(08-09-2017, 07:33 PM)dabigv link Wrote:Against horrible competition, and with a QB rating about the same as Burns. I mean, we all watched those games right? He did win games, which is what counts in the end, but I was not left with a lot of confidence in his ability to be a QB who can lead us to conference wins.
I think that the evaluation of Chryst deserves a little more than this. So, here are some things.
Probably the most important thing is to watch, so I give a few links at the bottom to do that.
Chryst started six games.
They fall into three distinct categories.
Category 1 - First two games started
Opponents = Arizona, Oregon State
Arizona's defense was quite poor (#9/115 total D yds/gm; #9/96 total D yds/play; #105 S&P+ ), Oregon State's was decent (#8/79 yds/gm; #7/68 yds/play; #49 S&P+)
In these games Chryst's passing was not good.
Stats = 24-47, 164 yds, 51%, 2 TD, 1 INT, PER = 90.2
Vs Arizona, his running (outside of sacks) was not notable (1 carry, 3 yards)Â
Vs OSU, he was a very effective runner. 10 carries, 84 yards. (sacks excluded)
The offense overall performed at least pretty well in both games, relatively easy wins.
Category 2 - Next three games
Opponents = Oregon, Cal, Rice
These were indeed three bad defenses, with cal probably the least awful at S&P+ #106.
But, in these games Chryst was far better.
Passing stats: 43-65, 610 yds, 66%, 7 TDs, 0 INTs, PER = 180.5
Those are good numbers.
Rushing (excluding sacks): 8 carries, 96 yds, 12 yds/carry
Still ran effectively, though less often than vs OSU.
Category 3 - Bowl Game
Opponent UNC
Didn't play enough for a meaningful evaluation, though things were off to a decent start.
Despite the bad defenses, it's very clear that Chryst made substantial improvement after the Oregon State game - and really in the OSU game vs the Arizona game. Evaluating Chryst only on his average numbers (which are also heavily weighted by his disastrous relief performance vs WSU) misses much of what we saw and learned about Chryst.
Despite the bad defenses, I'd say Chryst played very well for three games, and was off to a perfectly fine start vs UNC when he got injured. It's true that playing well against bad defenses is not the same test as vs good defenses, but it's not correct to imply that Chryst's prospects equal his average performance or that we simply have nothing to judge on because of the weaker defenses.
More importantly, one should watch. Even in the better games, Chryst didn't make every play but did make some very nice passes and some good decisions.
I think all of his games are available in Football in 60 Minutes format from the Pac 12 networks video page, but here are some youtube links of Chryst's games:
Good Chryst:
Oregon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvcZNBy3mss
×ÉÉ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqMrSxmaDGA
Rice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNtKpZ1LajA
[This is a compilation of the plays McCaffrey is in, but that's a good fraction of our offense on the day.]
UNC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAnU6FEPBxg
Bad Chryst:
Can't find decent video of Arizona.
Oregon State: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtwU0jxnMFI
end of WSU (time stamped to when Chryst came in): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QscP0dXejpE#t=1h56m11s