I think he played pretty well. The first pick was a tipped ball. The 2nd pick was just a flat out bad decision. You can't fumble going into the redzone. I think he will improve. I thought in the 2nd half they went to the QB run too many times and should have passed a little more. He made some good throws, but needs some more zip on some of his balls. The ball to Vaughn was a TD if he put more zing on it, Vaughn still should have caught it, but it was overthrown a bit. I think he will give us some opportunities to get some victories.

He's gotta stop under throwing those down field throws, but that should come with more time with the receivers. Arm strength isn't the problem.

Now they finally have some tape on Cooper to go through and teach him and correct his mistakes.

I think he got antsy in the pocket a lot towards the end. Felt a lot more pressure and prob felt like he needed to make the big play to try and get back into the game. When he is under control he has the ability to scramble and make passes or run.

FloridaAggie13 wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:03 pm

I think he did.

I'll give him a pass on the three turnovers in his first career start on the road against a top 25 team. There are things I'd like to see him improve on such as throwing with some authority, but otherwise, he had good poise, didn't seem to panic, and his threat to run does slow the defensive line a half step and helps the RB get yards.

In the end, it will come down to him throwing and getting explosive plays.

He would have thrown a few more, but they were dropped. He was trying to force some stuff at the end, but it's all good. Bonner did similar stuff.

His running ability definitely opened up a lot at least in the first half.

3rdGenAggie wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:09 pm

He's gotta stop under throwing those down field throws, but that should come with more time with the receivers. Arm strength isn't the problem.

Oregon State had this problem last season because the quarterback was not the original starting quarterback so timing was off, and now the same quarterback is doing deep passes well. Legas might be suffering from timing issues, and our deep passes were also silly play calling at times.

Bonner throws the ball better deep. Legas looked better everywhere else.

With more practice with WR he will get those deep throws in stride - just one more hazard of now allowing him to play until mid season

Chupamedia wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:22 pm

With more practice with WR he will get those deep throws in stride - just one more hazard of now allowing him to play until mid season

Again, this is 100% on Tucker.

I mean it is literally only his first start and he has been thrown into some really tough situations. Considering he helped get us a bowl win and hung in their against #19 byu tells me a lot.

I actually had moments of joy this game.
I’m all in on Legas.

Sl7vk wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:26 pm

I actually had moments of joy this game.
I’m all in on Legas.

Easily our best offensive output of the year.

Yes. Had some bad passes, but played well. Excited to see him develop.

I actually caught myself fist pumping at least twice during the game. Nice to feel some passion again

bonner throws the deep ball better for now. But it’s obvious cooper has tons of natural arm strength with more chemistry with his receivers I expect him to throw it just as good if not better. we expected to see areas that need growth over all not bad.

The team performance tonight would have been a win against Weber and UNLV.

Definitely gave us some spark. I actually thought he threw it deep well and connected on a few. Seemed late on some though. Needs to process faster but I liked him overall

Tough to judge the last few possessions. Looked like they dropped 8 into cover 3 or 4 and their nose tackle walked our center into his lap almost every play which caused some underthrows I thought

Overall, that offense gives us a chance to win 4-6 games if other things go well

Intermeddler wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:58 pm

Definitely gave us some spark. I actually thought he threw it deep well and connected on a few. Seemed late on some though. Needs to process faster but I liked him overall

Tough to judge the last few possessions. Looked like they dropped 8 into cover 3 or 4 and their nose tackle walked our center into his lap almost every play which caused some underthrows I thought

Overall, that offense gives us a chance to win 4-6 games if other things go well

I'm not the fence if nothing more than I would like to see how Williams develops. I think we should have used him on those 3rd and 4th and short downs. Coop did fine. He's got some limitations but he can be a good qb in the MW.

hickaggie wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 11:05 pm

Intermeddler wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:58 pm

Definitely gave us some spark. I actually thought he threw it deep well and connected on a few. Seemed late on some though. Needs to process faster but I liked him overall

Tough to judge the last few possessions. Looked like they dropped 8 into cover 3 or 4 and their nose tackle walked our center into his lap almost every play which caused some underthrows I thought

Overall, that offense gives us a chance to win 4-6 games if other things go well

I'm not the fence if nothing more than I would like to see how Williams develops. I think we should have used him on those 3rd and 4th and short downs. Coop did fine. He's got some limitations but he can be a good qb in the MW.

Agreed on Williams. If he can be a consistent passer he has the highest ceiling I think (though I know nothing about Davenport).

hickaggie wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 11:05 pm

Intermeddler wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:58 pm

Definitely gave us some spark. I actually thought he threw it deep well and connected on a few. Seemed late on some though. Needs to process faster but I liked him overall

Tough to judge the last few possessions. Looked like they dropped 8 into cover 3 or 4 and their nose tackle walked our center into his lap almost every play which caused some underthrows I thought

Overall, that offense gives us a chance to win 4-6 games if other things go well

I'm not the fence if nothing more than I would like to see how Williams develops. I think we should have used him on those 3rd and 4th and short downs. Coop did fine. He's got some limitations but he can be a good qb in the MW.

Williams seems to be the better 3rd and 4th short yardage runner. He seems to be more decisive. Cooper on the short yardage seemed slow to get to the point of attack.

Cooper definitely showed enough to get the next start, and definitely showed enough to prove that it was coaching malpractice to ride Bonner as long as we did.

Cooper did not show anything that got me super excited. I am in no way rooting against the kid, it’s just really hard for me to believe he’s the best option when we have a starter from another school that was a bowl MVP on our bench too that has an NFL arm and body.

People say Cooper won the backup job in spring and fall camp, but based on what they’ve shown in actual college games so far, Levi seems like the higher ceiling move to me and the better investment.

Flame if ya want.

Ladies and gentlemen we now have on this board…

Peasley vs. Bonner 2.0 in Williams vs. Legas

Some folks on this board have pretty unrealistic expectations. This was his first start against likely the second best team we will face this year and had by far the best production. It actually looked like we had a team in the first half. He showed some excellence and and made a few mistakes, he will get better with time.
I clearly remember many board members calling for Jordan Love’s head after he threw three interceptions during his first start versus Wyoming. Give it a little time folks, we’re digging out of a pretty big hole.

ineptimusprime wrote:Cooper definitely showed enough to get the next start, and definitely showed enough to prove that it was coaching malpractice to ride Bonner as long as we did.

Cooper did not show anything that got me super excited. I am in no way rooting against the kid, it’s just really hard for me to believe he’s the best option when we have a starter from another school that was a bowl MVP on our bench too that has an NFL arm and body.

People say Cooper won the backup job in spring and fall camp, but based on what they’ve shown in actual college games so far, Levi seems like the higher ceiling move to me and the better investment.

Flame if ya want.

It is an interesting question. If Levi truly has the higher upside, then I agree it would be best to put efforts into developing him for the next few years instead of Legas. I do like the moxie and competitive focus that Coop has though. There is a physical side and a mental side. I think Levi has the physical edge but I’m not sure who has the mental/intellectual edge. Maybe that’s why the coaches are riding with Coop. In any case, if Coop is going to be running it 15+ times a game I’m sure Levi will get his shot to prove himself at some point this season. I like the what both of them bring to the table, and heck, Davenport may end up being the best of the bunch but too early to tell there.

I don't know what more we could have expected from a guy in his first start, on a short week of prep playing Thursday night (not much time getting first string practice snaps), playing a top 25 team (that has a win over a top 10 team) on the road, and having the team perform as well as our conference mate did against the same team last week.

I think expectations have been clouded because it was the zoobs. If we swap out that situation with Oklahoma or Arkansas, the two teams next to the zoobs in the polls, I think we would be thrilled and optimistic about having hopefully flipped the switch and turned the corner on the rest of the season.

Legas had three turnovers this week, Bonner had 6 last week. We’re trending in the right direction we have to keep him.

Short answer, yes.
Long answer, yesssssssssssssss.

For real though, I think he will be really good. Calling my shot now. Here is what is saw from that game...

The good:
Passing was very accurate
He went through all of his reads on throws
His pocket presence and scrambling when plays broke down
First ever start and he was cool as a cucumber (as "they" say)

I was impressed with him on almost every pass play. He stood in the pocket. Was looking at all of his reads and when there was nothing there he would scramble for some yards. Those scrambles looked much better to me than the designed qb runs. There was one play I remember where the right tackle didn't block the defensive end in the first quarter and he had a free shot on Coop, and he just spinned right out of the sure sack and threw it away. He wouldn't stare at a receiver and force it even if double covered, he would take check downs if nothing was open. And this is a story of the stats not telling the whole story since he had a 40 yarder brought back on penalty and a 20 yard td throw called back on the sketchy play where they pushed out the receiver.

The fine:
The qb draw.

It worked great on the first drive, but then gradually became less effective as YBU began to notice that we were running it ALL the time. IMO this is not where Legas shines. His scrambles were awesome, but the draw play just ended up becoming the same as our rb handoff. Run it up the middle and try and get a few yards. I think we went with that way too much and weren't playing to Legas strength.

The needs fixing:
Turnovers are obvious here.

I need to rewatch since I was at the game, but the first ball was picked off a tipped pass. So while that's still on him and something he can learn from, it wasn't an inaccurate pass into double coverage. Fumble was a bit fluky as he was almost down when it got punched out but was very painful. Last pick we had already given up by punting when down 18, he forced two throws that drive but those are the only two forces as I recall. Need to see again though.

Finally the intangibles:
His first ever start against the team he grew up 10 minutes away from and he was ice. Never once looked rattled and he definitely "has that dog in him". If there was a place to get rattled and get the yips it was probably there. Those are my thoughts, but again, I'm planting my flag after what I saw last night. I think he will be very good.

On his passing, where it needs to get better is getting the ball out on time. Also letting his guys go get it deep. Coop talked about the underthrow to Vaughns that would have been a TD

I love the kid. You don't win state championships in wrestling without being tough in body and mind. We can and will win with Coop.

I knew everything I needed to know about whether or not we can count on him when I heard the real story of the TD to Thompkins last year in the bowl game. Remember, he comes in for his first snap of meaningful time ever...and audibles to the deep ball. When they asked him about it after the game he seems surprised to be asked...of course that is what you do. I practiced and studied like everybody else. They gave the look and that is what we wanted.

You can't coach that kind of confidence.

GeoAg wrote: ↑

September 30th, 2022, 10:19 am

On his passing, where it needs to get better is getting the ball out on time. Also letting his guys go get it deep. Coop talked about the underthrow to Vaughns that would have been a TD

I love the kid. You don't win state championships in wrestling without being tough in body and mind. We can and will win with Coop.

I knew everything I needed to know about whether or not we can count on him when I heard the real story of the TD to Thompkins last year in the bowl game. Remember, he comes in for his first snap of meaningful time ever...and audibles to the deep ball. When they asked him about it after the game he seems surprised to be asked...of course that is what you do. I practiced and studied like everybody else. They gave the look and that is what we wanted.

You can't coach that kind of confidence.

Geo, was that from a postgame interview? If so, I'd love to watch it if it's available online. One thing that's been apparent to everyone from the first meaningful snap to today is that Cooper is definitely POISED. Hopefully he can continue to improve and take us back to the promised land.

cval wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:51 pm

The team performance tonight would have been a win against Weber and UNLV.

Exactly what I saw. Legas needed to come in both those games. It was beyond obvious that the team needed a spark/change at QB. If (Tucker? BA says it's his call LOL) would have called for Legas before halftime, we win both those games, AND we'd still have a healthy Bonner.

El Sapo wrote: ↑

October 3rd, 2022, 12:42 pm

cval wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2022, 10:51 pm

The team performance tonight would have been a win against Weber and UNLV.

Exactly what I saw. Legas needed to come in both those games. It was beyond obvious that the team needed a spark/change at QB. If (Tucker? BA says it's his call LOL) would have called for Legas before halftime, we win both those games, AND we'd still have a healthy Bonner.

This is also my view.