Regardless of how quickly Rourke is back, Tayven can make all of us feel a whole lot better about the rest of the season with a great showing on Saturday. He was excellent in the 2nd half last week and we scored 28 points in both halves. He was 7/8, with a stone cold drop for his 1 incompletion, for 91 yards plus 2 TD's. That dime he threw to Sarratt in the corner of the end zone was as good as any ball Rourke has thrown all season. I think he will play well against UW (200+ passing and 40+ points), and then we can worry about who's starting @ Sparty. I know I will be betting IU to cover and the over again on Saturday. That's hit 6 weeks in a row.
His throw to Sarrat was outstanding. And from my vantage point, Andison goes 40 yards or whatever it was for the score if he doesn't drop that one late.
The ONLY thing that concerns me about Tayven is making conservative decisions. He threw picks last year because he trusted his arm to make throws he shouldn't have gambled on. Hopefully between experience, scheme, playcalling, & coaching that will be reduced significantly. If he takes care of the ball, I have no reason to think he can't be just as effective as Kurtis from a pure throwing perspective.
One thing that Kurtis also does really well is avoid sacks with his little dip move. He's as slow as me, but he can avoid some sacks. Tayven definitely adds a wrinkle with his ability to keep more effectively on the read option, so hopefully they get that in the mix.
One thing someone mentioned previously when Kurtis first went down was that an injury to QB1 like that creates a sense of urgency for all of the other position groups to stay locked in. I think there's going to be a lot of truth to that and I look for the OL & RBs as well as the defense to bring their A+ games on Saturday to keep things rolling even with Kurtis's absence.
