CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => SEC => Topic started by: OrangeAfroMan on November 12, 2018, 01:59:37 AM
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Florida QB Felipe Franks gets a lot of flack. He's not a good passer, but isn't as bad as the critics probably think. He can also run some, which matters.
I did a little study of Florida QBs who started in their SOPH seasons. On the one hand, UF has had some really impressive SOPH QB seasons. On the other hand, some close statistical comparisons reveal themselves.
Name - Comp% - Yards - TD/INT - Rating - Record
Wuerffel - 62.3% - 1754 - 18/9 - 151.3 - 10-2-1
Johnson - 55.0% - 2023 - 21/12 - 135.0 - 10-2
Palmer - 59.3% - 1246 - 14/5 - 173.9 - 10-2
Grossman - 65.6% - 3896 - 34/12 - 170.8 - 10-2
Leak - 59.6% - 3197 - 29/12 - 144.9 - 7-5
Tebow - 66.9% - 3286 - 32/6 - 172.5 - 9-4
Driskel - 63.7% - 1646 - 12/5 - 132.2 - 11-2
Franks - 56.9% - 1756 - 17/6 - 134.8 - 7-3
Franks has similar QB ratings as Doug Johnson and Jeff Driskel. Johnson's biggest crime was not being Wuerffel. Grossman and Tebow had all-time seasons, so sure, Franks is not them.
Johnson and Driskel led UF to 10-2 seasons and were the beneficiaries of especially strong defenses. Franks' defense in 2018 is letting the team down. Driskel and Franks add the rushing component, so they are pretty comparable.
I don't feel like Driskel received the same criticisms as Franks, because he was an upgrade from the previous QB (Brantley). Fans accepted his limitations and were behind him. Florida went 11-2 with his limited passing abilities, riding that strong defense.
Franks was in the group still trying to replace the half-season of Will Grier. He's not as good as Grier. But providing nearly the same skill set as Driskel, the fan base isn't behind him AND he doesn't have such a strong defense to rely on.
Gators fan's ire should be on the defense more than on Franks.
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Aside from statistical comparisons, there are also plays in critical situations that fans tend to recall. One QB with similar overall numbers (perhaps padded by opponents like Vandy etc.) may do poorly against top level defenses in critical situations. Another might do fairly well and be considered to be at least pretty good, or clutch, or whatever.
Then there are things like how good protection is, how good the running game is, how many passes are tipped or deflected and get intercepted, etc.
Few QBs are going to do well without a good OL and running game. Play action is a huge advantage on first down IF there is a threat to run 5-6-7 yards.
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That's why I included the team's overall record in those seasons.
Can you tell the difference when Spurrier left? lol