Quarterback

[HiLineCat]

I'm just curious about how many pages this thread gets to be in the next week!

[CatsNoMatterWhat]

Rovig all the way. It's his job to lose.

I've been a big supporter of his but I have a gut feeling this staff is looking at McKay with big wet puppy eyes; dual threat guy who had some positive showings at the ACC level. Something tells me he'll be taking 1st team reps pretty early. What Tucker did this year--both in improving his game within the system and leadership--shouldn't be forgotten. Running team; great defense; but the QB is the general and he took us to a top 4 finish.

[Hawks86]

Rovig is no different than every other position. He's going to have to fight for his position just like everybody else.

[kennethnoisewater]

Rovig all the way. It's his job to lose.

I've been a big supporter of his but I have a gut feeling this staff is looking at McKay with big wet puppy eyes; dual threat guy who had some positive showings at the ACC level. Something tells me he'll be taking 1st team reps pretty early. What Tucker did this year--both in improving his game within the system and leadership--shouldn't be forgotten. Running team; great defense; but the QB is the general and he took us to a top 4 finish.

I've been a Rovig fan all year. Partly because I thought he was getting unfairly criticized early on, partly because I just think he's talented, and partly because I thought he was just the guy and we needed to stick with him (after the first few games). I really liked what he did and I think his future is bright. But to me, his future depends on whether he steps up and becomes a true leader on this team. He did well for a sophomore, but he wasn't a leader, he was more of a contributor. I don't think that's a knock on him because you don't expect a sophomore to be that. But by next year, he's going to need to step in. This team loses a ton of senior leadership. I'm more worried about the loss of leadership than I am the loss of talent, so I have a feeling the coaching staff will give the edge to the guy (whether it's McKay, Rovig, Thelen, Bauman, or one of the others) who walks in and just takes over. When's the last time a (full time) QB was a captain for MSU? McGhee?

[KittieKop]

If this offense cries out for a dual threat QB, and neither Rovig nor Bauman is truly capable of filling that role, then the staff best be for getting someone in here to "fit their system." So far we haven't seen any signs of one. Hopefully this incoming class changes that, but so far we've seen this staff field QBs who can run, hand the ball off effectively and complete a pass here and there (less than 20 a game). This is a staff/recruiting/developmental thing that the staff needs to fix. It isn't a QB problem.

[RobertoGato]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

[FTG247365]

Beltran is leaving, McKay is coming in along with a couple HS kids, what does Bauman do? Rovig stepped up, did well throughout playoffs but he's no Lance, and never will be. McKay is a question mark but certainly intriguing. There's no way Choate recruits him if he's content with the QB position, so that question is answered. Will Bauman stick around or does he see the writing on the wall like Beltran did?

Look at Jonsen, came in to compete @ QB. But he ended up being a impact player all over the field. Could you imagine had he come in as a freshman, been developed as WR, WOW, I still don't think he hit his ceiling yet. Point is, McKay could be the next Jonsen. Put your 11 best on the field. Rovig impressed me this year, competition makes everyone better.

[RobertoGato]

Beltran is leaving, McKay is coming in along with a couple HS kids, what does Bauman do? Rovig stepped up, did well throughout playoffs but he's no Lance, and never will be. McKay is a question mark but certainly intriguing. There's no way Choate recruits him if he's content with the QB position, so that question is answered. Will Bauman stick around or does he see the writing on the wall like Beltran did?

Look at Jonsen, came in to compete @ QB. But he ended up being a impact player all over the field. Could you imagine had he come in as a freshman, been developed as WR, WOW, I still don't think he hit his ceiling yet. Point is, McKay could be the next Jonsen. Put your 11 best on the field. Rovig impressed me this year, competition makes everyone better.

The big difference is that McKay is really a passer first. We've all seen Jonsen try to throw the ball-- it isn't pretty. There really was never a shot at him being more than a situational runner at QB. McKay has demonstrated a legit ability to throw the ball.

[KittieKop]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

[CatsNoMatterWhat]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

The main factor I saw on Saturday was speed. Tucker could have been Joe Montana and he couldn't have found guys open down field because our receivers were being covered step-for-step by their D; regarding our defensive backfield vs their receivers; sheesh it wasn't even close. It really made me cringe. We need to improve on our speed at skill positions rather than continually shaking up the QB position. My opinion.

[bobcat99]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

The main factor I saw on Saturday was speed. Tucker could have been Joe Montana and he couldn't have found guys open down field because our receivers were being covered step-for-step by their D; regarding our defensive backfield vs their receivers; sheesh it wasn't even close. It really made me cringe. We need to improve on our speed at skill positions rather than continually shaking up the QB position. My opinion.

We need to do both.

[BleedingBLue]

I haven't read anything else in here but just have a few things to say about Rovig.

Most posters take offense to others calling out Rovig because several of the posters that call him out act like he is a flaming bag of dog poop instead of a QB. Is he a word beater? Absolutely not. Did he do exactly what was asked of him all year and lead the offense? Absolutely! Did he have bad games? You bet. Did he have good games? Damn right he did. People can say what they want about the opponents he had his best games against, but the fact is he is a BSC QB, and a D1 QB because he literally just played a season at that level, and powerful run game or not he lead his TEAM to the semis.

As lots have pointed out he is probably not the guy who is going to take us to the promised land. There may not be anybody on the roster yet who is that guy. He's never going to throw for 3000 yards in a season, or even run for 100 yards but he is no way a bad QB. I think most would agree that he is average, sometimes good. And that is totally fine because it's reality. It wouldn't have mattered who we had playing QB on Saturday, we wouldn't have won that game. Would it have been a bit closer? Maybe, but any QB would have had a hard time passing with 1 second to throw every pass play.

One final thought. For those who think he sucks, what would the U Albany game have looked like without his FANTASTIC game? We ran for 203 yards, 50 of which came on 1 Jonsen TD run. Outside of that run we averaged 3.5 ypc, and I would be willing to bet it was under that until the 4th quarter. Ifanse had 16 carries for 39 yards, 2.4 ypc. Did our running game carrying us in that game? Did our running game win that game while Rovig "managed" the game? Don't think so.

[bobcat99]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

I don't think anybody has said that the lack of offensive production is why we lost. At least, I haven't seen it. I don't think anybody has said Rovig is why we lost.

We lost because NDSU is flat out better at us in everything. Stronger. Faster. Better. We need to improve team speed without sacrificing size/strength. We need a better QB. It wasn't just one thing, it was a lot of things. But it was glaringly obvious that we need a better QB to compete for national titles. A great QB can mitigate a lot of weaknesses. To win with an okay QB, you have to be great everywhere else. Hard to do.

[91catAlum]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

It's a great point. The loss to Ndsu was much more about the defense than our QB.

[RobertoGato]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

Re-read my post and try again.

[CelticCat]

I saw enough improvement out of Rovig that I think he could throw for 200-225 yards a game if we wanted him to.

Let's assume we throw the ball 25 times a game next year. Using the stats from his last 7 games, his 2020 season would look something like this:

179/275 15 TDs 4 INTs 2000 yards 65.1% completion. I honestly think we'll stretch a field a bit more so I could easily see throwing for closer to 2,500 yards next year as the yards per completion increases.

If the running game even comes close to the production from this year, that's a recipe for success in the Big Sky. But it might take more than that to make another playoff run.

Rovig improved quite a bit throughout the season, and with another year under his belt and with some continuity in the coaching staff for once, I wouldn't be surprised if he wins the job again.

Otherwise we are looking at what the 4th season out of 5 seasons under Choate with a different QB starting day 1 than who finished the previous season.

[codecat]

I saw enough improvement out of Rovig that I think he could throw for 200-225 yards a game if we wanted him to.

Let's assume we throw the ball 25 times a game next year. Using the stats from his last 7 games, his 2020 season would look something like this:

179/275 15 TDs 4 INTs 2000 yards 65.1% completion. I honestly think we'll stretch a field a bit more so I could easily see throwing for closer to 2,500 yards next year as the yards per completion increases.

If the running game even comes close to the production from this year, that's a recipe for success in the Big Sky. But it might take more than that to make another playoff run.

Rovig improved quite a bit throughout the season, and with another year under his belt and with some continuity in the coaching staff for once, I wouldn't be surprised if he wins the job again.

Otherwise we are looking at what the 4th season out of 5 seasons under Choate with a different QB starting day 1 than who finished the previous season.

Your right, we could be seeing a different QB for the 4th of 5 seasons, but that is all on Choate, not any arguments here. I have never seen a pocket passers as fitting his scheme for running the ball first (which I do favor) because it is never the Best fit. Someone that can scramble to extend the play or a dual threat best fits that scheme.

[catsrback76]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

It''s NOT a foregone conclusion Karnack!
Who recruited Rovig AND Bauman? Yes, it's true the same guy who recruited McKay! Hello, but you are way too new to know what you don't know with all these kinds of predictive assertions. Rovig LED this team from his position. He touched 90% of every ball, didn't turn it over hardly at all, and QB'd a top 4 finish in the FCS.

Not sure you noticed but he beat the record of the guy you were touting all year why? Because the Offense was more balanced and the running game had more teeth in it. His passes though not statistically sexy were enough to stretch the field. Does he need to keep working? Sure, but, then again I'm doubting you're a finished product as well!

[RobertoGato]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

It''s NOT a foregone conclusion Karnack!
Who recruited Rovig AND Bauman? Yes, it's true the same guy who recruited McKay! Hello, but you are way too new to know what you don't know with all these kinds of predictive assertions. Rovig LED this team from his position. He touched 90% of every ball, didn't turn it over hardly at all, and QB'd a top 4 finish in the FCS.

Not sure you noticed but he beat the record of the guy you were touting all year why? Because the Offense was more balanced and the running game had more teeth in it. His passes though not statistically sexy were enough to stretch the field. Does he need to keep working? Sure, but, then again I'm doubting you're a finished product as well!

I'm too "new?" To what? To a forum? Do I have to have a certain number of posts before I'm allowed an opinion?

I do think Rovig improved as the season progressed. The defense and the rushing offense definitely led the surge, however. I am not just assuming that Rovig is out, but based on what I've been able to see of McKay, it's my opinion that it's a probability. Just an opinion. Nothing to get upset about.

[Catsrgrood]

Otherwise we are looking at what the 4th season out of 5 seasons under Choate with a different QB starting day 1 than who finished the previous season.

Just splitting hairs here, but oddly enough it will almost certainly be the 5th different game 1 starter in 5 years.

Bruggman in year 1
Murray in year 2
Andersen in year 3
Bauman in year 4
And likely either Rovig or McKay in year 5