not the goal for all teams.

PITT is currently at a 60/40 run/pass ratio right now. I think most would expect that to continue even with an incredible talent at QB due to the current coaching staff.

Honestly, you really don't think upgrading the passing game and being able to confidently use it much more be a positive? You know it's coming, I'd say it's coming this year, sooner than you think, there will be a team, maybe even Okla St. that we won't be able to run on, and then if our passing game is ineffective, we lose. We definitely do need a better passing game, it's not even a question. And as well as we can run, we'd run even better if they feared the pass.

 

[Pitt79]

And it is a "Yinzer Culture" thing too, Pittsburgh fans have always been overly obsessed with running the ball. I love the current Steelers offense, love that it's really pass oriented, but I do know many Yinzer type fans who, even if we easily defeat teams, like the Redskins 38-16, they still complain about "passing too much".

 

[Swervin27]

And it is a "Yinzer Culture" thing too, Pittsburgh fans have always been overly obsessed with running the ball. I love the current Steelers offense, love that it's really pass oriented, but I do know many Yinzer type fans who, even if we easily defeat teams, like the Redskins 38-16, they still complain about "passing too much".

I disagree there. Winning trumps everything. I am one of those types you are talking about, I love a ball controlled offense. That '92 year for Steelers, Foster had 1700 yards. Loved it. Actually, I think I like a dual threat RB attack the best, one where we have two backs over 1000 yards. I'd have been in heaven had I been older, watching Franco and Bleier each surpassing 1,000. I'd love to see JC and Ollison both have 1,000 yards this year, would LOVE it.

even in my self-admitted yinzer "run first" attitude, even I admit how wonderful it is to see Ben completely dominate on offense. Very few steeler fans are complaining about Ben, as a matter of fact, he's probably the most beloved Pittsburgher now, well ahead of Sidney.. A few haters like Del on here but that's just pitt fans who don't like the steelers..

Winning trumps everything. No Pittsburgh yinzer was complaining about the '95 steelers having the 5 wr set when we were in the super bowl, well until Neil threw two interceptions of course..

 

[Pitt79]

I disagree there. Winning trumps everything. I am one of those types you are talking about, I love a ball controlled offense. That '92 year for Steelers, Foster had 1700 yards. Loved it. Actually, I think I like a dual threat RB attack the best, one where we have two backs over 1000 yards. I'd have been in heaven had I been older, watching Franco and Bleier each surpassing 1,000. I'd love to see JC and Ollison both have 1,000 yards this year, would LOVE it.

even in my self-admitted yinzer "run first" attitude, even I admit how wonderful it is to see Ben completely dominate on offense. Very few steeler fans are complaining about Ben, as a matter of fact, he's probably the most beloved Pittsburgher now, well ahead of Sidney.. A few haters like Del on here but that's just pitt fans who don't like the steelers..

Winning trumps everything. No Pittsburgh yinzer was complaining about the '95 steelers having the 5 wr set when we were in the super bowl, well until Neil threw two interceptions of course..

Some people do, I'm fine with running 100% of the time, if it works, I just don't believe it does. I actually prefer an offense like the current Steelers have, I like to be able to move fast, score fast and at will. I like being the team that the other team is desperate to control the clock against because they know they can't stop us. But you really need a big time QB to be that. So if Pitt doesn't have that, I say just do what works, but it would be nice to have a decent passer again. It's not like that is unheard of at Pitt.

 

[Swervin27]

Some people do, I'm fine with running 100% of the time, if it works, I just don't believe it does. I actually prefer an offense like the current Steelers have, I like to be able to move fast, score fast and at will. I like being the team that the other team is desperate to control the clock against because they know they can't stop us. But you really need a big time QB to be that. So if Pitt doesn't have that, I say just do what works, but it would be nice to have a decent passer again. It's not like that is unheard of at Pitt.

yeah, balance is always the key. In football, we've seen countless times that if an offense is too one dimensional, it will eventually come back to haunt them. The early 90's run and shoot Oilers was probably the first and most clear proof of that, with countless examples to follow. It's football, it's way too optimistic to think we can run for 300 yards every game.. If we want to win 8-9 games this year, Nate and our WRs will have to do something.. Just hope to hell they can.

 

[Pitt79]

The early 90's run and shoot Oilers was probably the first and most clear proof of that, with countless examples to follow.

I think the 1st and most clear proof was the teams that ran veer and wishbone in the '70s, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas among them. They'd win their regular season games 70-7, 49-3. 56-0... then fall behind in a bowl game against a good team and not be able to come back.

 

[VAPITTALUM]

Honestly, you really don't think upgrading the passing game and being able to confidently use it much more be a positive? You know it's coming, I'd say it's coming this year, sooner than you think, there will be a team, maybe even Okla St. that we won't be able to run on, and then if our passing game is ineffective, we lose. We definitely do need a better passing game, it's not even a question. And as well as we can run, we'd run even better if they feared the pass.

There's no doubt we need a better passing game, which includes better WRs to create space for the QB. With that said, even as our offensive stats trend in a more positive direction (I think the Nova game really skewed the overall rankings), the split is likely to remain 60/40 rush/pass with this group.

That's not to say it wouldn't be great to have the ability to go play-action for a big play every now and then, but this group is not built to generate a ton of yards through the air. As you indicated, there will certainly be a team which slows down the running game, which forces the hand of Canada to look to the air a little more. Until that happens, we don't really know what we have when it comes to a consistent passing game.

As long as we don't pull the same crap as the second half last week, with removing any threat of a misdirection, jet sweep, pass, etc. (basically anything other than running between the OGs), this offense should be in great shape.