Are you conifdent with Williams at QB?

[Hanmudog]

I certainly am not. We managed basically one hail mary TD against USM with Williams at the helm. He had a fumble and badly missed his receivers a couple times. Our O-line did not show much of a push and if Williams can't make UAB respect the pass then we are going to need some defensive TDs because we sure as **** are not going to hit a field goal.

I think we win but it will be a hell of a lot closer than any of us want.

 

[GloryDawg]

If he is in deed the starter he is getting starter reps in practice. I feel really good about him being ready. Worse case we run the heck out of the option all day.

 

[121Josey]

He's the first QB to win in Arkansas. But that's not Birmingham, I know.**

 

[KurtRambis4]

Am I confident that we

will win Saturday with him at QB? Yes. However, he won't be the reason we win, if he does start.

 

[Shmuley]

4 plays. Rotate them left, middle, right. No thinking. Should be ok til Dak bak.

 

[Hanmudog]

4 plays. Rotate them left, middle, right. No thinking. Should be ok til Dak bak.

Don't forget "punt" because that is almost certainly what we will be doing.

 

[hullabaloodog]

I feel fine with him against UAB. His TD pass was far from a hail mary. He saw single coverage and a DB who hadn't turned his head around and threw the the ball where his bigger receiver could go get it.

 

[dawgstudent]

I'm fine with him at QB for UAB. Not sure about South Alabama.

 

[drt7891]

Is it a done deal that dak is out this week? Is this still speculation?

 

[KurtRambis4]

Exactly.

IHis TD pass was far from a hail mary.

That was a beautiful pass. I thought it was his best throw he's made since he's been here.

 

[Dawg1976]

Not really. At least we are not playing an sec team this week.

 

[msstate7]

Did Williams get an opportunity to play with the starters? He'll be much better this week if he has the starters around him

 

[fishwater99]

If Dak isn't back playing against USA then we are in for a long season...
I think he starts against UAB,,

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Very confident, because it will mean that Dak has already put the game against UAB well out of reach of them coming back.

 

[drt7891]

South Alabama is looking to be a trap game, no matter who is at QB.

 

[BiscuitEater]

While not as efficient as Dak ...

I feel fine with him against UAB. His TD pass was far from a hail mary. He saw single coverage and a DB who hadn't turned his head around and threw the the ball where his bigger receiver could go get it.

His stats were not horrible ... I added ypc (yards per completion) and ypa (yards per attempt)

Passing gp effic comp-att-int pct yds td lg avg/g ypc ypa
Dak Prescott 1 204.06 18-26-1 69.2 284 4 35 284.0 15.77 10.92
Damian Williams 1 172.00 5-8-0 62.5 65 1 23 65.0 13.0 8.12

Fumble was bad but he did carry twice for 29 yards, Dak was 8 for 39 yards (not counting losses)


Damien needs to play to gain confidence. Would like for Dak to start and get the offense into a rhythm before relinquishing to Damian.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

Yes, but only against UAB, mini Favre and Vandy. Anyone else and I'm nervous.

 

[esplanade91]

Nicky Fitz!!!

 

[AlCoDog]

For the next 2 weeks yes, and if he is our QB, I look forward to revisiting this thread on Sunday.

 

[coach66]

I was very high on Williams last year and my feelings have not changed. I

think he is going to win some games for us and will get better and better with experience. Williams can play and has his head on right.

 

[ronpolk]

South Alabama is looking to be a trap game, no matter who is at QB.

Am I just missing something with south Alabama? Why is everyone so scared of them. We will beat them easily, in my opinion. As for this weekend, with Dak it's a USM type score. Without Dak, it's still a 4 TD win. I think UAB will play to our strength if they run the ball 50 times like last week.

 

[esplanade91]

Am I just missing something with south Alabama? Why is everyone so scared of them. We will beat them easily, in my opinion. As for this weekend, with Dak it's a USM type score. Without Dak, it's still a 4 TD win. I think UAB will play to our strength if they run the ball 50 times like last week.

Are you saying that because they're in the Sun Belt and just joined D1 are have you looked at their roster?

Jones has been assembling a sleeper down there. Not only do they get every single Vick Ballard-type, they manage to get a high percentage of D1 transfers.

Their O has been terrible and I don't expect that to change, but their D will be good. How good? I don't know. But I'm not going to say they won't at least provide a test. On the road. In front of a crowd that wants blood. This is their Super Bowl.

 

[drt7891]

1. It's on the road
2. It is their first time EVER to host an sec school
3. If it's not a sellout yet, it will be
4. Their team is quite underrated, IMO and they will be fired up as hell to play us in front of a record home crowd
5. We are M-State and we have struggled with the likes of Louisiana tech, Troy, and UAB the past several years, even with teams msu teams we thought were good.

I'm not exactly predicting a loss and I'd LOVE to be dead wrong about these guys, but USA has too much writing on the wall for me to just say "we are gonna kick their ***." All it'll take is for us to get off the bus not giving a a ****, make a couple of mistakes, and let them hang around and it could be a very long and uncomfortable night.

 

[MStateDawg11]

I'll give anybody on here UAB or South Ala and 14 with Williams at QB. And if we can't beat those two with DW at QB then we don't have much of a chance aganist Aub, Ala, LSU or A&M no matter who is under center.

 

[esplanade91]

I'll give anybody on here UAB or South Ala and 14 with Williams at QB. And if we can't beat those two with DW at QB then we don't have much of a chance aganist Aub, Ala, LSU or A&M no matter who is under center.

We're going to absolutely murder UAB and USA's wife and family, but USA is a respectable team. At least on defense. That's why people are calling it a "test."

 

[patdog]

One thing to remember about Williams last week. He was playing with the 2nd team offense (except for a couple of plays on the fumble drive where he played with the 1st team OL and 2nd team backs & receivers). If Dak is out, he'll be playing with the starters.

 

[ronpolk]

Are you saying that because they're in the Sun Belt and just joined D1 are have you looked at their roster?

Jones has been assembling a sleeper down there. Not only do they get every single Vick Ballard-type, they manage to get a high percentage of D1 transfers.

Their O has been terrible and I don't expect that to change, but their D will be good. How good? I don't know. But I'm not going to say they won't at least provide a test. On the road. In front of a crowd that wants blood. This is their Super Bowl.

I'm sure they have some nice players on their team, they are in area that is loaded with high school talent. I just don't believe their talent is anywhere close to ours. I also don't buy into the whole it's their Super Bowl. That may keep the game close for a quarter but eventually emotion wears off and the talent gap will show itself. We should win that game by 2 or 3 touchdowns. And if we don't, we are in trouble the remainder of the year.

But then being a sun belt team does play in to my reasoning. The sun belt co-champion was beaten 34-14 by Arkansas last year. And yes I know south Alabama beat Lafayette last year. I just think the talent gap is very wide.

 

[drt7891]

I'm not necessarily arguing the talent gap, but I do suggest surfing some USA message boards this week and next, because this game is a huge deal to them. Esplande is dead on about it being their Super Bowl.

Talent alone can't win if talent doesn't play hard. You can bet your *** these guys want to beat us and my point is that we better respect them. We do that, I don't think we have any trouble winning. But I won't be surprised if these guys find a way to uncomfortably hang around the whole game.

 

[esplanade91]

It is their Super Bowl! They put up billboards about THIS game back in April! They even hashtagged it and have been tweeting it at Gameday to be at this game (hilarious) since then too.

This. Is. Their. Super Bowl.

Look, I don't know how defending them being a test has turned into me saying they're good or even how they can beat us. They can't. But they're a test. Their defense is stout and will be better than most outside the power 5 + AAC this year. And I fully expect the 40% of the crowd cheering them on to be hostile. I don't see how any of this is a bad thing though... Should bring our A game out for the LSU game the following week.

 

[drt7891]

I'm not really saying they are good either... Certainly they are not better than us. But playing in front of this kind of home crowd in a game that's been hyped for months absolutely CANNOT be overlooked. Play hard, show these guys some respect, an take care of business and we should have no problems.

 

[rem101]

What do you mean "this kind of home crowd?" We'll have 40% of the 40k with MSU fans.

 

[esplanade91]

What do you mean "this kind of home crowd?" We'll have 40% of the 40k with MSU fans.

I mean that 60% of the crowd will be for MSU.

 

[ronpolk]

It is their Super Bowl! They put up billboards about THIS game back in April! They even hashtagged it and have been tweeting it at Gameday to be at this game (hilarious) since then too.

This. Is. Their. Super Bowl.

Look, I don't know how defending them being a test has turned into me saying they're good or even how they can beat us. They can't. But they're a test. Their defense is stout and will be better than most outside the power 5 + AAC this year. And I fully expect the 40% of the crowd cheering them on to be hostile. I don't see how any of this is a bad thing though... Should bring our A game out for the LSU game the following week.

I'm not saying this is not the biggest game on their schedule. I'm simply saying no matter how big this game is to them they will not win it. Frankly, I don't think it's a huge test. It will be our biggest test to date though. I certainly could be wrong and if so I'll admit it.

 

[esplanade91]

I'm not saying this is not the biggest game on their schedule. I'm simply saying no matter how big this game is to them they will not win it. Frankly, I don't think it's a huge test. It will be our biggest test to date though. I certainly could be wrong and if so I'll admit it.

I have a lot of friends who went there, even some who played there. They think they'll win. Or can. The USM friends I have who actually cheer for USM thought they could too. I had one even bring up history in the discussion.

I mean honestly, back when we were losing to heavyweights like Maine and UAB, when we got heavy favorites at DWS did you ever think "we're 100% for sure going to lose"? If you're a big enough fan of USA or schools like them to the point where you debate on message boards and buy season tickets, what would be the point if you didn't think you could beat everyone on their schedule?

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I get being worried about overlooking them with LSU waiting in the wings, I just think our staff and players will not overlook anyone. They had to struggle to make a bowl last season, so I think this squad knows just how important each game is. We are also actually looking like a SEC caliber team physically, especially on defense.

USA will give us a test but I just don't see them being able to line up against us man to man for four quarters.