2018 - Game #1 The Dukes

[minutefanjsf]

minutefanjsf - if Saturday was the first time he had done this, I'd agree with you. Getting the guy reps and all of that. But it's not, he has formally tried to fun a platoon for years now with these two. It has not worked. Ford should be starting and getting all of the reps until it's time to take him out to avoid injury in blowout games. Beating up on a piss poor Duquesne team isn't going to convince me that all of a sudden this platoon thing is a good idea.

I don't think platooning is a good idea either. What I said was that the fact that he did it just helps confuse the opponent. If they think we are going to platoon guys let em think it. Hopefully we won't truly platoon. I think after last year he settled on Ford. There are a few weird packages similar to what would be a wildcat, but instead of a Rb we have Comis that work. But, it should be used as sparingly as the wildcat.

[UMass1927]

I see nothing wrong with playing 2 QBs in the first half of a game they correctly thought they were doing to dominate.

The performance Saturday builds the confidence of both Ford and Comis... not to mention the coaches and rest of the roster being more confident in them as well. It also gives your next couple opponents something extra to think about when game planning defensively.

What is the problem? Ford missed out on the opportunity to build a more gaudy stat line? Whip has bigger things to worry about right now. Saturday was nothing but positive.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

It baffles me that most people seem to be looking at this in the vacuum of just one game. To each their own, I guess.

[UMass87]

Given the nature of the position and the leadership it requires I am not a fan of platooning QB's. I think it adds chemistry complexities that are unnecessary. I have no issue with taking Ford out if he's having a bad game but put me in the camp that says you pick a starting QB and let him play the season as the starting QB.

[Jack]

It baffles me that most people seem to be looking at this in the vacuum of just one game. To each their own, I guess.

Ok you're baffled. Most of us apparently understand that this is a thread about "just one game" aka the season opener, a game that was won by UMass 63-15 in which both Comis and Ford played very well.

Your gripe is that you believe Ford should've received all snaps at QB. I disagree with your complaint. First of all, Comis and Ford both looked good and giving them the reps is a good idea for multiple reasons including reasons Jsf has previously pointed out about team flexibility and forcing opponents to prepare for multiple looks. I would add to Jsf's comments by noting that, especially early in the season, running two QBs gives the coaches the ability to take advantage of different team strengths, different plays and personnel packages - to assess strengths and opportunities for improvement and then to adjust and improve accordingly. But the fundamental problem I have w/your complaint is that both Comis and Ford looked great on Saturday night, it was great to get them both plenty of reps in the opener. What about that is so troubling to you? Not really sure why you are so baffled - but hopefully the QBs continue to play well whenever they are in the game. BTW platooning QBs can be successful in college football - this is not the NFL there is no need to declare a starting QB and never play anybody else. Dual QBs can be quite effective at the college level.

[TruBluMaroon]

^Off -
How many of the pre-season Top 25 plan to use dual qb’s to start their season, since it is quite effective, 12/13, about half?

[Jack]

^Off -
How many of the pre-season Top 25 plan to use dual qb’s to start their season, since it is quite effective, 12/13, about half?

Why do you care what other team's pre-season QB plans are? This is about UMass. UMass won a season opener for the first time in a long time by successfully deploying a dual QB game plan. As a spectator it was fun and interesting to watch because it seemed to work really nicely and Duquesne's D seemed incapable of handling it. If it had failed miserably then we could all complain - but it worked great. Ford & Comis complement each other and bring different skillsets and create different options which can lead to mismatches and can keep defenses off balance.

I'm not sure why the hell you would even care about other teams ... but as long as you are so concerned about other teams - Have you ever heard of Florida?? They won a national championship with a dual QB offense. lol

[Mark W]

I'm basically with IV on this one. The one exception I will make is that this could have very well been meant for the BC game. BC watching any film of this game now has to practice for two different QB's and two different offensive styles. If that was Whip's motivation, it might pay dividends. But platooning QB's in general has more downside than up.

[Floyd]

I'm sure Ford wants to get as many plays as possible, being a senior. I don't care what they do as long as they win, but I'd like to see Ford get the majority of snaps

[TruBluMaroon]

^Off -
How many of the pre-season Top 25 plan to use dual qb’s to start their season, since it is quite effective, 12/13, about half?

Why do you care what other team's pre-season QB plans are? This is about UMass. UMass won a season opener for the first time in a long time by successfully deploying a dual QB game plan. As a spectator it was fun and interesting to watch because it seemed to work really nicely and Duquesne's D seemed incapable of handling it. If it had failed miserably then we could all complain - but it worked great. Ford & Comis complement each other and bring different skillsets and create different options which can lead to mismatches and can keep defenses off balance.

I'm not sure why the hell you would even care about other teams ... but as long as you are so concerned about other teams - Have you ever heard of Florida?? They won a national championship with a dual QB offense. lol

wasn't 2008..wasn't 2006 (when one qb throws 365 pases and one throws 33 pases, you are talking about one QB and one RB! What year was it that Florida won a national championship with a dual QB offense....

[MajBugman]

Have no idea is Whip is going to platoon QB this year once the "real" season starts. If he does it based on the situation I see no problem with it. If there is a game where the passing game is not getting it done, I see nothing wrong with getting Comis in there to do some read option or whatever. You need a few yards for a first down, Comis could run it, throw it or hand it off. The more you make the defense think, the better.

In this game, however, they pretty much alternated possessions. I think Whip wanted Comis to get a lot of run with the first team against their first team in a game. Which is a great idea. Who here thinks Ford won't get hurt at some point this season?

[Mark W]

Have no idea is Whip is going to platoon QB this year once the "real" season starts. If he does it based on the situation I see no problem with it. If there is a game where the passing game is not getting it done, I see nothing wrong with getting Comis in there to do some read option or whatever. You need a few yards for a first down, Comis could run it, throw it or hand it off. The more you make the defense think, the better.

In this game, however, they pretty much alternated possessions. I think Whip wanted Comis to get a lot of run with the first team against their first team in a game. Which is a great idea. Who here thinks Ford won't get hurt at some point this season?

I agree with this completely. When the situation arises, put whoever is best suited to help win the game. Absolutely. My only thought is this. We are in a good position here with two very effective QB's. One, however, has been named to the Davey O'Brien watch list as one of the 26 best quarterbacks in the country. I want the ball in his hands as much as possible. Barring injury or mop up roles, I would like to see Ford behind center.

[McKinney]

wasn't 2008..wasn't 2006 (when one qb throws 365 pases and one throws 33 pases, you are talking about one QB and one RB! What year was it that Florida won a national championship with a dual QB offense....

I think Jack could be referring to the 2006 Florida Gators where Leak led in passing and Tebow was second in rushing.

Or based on what's listed on wikipedia he could be referring to the 1996 Florida Gators (listed on the platoon system article). But looking at the player stats Wuerffel is the QB making up 90% of the passing yards and 87% of passing attempts. Wuerffel also made up 85% of rushing attempts by QBs. So it seems unlikely he did much swapping out mid-drive. Suppurier apparently did however use a platoon system at South Carolina in 2008 with Smelley and Garcia.

The other example listed on wikipedia is the 1997 Ohio State Buckeyes. Which does in fact check out with QB Germaine leading in passing and QB Wiley second in team rushing stats. Further examples I found around the web were the 1970 and 1994 Nebraska Cornhuskers. The platoon was in the NFL by the 1970 Cowboys and 1973 Redskins.

It looks like Wisconsin tried it out for a bit in 2014 with Stave leading in passing and McEvoy third in rushing. I think you'd need to watch some tape to confirm if they really are switching out play-by-play, but suffice to say they were seeing more action than the typical backup.

I'm not going to speculate whether it works or not, but gee why am I not surprised that Whip is using a system that peaked at least 20 years ago.

[Mark W]

Didn't Michigan sort of do it too Brady's senior year between Brady and Drew Henson? Maybe I'm remembering that wrong.

[McKinney]

Didn't Michigan sort of do it too Brady's senior year between Brady and Drew Henson? Maybe I'm remembering that wrong.

No I don't think so. Brady made up 76%+ of passing attempts (79% of yards) and RB Thomas was the rushing go-to making up 66% of rushing attempts (more than 8 times the number of attempts of the next rushing leader). Drew Henson did however receive on one play for 23 yards, which is pretty interesting.