College Football Thread

[Hardwood83]

Fair enough. To be clear, I think Hoover has the physical tools and is smart enough. But I think he was scared of the big stage on Sat and choked under the pressure. That is the "miss" in the evaluation (assuming I am right) and not something that is easily coached up. If you play like a scared kitten on your home field with wide open receivers all over the place, I am not sure how you fix that. 

No need to harp on it. Let's hope I am completely wrong and he just had a bad game and will bounce right back. 

[Pagoda]

30 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Gotta say, I disagree with this characterization / assertion. The best of coaches have occasional misses in the portal, that doesn't harm their credibility IMO. Not branding Hoover as a "miss" yet either. No coach is infallible of course.

Yea.

Year / QBR / Passer Rating

2022 / NA / 117
2023 / 77 / 135
2024 / 74 / 151
2025 / 73 / 153
2026 / 89 / 181

He's improved in 2026.  He's 2nd in QBR and 4th in Passer Rating right now.

Look, of course he isn't playing as well as anyone wants right now, including him.  And he's not "scared" -- seems a lot more like capability limitations. 

It's also not all on Josh.  Nick makes that catch and he's a hero.  Our running game has been so so as well.

Things aren't going to be perfect like 2025.  College football is hyper competitive, especially in this era.  There are going to be setbacks.  We might might go 9-3 or 8-4 this year.  Or 10-2.  Beats me.  We'll go again in 2027 and probably have a chance at being a very good team.

[go iu bb]

37 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Gotta say, I disagree with this characterization / assertion. The best of coaches have occasional misses in the portal, that doesn't harm their credibility IMO. Not branding Hoover as a "miss" yet either. No coach is infallible of course.

Hoover was one of the top players in the portal, not really a fixer upper. Had a ton of experience with RPO and still hasn't thrown an INT this year. IMO if anything that supports Cig's case as a QB whisperer. Hoover just wasn't good enough to win Saturday, he's not a perfect player, but that's not an indictment of Cig. If Marsh gets his foot in on that final play (yes it should've been a better ball), people would probably be glossing over Hoover's poor play the rest of the day and talking about how he stepped up in a big moment. A few inches made all the difference in the outcome but I don't think that impacts the narrative about Cig in any way. His QB track record speaks for itself. 

All that said, I'd rather not see an Arch Manning experiment and I'd be surprised if we pursued that. 

To add to what you've said above, his stats are up almost across the board from previous years. The exceptions are completion percentage and yards per game.

Coming into the season, all the talk was about his TO rate. He has 0 interceptions through 7 games. 

Even with his imperfections, he's still one of the better QBs in college.

[cthomas]

16 minutes ago, Hardwood83 said:

Fair enough. To be clear, I think Hoover has the physical tools and is smart enough. But I think he was scared of the big stage on Sat and choked under the pressure. That is the "miss" in the evaluation (assuming I am right) and not something that is easily coached up. If you play like a scared kitten on your home field with wide open receivers all over the place, I am not sure how you fix that. 

No need to harp on it. Let's hope I am completely wrong and he just had a bad game and will bounce right back. 

I think there is a lot of truth in what you are saying. He may be in his own head a little. He definitely doesn't look relaxed out there. I've noticed that Cignetti seems careful not to be too critical of him when he talks publicly. Who knows what is said behind the scenes. I almost wish he would throw a pick, relax, and then be the best version of himself. And we all know he has the toughest job in college football following Mendosa.

[OliviaPope40]

5 hours ago, Demo said:

Chew on this one for a minute 

[skhoosier2]

49 minutes ago, cthomas said:

I think there is a lot of truth in what you are saying. He may be in his own head a little. He definitely doesn't look relaxed out there. I've noticed that Cignetti seems careful not to be too critical of him when he talks publicly. Who knows what is said behind the scenes. I almost wish he would throw a pick, relax, and then be the best version of himself. And we all know he has the toughest job in college football following Mendosa.

BuyGame Tickets

 

This is where I am.  I think they have overloaded him and coached him up so much plus all the media talk of his turnover problem, and he's thinking too much.  I think he looks comfortable in those end of game two minute drill situations because frankly he doesn't have alot of time to think he has to just do.  He also has alot of pressure to follow a perfect season and a beloved Heisman winner.  Not saying he is above criticism.  He certainly deserves some.  Cig has been critical albeit supportive in the media likely as to continue showing confidence in Josh for Josh to feed off of that and not get in his head anymore than he already is.

I am also in the camp of NO to Arch Manning.  Not realistic anyway as they are SEC family but I would want no part in that experiment whatsoever.  

[DChoosier]

3 hours ago, go iu bb said:

To add to what you've said above, his stats are up almost across the board from previous years. The exceptions are completion percentage and yards per game.

Coming into the season, all the talk was about his TO rate. He has 0 interceptions through 7 games. 

Even with his imperfections, he's still one of the better QBs in college.

The turnover improvement has been beyond impressive (although I agree with comments that he might be hyper focused on interceptions to his own detriment).

Although I am quite sure his overall stats will continue to be better than his previous seasons I’m not going to go overboard until he plays another 3-4 Big Ten games. Let’s face it, his stats from 4 of the 7 games have been against very weak competition. Not an indictment, as all he can do is play the schedule, but it will be interesting to see how he does against UM, Minny and UW. 
Saturday should be fun (I hope) !!!

[str8baller]

49 minutes ago, DChoosier said:

Let’s face it, his stats from 4 of the 7 games have been against very weak competition.

Yea, the stats thing is misleading at this point. Especially with QB rating be largely uncapped in cfb he’s racked up huge numbers versus the cupcakes and Rutgers. In the 3 competitive games he’s much closer to his TCU numbers or slightly lower. 
 

If he’s hyper focused on not throwing interceptions I would bet he will snap out of it.  I don’t think you can fix the accuracy thing. He’s just not as pinpoint as Rourke and Mendoza. It’s been pointed out every game and people have kind of hand waved it away. He’s obviously accurate enough to still be successful which is hopefully enough. 

[str8baller]

5 hours ago, Hardwood83 said:

I'd pass. Clearly he has the physical tools, but he's dumb. Can't fix stupid. Which is shocking with his pedigree, but there it is.  

Plus with Hoover's play on Sat, Cig's "I can fix him" cred has taken a hit. 

I agree that I don’t think he’s very good. As for his pedigree, people act like he is Peyton or Eli’s son. His dad was the one brother not good enough to be a QB. I just can’t see Cig signing up for that.

[Pagoda]

Not sure the stats are too misleading.  UNT was a boost but the other cupcakes weren't.  QBR by game below.

I think we're all seeing the same thing.  A good QB we're praying can level up just a little.  Getting a few more reads/throws/etc. right can make all the difference. 

I only get a little frustrated when some people go too far trashing him.

 

Note these are simple averages and the ESPN season averages are for every snap.

 

 

[AZ Hoosier]

Iamaleava is done for the year.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50222886/ucla-qb-nico-iamaleava-undergoes-season-ending-knee-surgery

[cthomas]

2 hours ago, AZ Hoosier said:

Iamaleava is done for the year.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50222886/ucla-qb-nico-iamaleava-undergoes-season-ending-knee-surgery

Hate to hear that. Don't care how I feel about a program, never want to see a kid get hurt.