Passing game Problems

[jimflamesfan]

Lehigh really seemed like a team we could stay with, especially at half-time only down 7-6. Even two interceptions later it still wasn't out of hand at 20-8.
But the passing game never got going.

With the exeption of Karcher's first 2 years, the Flames have always struggled passing the ball.

I just can't figure it out. I've been going to almost all of the Flames home games for the last 6 years. I went to the pre-season scrimmage this year, and Paul Troth looked pretty good.

He seemed to do well in the WV Tech and Kent State games as well...but was rattled in the Lehigh game after the first pic and never seemed to recover.

I still think he's a good QB...he threw for over 2,000 yards at East Carolina before he transferred...so I-AA should be a step down for him, so I'm hoping he was just rattled and gets back on track at Youngstown. The redshirt freshman Johnson looked great, but he was playing against a "prevent" so I really don't know how to judge it (the touchdown run was nice, though!)

However, if Troth doesn't get on track next week, would it be better then to go with the redshirt freshman Travis Johnson? We've never had the same QB for more than two years in the time that I've seen Liberty (Biff for 2 years, Condon for two years, and now Troth for a year...and they've all been transfers (exept for Biff...but it was like transferring because he went from Ritigliano's system to Karcher's.)...maybe the system is too hard to learn in a year, and in that case it would be good to have Johnson with a year of experience going into next year, especially if we lose to Youngstown State, and that point our playoff hopes would basically be over anyway.

Anyone else have any thougts on our passing problems. (This is not to blame everything on the QB...I don't know what it is, it just seems that the passing game hasn't worked well in a long time).

Jim.

[Sly Fox]

First off, I wasn't at the Lehigh game so I don't have firsthand knowledge.

But let's keep things in perspective, sometimes quarterbacks simply have bad days. I know I have days at work when I flat out stink. I just don't have thousands of people watching my every move. Well, sometimes I do.

I used to cover a quarterback at Texas who had a VERY famous former NFL father. He was flat out fantastic for 10 of 12 games his senior season. The only problem was he was just as bad in those two games that were both nationally televised. Most of America assumed this kid was awful simply because he had a couple of meltdowns against top-ranked Oklahoma and in the Big 12 Championship game. Today, he's about to become the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The moral of the story is that perhaps we can cut Troth some slack. Since you were there, Jim, perhaps you can give us your opinion on whether or not the lack of success appeared to be more from scheme or execution.

As for transfers, they are generally a crapshoot. If they are switching schools, it generally means they were convinced they couldn't be "The Man" where they were. Of course, there are some transfers to LU that come for a religious purposes. A number of QBs have left DI-A programs in their last year or so to go to a DI-AA program to show off their skills to impress NFL scouts. Arizona Cardinals starting QB Josh McCown comes to mind.

[jimflamesfan]

Again, I'm not saying switch QBs just for the fun of it.

Karcher said in the paper he didn't know any reason why he would switch QBs in mid-season. I guess what
I was trying to do is point out one reason to switch if Troth doesn't bouche back this week would be Karcher hasn't allowed a quarterback at Liberty the time to develop in his system. Biff had to learn the system as a junior. And then we brought in another jr. college transfer for the next two years (Gus Condon). In the meantime, most of our younger QBs recruited as freshman have either been cut or left the program. Barley, the back-up last year, transferred out of LU (I think it said he wanted a medical degree). Kyle Painter, another promising freshman QB the year before that who threw 3 TD passes in his first game, left the program as well. And then in the season before that we had Gardner Webb beat us with a QB that was at Liberty, but Karcher cut.

It seems like when you have a QB that transfers from I-A as a senior, you should be expecting more from him. As far as his performance, he seemed alright in the spring practice, and pretty good against WV Tech. Listening to Kent St, it sounded like he did well in that game.

Everything seemed to be going okay at Lehigh until the three interceptions thrown by Troth. It seemed that he was overthrowing receivers...but I don't know if it was so much him or the fact that he really didn't get to throw many passes at all in the first half, and so then when we needed to throw, maybe he was sort of cold - so that would be more of a system issue (how about some slants and screens earlier in the game?). But then again, if you're firing it over receiver's heads, the system isn't going to help you.

Anyway, I do hope that Karcher gets things straight and Troth and the Flames do well tonight at Youngstown State.

Go Flames.