[OCcardinal]

In the Taylor era alone we've had worse games by Lamson against both Sacramento State and Oregon State and last year's TCU (Daniels) and SMU (Brown) games were probably better but very similar to what we saw yesterday....IMHO the impulse to go with Brown is misguided....Looking at all performances with 10+ pass attempts, Gulbranson's career median is now 59.6 in 15 such games, which compares to 69.7 for Rizk in 5 such games (intriguing, but small sample) and a 15.4 for Brown in his only such game (and a 12.8 in a 9 attempt game.

I know Cal Poly was a middling FCS team. But Brown still made impressive throws in that game: https://youtu.be/DCZaSdcGg3c?si=hIygiPwhWigty7-G&t=444  And he had a 97.3 QBR compared to Ashten Daniels' 61.2.  Also, if Brown, as a true frosh coming off an injury with virtually no OL protection, looked the same against SMU (a team that made the CFP and tied for 6th in the country in yards per play allowed), as Gulbranson looked against Hawaii, then Brown unquestionably had the better performance.

That said, the issue here seems to be that Reich implemented a complicated pro style offense.  That's hard for any QB to pick up (especially in time for a week 0 game).  I'm sure, as a 6th year player, Gulbranson looked better in camp. But the Hawaii game showed he was nevertheless still underprepared.  He couldn't make decisions quickly enough.  I wouldn't put Brown in and expect a better result out of the bat.  But if we are going to give someone reps in the hopes that he will develop, I'd rather it be Brown.  He is a redshirt freshman and at least has a chance of being the future of our program.  Brown is also 20. Daniels was 20 last season and had already accumulated 10 starts the season before.

[OCcardinal]

In the Taylor era alone we've had worse games by Lamson against both Sacramento State and Oregon State and last year's TCU (Daniels) and SMU (Brown) games were probably better but very similar to what we saw yesterday....IMHO the impulse to go with Brown is misguided....Looking at all performances with 10+ pass attempts, Gulbranson's career median is now 59.6 in 15 such games, which compares to 69.7 for Rizk in 5 such games (intriguing, but small sample) and a 15.4 for Brown in his only such game (and a 12.8 in a 9 attempt game.

I know Cal Poly was a middling FCS team. But Brown still made impressive throws in that game: https://youtu.be/DCZaSdcGg3c?si=hIygiPwhWigty7-G&t=444  And he had a 97.3 QBR compared to Ashten Daniels' 61.2.  Also, if Brown, as a true frosh coming off an injury with virtually no OL protection, looked the same against SMU (a team that made the CFP and tied for 6th in the country in yards per play allowed), as Gulbranson looked against Hawaii, then Brown unquestionably had the better performance.

That said, the issue here seems to be that Reich implemented a complicated pro style offense.  That's hard for any QB to pick up (especially in time for a week 0 game).  I'm sure, as a 6th year player, Gulbranson looked better in camp. But the Hawaii game showed he was nevertheless still underprepared.  He couldn't make decisions quickly enough.  I wouldn't put Brown in and expect a better result out of the bat.  But if we are going to give someone reps in the hopes that he will develop, I'd rather it be Brown.  He is a redshirt freshman and at least has a chance of being the future of our program.  Brown is also 20. Daniels was 20 last season and had already accumulated 10 starts the season before.