Interesting QB comparison

Knoxville-Horn

Knoxville-Horn

1,000+ Posts
In the spirit of the offseason, I decided to start a thread on something interesting that I came across in Phil Steele's mag.

Disclaimer: This is in now way, shape or form an attack on Colt. I think he's a great QB and should be our starter. That being said...

The following is last year's QB stats for Colt and Baylor's QB, Blake Syzmanski:

Completion% TD Int. Yds

Colt McCoy 65.1 22 18 3303
Blake Syzmanski 57.3 22 18 2844

He may be wrong in his projections but, according to Steele, Syzmanski is now the 3rd string QB behind a freshman and Kirby Freeman. As we all know, Colt is expected to have a monster year with some calling him a darkhorse Heisman candidate.

I just thought it was weird that one QB - with FAR lesser O-line, WRs, etc... - would lose his job and fall to the 3rd string while the other is praised as a possible Heisman candidate.

AGAIN. This is not a front on Colt. I am not calling him out or questioning his ability. I'm not a "put Chiles in" or "play Sherrod now" guy. So please don't turn this into an argument over whom should be our starter. I just found the difference in perceptions interesting.
 
Bottom line is that Colt is a good QB with the potential to be a great QB. Last year he had some growing pains. I can't count the number of time he threw a pass that all 85,000 of us in the stand cringe. I also can't count the number of times he blew us away with a perfect pass. Given his production in his first two years... I am really excited about the next two.
 
Official Baylor Site

I like Phil Steel okay, but Blake Symanski is not listed as 3rd string according to the official Baylor site. He is listed as 1st string along with 2 other guys. Similar, but not exactly like 2 new guys have been bumped in front of him.

The most important stat for any QB is the W/L record which would certainly explain their need for competition.

I've always considered Colt to be cut from the Pete Gardere mold. That is that he is good, but not so good that his backup will get a lot of snaps.
 
Their completion percentages are light years apart. Less than 60% in college ball - especially in an offense like Baylor ran last year - is not very good.
 
3 points

- Blake didn't have a monster Freshman year like Colt.

- Colts YPA and % were far greater than Blakes. (22 point higher rating)

- Colt ran for almost 500 yards and 4 tds
 
Ok, but a drakhorse is still a Heisman contender. How can the 4th or 5th best player at his position in his conference alone be a candidate for the award that supposedly goes to CFB's best player?
 
Its a stupid comparison. Baylor ran a tech like spread offense. They did nothing but throw.
57.3 completion percentage and 2844 yards is a joke in that offense. Compared to Graham Harrell (71.8 / 5705) .

Comparing the two (Colt and Baylor guy) is like comparing Prime Rib to weird brother of Prime Rib.
 
I don't think it is completely contradictory or unusual for some to say that Colt is 5th or 6th best QB in conference and others that he is a Heisman darkhorse. Midway through his freshman year, he was getting serious Heisman consideration. Last year, he had a much more difficult year, at least statistically. Some may believe that last year was an anomaly and that he will improve on his freshman numbers (i.e. Heisman darkhorse). Others may think his freshman year was an anomaly and he will be more similar to last year (i.e. 5th or 6th best in conference). Personally, I can see it going either way, though I would put more money on the former.
 
Colt McCoy is obviously a gamer and a quality player. I would be utterly amazed to him invited to NY this year. I could see next year as a maybe if he does have a monster year this year and again in '09.

I'm not saying it is impossible but there is nothing to suggest that it might happen.
 
I didn't take into account the types of offenses each was running. Good point.

I did notice that Steele referenced the number of interceptions that Blake had as a reason for demotion.

Regardless, 18 interceptions is far too many for any QB. Hopefully, Colt fixes that one.
 
Without Finley & Sweed, along with Charles to turn 5-yard dump-offs into 75-yard TD "passes," I expect McCoy to have a serious slump this year. Baylor's QB (whoever that may be) will likely have better passing stats in '08 running the Art Briles offense.
 
Malcom Williams = Sweed
you heard it here first folks.

Blaine Irby = Finley
oh yeah.

McGee & Whittiker = Charles
...sort of...

with these new guys coming in and Shipley and Cosby being even better i don't see much if any drop off. Besides, we only had Sweed for less then half the year in 07. Nate Jones picked up the slack, and while he was great, he wasn't a gamebreaker like Sweed was. look for Williams to make similar plays like Sweed did in 06.
 
We didn't have Sweed last year, and Finley had problems blocking and running his routes. Not huge losses compared to last year.
 
Sorry, but this is a really stupid thread. Yeah, Colt and Blake are pretty similar. Just look at what they've each accomplished:

Colt McCoy:
- National Freshman of the year. (TSN)
- Big-12 Freshman of the Year
- National Record for TD Passes by a Freshman
- Davey O'Brien Award Semi-Finalist
- 2-time Bowl Game MVP
- UT Record for Career Pass Efficiency Rating (148.9)
- UT Record for Pass Completions in a game and season (last year)
- UT Record for Completion Percentage in a season and career
- UT Record for Passing TDs in a season
- #4 on UT list of TD Passes with 2 years still to play
- Career record: 19-6 as a starter

Blake Syzmanski:
- Career record: 3-10 as a starter
- (crickets chirping)
 
Well if the numbers lie, I can see the awards lying also. I for one, don't think either is a particularly good comparrison on talent. I think the two QBs are miles apart when watching film though. If you remember back to the Baylor game, Symanski and the bears scored a quick TD and Sym was going ape **** on the field and essentially taunting Texas. Seriously the kid gets a couple of quick jabs to the body and struts around like the fight is over. Colt and the Texas O then proceeded to systematically beat the **** out of their sorry asses. Poise and experience are worth a lot. Colt has been in he has been down and he has fought back. I give more creedance to that than too many INTs.
 
While I agree with your sentiments, I don't think you have "watched them on film" as much as you think. If so, you would know that Syzmanski was out for the Texas game last year.

It sounds like you might even be thinking of the 2006 game - that's when I remember Baylor getting up early and a good bit of taunting - but that also wasn't Syzmanski, it was Bell.
 
McCoy and a monster year? Who knows? Let's play some games and see if he has progressed. He did have growing pains, but he did lose Sweed, Dockery, and Hills. That made for an offensive line that was very unsettled at first and got better as time went along. That was part of his down year and part of his good FR, yr? A few guys named Blalock, Sendlein, and Studdard. Three starters from a NC offensive line. Maybe Colt didn't have everything to do with a good year followed by a not so good year after all. This year with this OL, I expect he will have more Fr. type numbers than Soph.
 
As the only BU fan posting here I have to comment.

Colt is light years ahead of Szymanski. Szymanski has a decent arm, enough speed to scramble for an occasional first down against a good D, but absolutely no idea about how to read defenses and terrible accuracy(Case example is aggy 07). He always forces his wideouts to adjust to bad balls and had the benefit of an o-line that was light years better in pass protection than any other BU line in at least the last 8 years. He's athletically gifted, but is not able to get the job done against anyone but Rice.
I missed Shawn Bell a lot in 2007, unlike Blake he could hit the broad side of a barn. Bell was short, slow, weak armed, but consistent and made great decisions. It is Bell you all probably remember beating A&M in 04 and hurting yall in 06.

Colt is far better than Blake, not even a question. Good but not great arm, enough speed to get decent yards on the occasional zone read, ability to use his legs to seal a game (Tech 06'), and good but not great accuracy. He runs into trouble when he's hurt (aggy 06') or running for his life due to OL problems (KSU 07'). He's not the NFL prospect but compares well to a Matt Flynn type of player where no one thing jumps out at you. Enough arm strength & accuracy to make all the college throws and just enough speed to hurt defenses on the ground, but not a world beater in any one area. Biggest key to a successful season for Colt: O-Line. He's protected, he won't cough it up so much.
He reminds me of former Northwestern spread offense QB Zac Kustok only Colt probably has more speed. Can't run every system but works really well here.

There is a lot more than stats that you should look at. Stats are a product of system and level of competition. Colt has more than enough ability, if Texas doesn't challenge for the Big 12 its likely not because of him.
 
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