[BostonCard]

I agree tha Costello did not contribute meaningfully to losing the game.  Sure didn't seem that he did anything that would result in him not starting next week.  Hopefully, he'll show some progress next week.  It is not like a light switch and there were things in the game last night from which he can gain significant learning.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "Costello did not contribute meaningfully to losing the game".  If what you mean is "we could have won the game with Costello's performance", then I agree.  On the other hand, if you mean "Even better performance at the QB position would not have won the game" then I disagree.  During the game thread, (midway through the game) I went through his incomplete passes.  He had one throw batted at the line of scrimmage.  One throw where it was almost an interception and JJAW had to play DB.  A couple others that were inaccurate (for example, the one that went under Trent Irwin or the one low and behind our tight end).  More accuracy on his throws an I suspect we would have scored more.  There were, of course, at least two incompletions where there was substantial pass interference with the receiver that wasn't called.  He also had a few nice throws, and his awareness on the fumble and scramble for a TD was one of two offensive scores on the day.  I think the biggest question mark, and I am not sure if he was coached to do this or just read poorly, was not keeping the ball on a few of the read options (it is hard to say whether the play call was a read option or simply an inside handoff to Love).  The keeper was open all day, and if he had the option, he should have kept it.  That would have gotten us a bunch of yardage for one, and it would have forced WSU to make an adjustment and not constantly crash Love, which may have opened up the running game.  But again, hard to know if that was on Costello or on the coaches.

The bottom line is that on a day where we lost by 3 points, it might not have taken a lot of better individual performances or different play calls to win.

BC

[BostonCard]

I agree tha Costello did not contribute meaningfully to losing the game.  Sure didn't seem that he did anything that would result in him not starting next week.  Hopefully, he'll show some progress next week.  It is not like a light switch and there were things in the game last night from which he can gain significant learning.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "Costello did not contribute meaningfully to losing the game".  If what you mean is "we could have won the game with Costello's performance", then I agree.  On the other hand, if you mean "Even better performance at the QB position would not have won the game" then I disagree.  During the game thread, (midway through the game) I went through his incomplete passes.  He had one throw batted at the line of scrimmage.  One throw where it was almost an interception and JJAW had to play DB.  A couple others that were inaccurate (for example, the one that went under Trent Irwin or the one low and behind our tight end).  More accuracy on his throws an I suspect we would have scored more.  There were, of course, at least two incompletions where there was substantial pass interference with the receiver that wasn't called.  He also had a few nice throws, and his awareness on the fumble and scramble for a TD was one of two offensive scores on the day.  I think the biggest question mark, and I am not sure if he was coached to do this or just read poorly, was not keeping the ball on a few of the read options (it is hard to say whether the play call was a read option or simply an inside handoff to Love).  The keeper was open all day, and if he had the option, he should have kept it.  That would have gotten us a bunch of yardage for one, and it would have forced WSU to make an adjustment and not constantly crash Love, which may have opened up the running game.  But again, hard to know if that was on Costello or on the coaches.

The bottom line is that on a day where we lost by 3 points, it might not have taken a lot of better individual performances or different play calls to win.

BC