Do we even risk McCulley's health out there as the starter? You still give him some snaps for sure, but is putting him out there all the time worth it?
The offensive line has looked bad and frankly seems to have gotten worse as the season went along, and although I still think we have the talent and ability to go 4 for 5 down the stretch, the last thing we need to do is get our last scholarship QB hurt, especially long-term, or risk crushing his psyche and confidence going into next year. Playing time is valuable, but is fighting for a chance to play for a bowl game against Purdue in what has already basically become a lost/mulligan year worth risking the probable future of the team?
And besides the offensive line issues, it seems like a pretty big problem that all they seemed confident in his ability to run at this point was option concepts. If they don't trust him to run at least a reasonable portion of the offense yet, I'm really questioning what the value of even playing him at all and burning a year of eligibility is. The upside seems pretty minimal; if what we've seen from the offense this year is all we can do with 100% of the playbook available, what is the realistic ceiling of our offense with only 50% or so of the plays actually on the table?
The offensive line has looked bad and frankly seems to have gotten worse as the season went along, and although I still think we have the talent and ability to go 4 for 5 down the stretch, the last thing we need to do is get our last scholarship QB hurt, especially long-term, or risk crushing his psyche and confidence going into next year. Playing time is valuable, but is fighting for a chance to play for a bowl game against Purdue in what has already basically become a lost/mulligan year worth risking the probable future of the team?
And besides the offensive line issues, it seems like a pretty big problem that all they seemed confident in his ability to run at this point was option concepts. If they don't trust him to run at least a reasonable portion of the offense yet, I'm really questioning what the value of even playing him at all and burning a year of eligibility is. The upside seems pretty minimal; if what we've seen from the offense this year is all we can do with 100% of the playbook available, what is the realistic ceiling of our offense with only 50% or so of the plays actually on the table?
