akhosrof

You'd think with how much CKW has screamed at Lagow the past few weeks he'd be done. IMO the kid's confidence is shot. CKW must not have much confidence in Diamont/Cameron/King if he continues to stick with Lagow despite continually tearing him a new one.

So what's the alternative? We looked at Chad Voytik, grad transfer from Pittsburgh, but he can't even start for Arkansas State. You know the kid we faced this weekend, Clayton Thorson, was a top target of ours for the 2014 class? Damn good QB, arguably the best in the B1G and a for sure NFL prospect. 2014 wasn't just a disaster because we lost Tre and Coffman, we also lost Seth Litrell. Dismissed as a factor by most IU fans, Litrell was the reason Sudfeld attended IU and was our lead recruiter for Thorson and the few other top QB targets for the 2014 class. Zander as a result was our only QB recruit for the 2014. I believe Litrell is destined to be a P5 head coach some day. 2014 was a lost year for more than one reason. You don't recover from that in one or even two years. 2015 we were a finalist for Chad Kelly, he liked us but didn't want to compete with Sudfeld. We also thought we had Tommy Stevens. Luckily, CKW was able to flip King on signing day from NC State. I like King better than Stevens anyways. 2016 class we put a lot of time into recruiting Brandon Peters. What QB recruit in his right mind would turn down an offer from Harbaugh? Peyton Ramsey is a smart kid who played against top competition in Ohio. There are high hopes for him. Bottom line, QBs take time to develop. The problems we have today stem back to 2014. Whether or not we fixed that problem will depend on the development of King and Ramsey going into next season. We also need to get a quality QB recruit for 2017. Heck, even Lagow has a lot of room for improvement with a full offseason with the program. CKW and Johns will have plenty of time to work on his flawed mechanics which lead to inaccuracy (specifically, lower body movement. Lagow is currently a thrower and not a passer).

I agree with your point but just as an FYI Cameron is not a drop back passer. He played DB in high school, he's a pretty athletic kid. He didn't become a full time QB until his senior year. If Cameron is the starter, we'd have to call a lot more roll outs and moved pockets. Cameron does well throwing on the run and has a quick release. He's only 6'1", so seeing over the line on traditional drop back could be a problem (remember we saw this from Cameron during the PSU game and he had some struggles. It was unrealistic to have a game plan ready to fit his strengths mid-game, but hopefully CKW could do so with a week's worth of practice with Cameron as the starter.) Nonetheless your point remains, I'm leaning toward Cameron as well. I think he has enough arm strength. Most importantly, he has a high football IQ. General football awareness is an area Lagow is lacking which has hurt us.

Cameron is a RS sophomore.

I hear ya, I'm in the same boat. Have to hope he continues to improve. Austin King was a highly rated recruit and has lots of talent, maybe it's worth giving him a shot? If we stick with Lagow, maybe Zander becomes the red zone QB? I think Zander's mobility opens up the play calling and the arm strength isn't an issue in that short space. Zander in the past has had success in the red zone.

So what does everyone think happens at QB? Does CKW make a change?

I understand your criticism but "not having a QB ready" falls under the "much easer said than done" category. It's the most difficult position to recruit in CFB. Four and five star QB recruits bust all the time. Today we played a top ten four star QB recruit, whom we offered by the way, that is an excellent player. After the 2014 QB fiasco, in 2015 we thought we had Tommy Stevens. Wilson then recovered nicely and switched high three star Austin King from NC State. That same class IU was a finalist for Chad Kelly as a JUCO transfer. Kelly took an official visit for the Purdue game. Wilson brought in his Oklahoma buddy WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross who was on the sidelines. Kelly took his picture with Good Ol' JR and looked to have a great time as we came back and beat Purdue. Bottom line: he didn't want to compete with Sudfeld. Kelly has torn up the SEC the past year and a half and will play on Sunday's. The next year Wilson once again went after the top JUCO QB recruit, of course being Lagow and got the very promising Peyton Ramsey. Of course, Wilson put a lot of time recruiting Brandon Peters, whom we would have had a great chance at if it wasn't for Harbaugh. Hard to blame the kid. If you want to fault Wilson for 2014, for not having a QB recruit that class (outside of Zander) and maybe not doing a better job of convincing Tre or Coffman to stay, fine that's fair. Wilson will be the first person to take responsibility for that. But after that, Wilson hasn't done anything different than any other coach. Finding a stud QB is extremely difficult.

Wilson has this program going in the right direction, no doubt. Recruiting is improving. We finally put the investment to get the right coaches. The southern end zone facility will be finished in 2018. Play calling can be baffling at times, but we've always had excellent line and skill position play under Wilson. The defense has finally caught up, we just have to keep Coach Allen. If we can find our next Sudfeld, this team has serious 9 win potential. Outside of hiring Les Miles, starting over would be completely insane. Any new head coach coming in as a P5 coordinator or a G5 head coach would take two to three years just to get to where Wilson is now. Sure, a new guy might be an improvement from Wilson in some areas, but would most likely have weaknesses elsewhere.

Errant pass, run for short gain, errant pass/check down, punt... rinse and repeat Not how you win games. I've been a Lagow defender but he's making it very difficult...

This NW offense is very good. Offense is going to have to be very aggressive to have any chance in this game. No room for errors with errant throws.

Errrr that throw really got me frustrated. That was a big gain and led to a punt.

While many picked IU to win the scores were very close. This was a tough pick for me. Up until the last second I was going with NW. Their offense scares me, especially their playmaking triplets. It also scares me that they beat Iowa and overcame an early deficit to crush MSU. Of course, Coach Fitz is a excellent game planner. This is truly a game of two passing ships. If we come out flat it will be very bad news. However, our defense is legit. I think their offense comes back to earth a little against our defense. Our offense is hardly anemic. We've played two top ten teams the past two weeks. I think that drop off in competition against a weaker NW defense allows our offense to return to levels of production we have been used to in the past. Not to mention getting Freeney back. I truly think this game is a 50-50 toss up.

24-21 IU

Same high school as Jonathan Crawford, 2016 commit Brandon Drayton and 2017 DE Bobby Roundtree (100% IU crystal ball currently). Nice pipeline there.

Pelini is a hell of a coach. I'm sure he would relish being able to face Nebraska every year. Can Purdoo afford Pelini and the quality of assistants he would require?

Good post, Luce. I don't think the negativity was as bad this week as it has been in the past (Wake). Everyone here wants to see us win, but we were not expected to win against top ten teams in OSU and Nebraska. There is no denying the one position holding us back is QB. Yes, some of the criticism of Lagow isn't fair given his lack of game experience, however, this team is built to win NOW and we can't be held back by one player. He has missed a lot of throws, to which Lagow himself has taken responsibility which is what one wants to see. There is nothing wrong with discussing options at QB. I still think Lagow is by far our best option and he has lots of room for improvement. These next few games against less competition will be critical for his development. If he continues to sputter, the team cannot afford to wait for him and a change may need to be made. This is not a bad thing. He has another year of eligibility and a full offseason in our program watching film, lifting and working on his mechanics will pay huge dividends for next year regardless of what happens this season. However, I am expecting Lagow to show improvement and put up some solid production these next few weeks. As you said, we are right where most expected us to be: 3-3. An 8 win season is no stretch, especially with how good our defense has been playing.

Being from Maryland, I'm going to throw out a comparison for OG. Let me know what you think. Len Bias Like OG, Bias was an elite raw athlete who was a late bloomer. Bias was a powerful, long limbed 6'9" 210 pounds. OG is listed at a similar 6'8" 215 pounds. As a kid I remember seeing highlights of Bias exploding flat flooted off of two feet for thunderous dunks, if he was anywhere near the basket. Didn't matter how many guys were draped on him. OG has that similar two foot explosiveness. Many wings in the NBA are one foot jumpers. Give them a head of steam toward the basket and they'll dunk over anyone. However, it's rare to see guys who can explode right back up after grabbing a rebound near/under the basket flat footed for a dunk. Dominique Wilkins, Len Bias and Blake Griffin are guys that I think of off the top of my head. Bias was a raw shooter early in his career, and had a slower release, but had sound form and a high release point. Left open for a long two and he knocked it down. Similar to OG. Bias couldn't create his own shot early in his career but eventually learned to do so. I see OG's game so far developing similar to how Bias's did. I can't wait to see OG this season!

In addition, remember that Coach Allen's son is committed to IU. Hopefully that buys us some time with Coach Allen. There's no doubt Coach Allen will be a head coach some day. I just hope he holds out for a position much better than Purdoo.

If you look at Cameron's high school highlights his release is very quick and compact and he does a good job of throwing on the run. He worked out of a rolled pocket a lot, so CKW would likely have to change his game plan a little to accommodate that.

Yes, I do put an emphasis on arm strength in CKW's offense. However, I do agree you don't need a cannon. And Lagow's accuracy is certainly hurting the team. It's nice having a five play seventy-five yard drive like Lagow had in the fourth quarter yesterday. But it's frustrating having him miss two wide open big plays on the last drive with one of them ending in a pick. The question becomes do Cameron or Zander even have an average arm strength required to play in this offense? Sure it sucks Lagow is missing open throws downfield, but those are throws Zander probably wouldn't have even been able to attempt. I am not sure on Cameron's arm strength. One more thing about Cameron: he's still relatively new to playing QB. He was a DB and backup QB at Loyola his junior year. However, he is very intelligent and this is his third year in our program. I just want to win a bowl game. Whoever gives us the best chance that's who I'm for. At this point I am very curious about Cameron and what he can do.

Sounds like you're ready to give Cameron a chance? Before transferring Catholic in Baton Rogue, Cameron went to high school at Loyola Blakefield right down the street from me in Towson, MD, when his dad was the offensive coordinator for the Ravens. I remember reading how Cameron would do QB drills with Joe Flacco. Cameron is a coach's son through and through. I'm sure he has a high football IQ, and his mechanics and accuracy are sound. Anyways I digress, I still want to see Lagow as the starter.

Good point JohnsonIU about the competition. Wake Forest just held FSU to 17 points. Their defense is extremely stingy. OSU and Nebraska are obviously top ten teams. Hopefully the offense opens up as we hit this upcoming stretch. I'm excited to see what the defense does against less competition as well!

I agree here. When you have a QB who isn't accurate like Lagow, momentum is of critical importance with consistency of mechanics and rhythm. IMO, if CKW had confidence in Zander's arm strength he would have called some downfield passes when Zander was in. Nebraska was stacking the box, it would have completely caught them off guard. However, we only called run plays and lateral passes, so your point #2 is true. Here are our choices: 1. Stick with Lagow and hope he gets better. I think this is our best option. As bad as it's been, Lagow is still only in his sixth game. Were our expectations for him unrealistic? He has awesome arm talent, and I want to say if he can just improve his accuracy we'll be OK, however, he still has the same mechanical problems as his JUCO videos. No lower body movements in his throws, doesn't square up for passes. Makes me think the coaches might have tried to work with him but decided it was too much to fix in a short period of time... 2. Continue to rotate Zander and Lagow. I don't like it for the reasons JSHoosier stated above, but if Lagow is in the middle of a cold streak, we may have no choice. Might be time to give Zander the whole playbook when he's in and let him sink or swim on his own. 3. Go with a completely different option in King or Cameron and open the whole playbook. Not sure either is ready for this. I like King's talent a lot, maybe he's a gamer?

I think that's unfair criticism. We had an NFL QB for the last four years. 2014 was an unlucky year with injuries and late transfers. As inconsistent as Lagow has been you can't deny his talent. He was the top JUCO QB recruit. Remember we were a finalist for the top JUCO QB recruit the year before? Can't blame Chad Kelly for not wanting to sit behind Sudfeld last year. Austin King was a high three star recruit who is still only a redshirt freshman. He'll be ready to compete next year. Peyton Ramsey is a winner. Our QB situation is really no different than most P5 teams outside of the Big XII (where they don't play defense [emoji1]). You recruit kids you think fit your system. Sometimes you get lucky with a Sudfeld, most other times you're still looking for the guy. In the meantime, we may have to continue to switch between Lagow and Zander. And it's not like there's no room for Lagow to improve. He's only six games into his IU career. This will be a big offseason for him to improve mechanics and accuracy. This season is very much still alive. I think most of us had this team at 3-3 after the first six games. Purdue, Rutgers and Maryland are very winnable games, and we have a good chance against Northwestern and Penn State. The goal remains the same, win a bowl game!

Last year we had the QB and not the defense, this year the opposite.