Home Football Let the Luton Discussion Begin

Let the Luton Discussion Begin

175

Looks like a lot of apologists already forming around him.

My take on his performance today:

Luton’s INTs lead to points and further gassed the D. Awful QB play in the 2nd half. If you want to say he was alright in the first, agree.

He’s DA. He’s the QB who will perpetually tease with some great plays and then break you’re heart with awful ones. I’ve seen so many bozos like this, and they always beat out the “game managers”. So be it. GA’s seat is the hot one, not mine.

That from the prior thread. I’d like to add that CSU’s weakness was their secondary. CSU dropped one INT as well, and that “tie” ball looked like a Rams INT to me. I’m trying to imagine him vs Washington, USC, and Stanford. Those are all 4+ INT games.

This decision, IMO as things stand today, puts GA on the hot seat. Mainly for his inability to analyze QB play. He discounts efficiency and falls for the tall bozo with the big arm. Yeah, I saw Luton’s great plays, and some were great, but I’m not dumb enough to think 5 great throws makes a great QB or for a great game from your QB. GA and McGiven apparently believe this. We’re in big trouble with their QB analysis. I do like Petras a lot…not sure he sticks with the Beavs because he likely gets a 4 star bump, and he can’t like what he sees with our “progress”.

As I write this, the announcer says, “Jake Luton throws yet another ill advised pass”…and it’s INT. 3rd one now. Lol.

But no, people wanted to argue with me that this was the guy and McM wasn’t because he was only a lowly “game manager”…*sigh*. Let the hamster wheel rationalization begin.

175 COMMENTS

    • “UCLA sealed its victory in the most opportunistic and highlight-worthy way, when Randall Goforth jumped in front of a McMaryion pass and sprinted 40 yards to the end zone to give the Bruins a two-touchdown advantage with 2:14 to play”

    • I don’t think so. We would have run a lot more, so there’s that. I don’t know why we didn’t do so anyway. We had production from four backs, but we’re handing off to Bradford on the fly? And Elu being out was what killed the D. It didn’t show until the second half when Failauga went out with the cramp. Then CSU did what we should have been doing on O, running down the D between the tackles.

      With MM in there, we probably keep it close. But I was also impressed by CSU’s O and their play-calling. We have to give them some credit for taking advantage of our mistakes.

    • Yes sir, implied with the “GA’s seat is the hot one, not mine.” in the post.

      It’s valid at this point, mostly based on their analysis of players.

      • If we’re talking stopping the buck, sure. But I think McGiven screwed the pooch on this one. I like the idea of Woods calling plays. I wonder what an O-line coach would call differently than a QB coach.

  1. Not going to another OSU home game this year. Shitty that OSU charges students for athletics fees even if the students don’t go to the games. Cannot wait to graduate, I refuse to give the university another dollar.

  2. MCM would have been better in this game. Jesus Christ this was just fucking pathetic. An absolute embarrassment of the highest order.

  3. Luton was bad in the 2nd half and the D was bad the whole game. POOR, VERY POOR offensive game plan by the coaches. Run the fucking ball and keep the D off the field.

    What’s even more disappointing is the D was suppose to be much improved, not so much.

  4. I got the Over/Under on thrown away yards by running it out of the endzone on kickoffs this year at 300 lost yards. 30 yds were lost today.

    I’m taking the Over with no one telling Tyler to quit doing that. 30×12 would put it at 350 lost yards this year if nothing changes and GA and staff don’t grow a brain.

  5. Really? So no blame for the pathetic defensive performance? Seriously? This game was on the defense, no QB wins with that garbage defense

    • Already mentioned it in the prior thread:

      GA fell in love with using his new “weapon”, the passing game. Just bad coaching. Didn’t run when that’s and TE were the advantages.

      Yeah, the D stunk, but I expected a gassed D with that travel time and altitude. I had them giving up 34 (that’s a lot of points and expectation of bad D). Would have been around that without all the TOs. They stunk but the O didn’t help them in the point column.

      This thread is about Luton. After seeing him for a game, we can now form opinions. It’s also about our coaches who thought he was the best QB on the roster.

  6. The tall Bozo with the big arm lol.. gets em every time. My biggest concern with Luton was dumb throws that was not alieviated today. Also a part of me thinks that with MCM in maybe that forces Mcgiven to run more instead of trusting big arm so much? I think this team should run the ball 40-45 times a game in order to be successful and that’s even more the case now with this D.

    Another thing.. where the f were Bright and Manase today? Don’t think I heard either. And called once. Xavier Crawford also was not impressive. Beavs D is suspect.

  7. Question for those who have access to the stats:

    What was Luton’s completion % (I’d like the %, but also attempts/completions) on deep balls today?
    I saw them had him 1 of 6 early in the game and never saw an update, but I can’t remember any other deep completions other than the one to Togia. My guess would be like 2 of 12.

    It’s just ironic to me because the big criticism of McM was he couldn’t throw the deep ball and was only good on intermediate passes. Sounds like Luton. Only Luton throws INTs into awful secondaries (Again, we heard McM only threw 5Tds and 0INT vs Arizona because they were so bad, etc).

    None of this makes sense.

    It’s like Twilight Zone.

  8. Colorado State could pump Cam the Ram full of laxatives and set him loose on the field, and he still wouldn’t take as big of a dump as the Beavs did on it.

  9. Another interception! Let’s get them out of his system before the next game. Maybe a game manager is preferable to a gunslinger. Ugh Aside from Luton being asked to throw 50 times, where was the running game? Where was the blitzing LB?

    Review the long list of non conference beatdowns on big stage since 2000:
    Louisville
    Cinncinati
    Boise St
    Penn St
    Minnesota
    Sac St
    Eastern Washington
    Wisconsin
    Michigan
    Colorado St

    Unbeleivably each of these teams was on the rise as they play Beavs. And Beavs lay down as if on cue and allow it to happen. This is the worst part of being a Beaver fan. Riley and DeCarolis created a reason to play these games and now it has become part of the OSU psyche to get thumped according to script every fall by teams that are needing a big non conference win to make their name nationally. I thought GA was a differnce maker, but maybe it is still too soon.

    58-27 is unexcusable. It doesn’t help that the d-line was a man down most of the game but that is no excuse. OC cost the momentum of the first half by calling plays to lean towards Luton rather than a long view of the game that relied on wearing out the Ram defense by running heavily. Time of possession should be a priority for the Beavs and it was an afterthought. The sequence in the 2nd when they ended up missing the fg was pivotal and should have been a td if you keep running and play with much more attitude. OC lacks the attitude, GA needs to address it asap.

  10. Blame Luton all you want but OSU couldn’t stop CSU all day long and they made our run game irrelevant. Aside from Nall’s 75 yarder the run game wasn’t great either. M McM wasn’t going to win this game either. Looked like a major step back from last year.

  11. Not surprised that Luton is not panning out. It was a huge gamble.

    What I’m more shocked about is the defense which is supposed to be GA’s specialty. There is no explanation or excuse for it. I saw Luton fail coming–I did not see defense fail coming at all.

  12. If I heard him correctly Wilson is saying the running game needs to be evaluated. If you take out Nalls run the rushing yardage wasn’t all that great.

    Imo the CSU DL over matched the Beavs OL.

    Yeah, Luton made some mistakes, but how many were because of the play of the OL?

    • Get that Kindergarten Riley logo out if here. Represents the complete embarrassment that is OSU football. Give it more time when CSU drops 58 on us and more than doubles are point total. More time when Tyler runs it out of the endzone 8 times and gets a yard or two past the 25 yard line only once and loses us 5 yards, sometimes more, on nearly all of them?

      More time when this D has sucked against the run all 3 years under Andersen and looks its worst now with all his guys? How many interceptions will it take you before you want a more thought out gameplan?

      Portland St. doesn’t count except for grades K-2nd.

      • So what, you would fire Andersen right now and have someone be an interim coach?

        Bench Luton and put Garretson back out there? If/when he struggles against Minnesota (hopefully not against PSU!) then put in Blount?

  13. Hey at least we scored the FIRST touchdown of the season! Can’t take that away from the record books!! #GoBeavs #BuildTheDam

  14. It’s only one game, but I will say this, as a neutral when it comes to the quarterback question:

    Your starting quarterback should have more TDs than INTs.

    That is all.

    On the bright side, angry (and others here) were wrong about Summer Houston. Not one bad snap the entire game.

    • There were several snaps Luton had to reach down below his knees to grab. Just watch a replay, it happened frequently, but Luton was able to corral it.

      • Yep, but people were talking about him having launching balls over Luton or to the side, costing yards because of bad snaps. I didn’t see anything snap that obviously costed yardage today, which was encouraging.

  15. You guys are churning the hamster wheel and talking about the D and running. The thread is about Luton.

    Now that we’ve seen him, does your opinion change, etc?

    Does your opinion of GA and his staff’s ability to analyze QBs change?

    Everyone knows the D gave up a lot of points, yards, and we didn’t run enough. Everyone knows that. What I’m trying to get at is now that we’ve seen this player in a D1 game with our own eyes, what’s the verdict?

    My verdict is written in the original post. I’d like to hear others thoughts, if anyone changed their mind on him, and see some opinions committed to writing without deflecting onto the D or run game. Just pure QB analysis.

    • Imo it’s too early to make a judgement call on Luton except for the fact that he needs coaching. What I’m concerned about is the OSU QB coach isn’t up to the job.

      • Yeah that’s fair.

        What’s concerning about Luton is he had a pretty good first half. As soon as CSU made adjustments he fell apart. And now McGiven is the guy to fix him? Yikes.

        I’m sure Luton will look good vs PSU. At least I hope so. If not it’s worse than I think.

        • I don’t believe that a kid that has had JC game experience and coaching instructions is a complete player. In most cases there’s a lot more coaching needed along with game time experience. So in this case the coach needs to be talking to the kid about all sorts of things including decision making. I think Luton made some bad decisions today most of which were caused by the lack of protection he was getting from his OL. The last pick was thrown with CSU players all over him.

          • Then the question becomes why should that guy be starting over an established QB?
            And that’s been my question all along. Always said to let Luton learn on the sidelines and then get his shot if/when there’s an injury.

    • To be more precise, there is an after glow of sentiment for McM in this thread as well. Luton missed early and shanked late. If we subtract the coaching and ugly game defensively and look at Luton in a situation-less vacuum, Luton was less than everything we had hoped.
      O and D coord’s should have their balls on a griddle, and GA is in the crucible.

    • I think that taking out the variables of coaching and defense makes a flawed argument. Luton was good in the first half. Second half was certainly pressing. Not a good half of qb’ing. I’m not ready after first game to call him a bum. Matt Moore want great his first game at OS either.

  16. This game reminded me of 2011-2014 seasons with Riley. Abandon the run because you have a gun slinging QB and when you run the ball, it’s done when the other team is blitzing or stacking the box. The play calling with the runs never lead to play action passes because we couldn’t gain enough yards. Basically they forced the beavers to beat them with the passing game, and we couldn’t because they kept getting pressure in the second half.

    There appeared to be no halftime adjustments made by the beavs on either side either. This came down to coordinators. I think it’s time for a new OC if this game planning continues. Klune needs to get more push on the DL and corners need to make plays on the balls.

  17. Since everyone wants to harp on the D and blame them, how many points came off the offense’s 5 turnovers? I mean there’s good reason I’m not harping on the D. When you’re put in that situation at altitude you will be shot early on and give up a ton, especially vs a good offensive team like CSU. Game was over at the Pick 6. D is also mostly very young players and the best players at their spot, unlike the QB position.

    • I thought the game was over when the officials didn’t give us the touchdown at the end of the 1st half. Fucking game officials had the cheat on today…

    • Agreed. I think maybe I banked too much on GA’s D specialty and expected better of defense but there were problems all around that outweighed defense issues. Concerning.

    • Luton was a reversed call and a dropped pass by Togia away from having 4 TD passes. His 3 turnovers led to 17 points but we lost by 31.

      The run game was mostly inept, Luton took deep shots when check downs were open, and receivers dropped balls. Seems a collective effort to me combined with an inept defense. I hate to say it but didn’t see a lot of fight in the team today. It was like a Riley team.

      • His 3 turnovers led to 17 points

        Thank you.

        Luton gave CSU 17 points.

        What did Bradford’s fumble give, 3? What did Togia’s fumble give, 7? So 27 points given up by the O’s turnovers? Is that accurate?

  18. So back to the topic: we were told Luton was great on deep balls.

    Anyone have the final stats on deep balls? I saw 1 of 6 during the game. I remember one other completed to Togia. CSU’s secondary was ranked as the worst unit on their team. So I want to know this stat. I think during the game they defined a deep pass as 20+ yards in the air.

    I’d like the his stats on deep passes, and not YAC passes, if anyone can find it.

  19. I think the d was ok and had stops when needed. They were gassed. As for Luton he was asked to do too much. I think eventually he will be ok. I blame coaching for abandoning the run and poor play calling.

  20. MCM only threw for 300 yards once in his career, Luton did 305. Luton as of right now has completed 21% of MCM career completions at OSU. Luton had 3 picks, 2 are on him, 1 was a receiver falling down after the throw was made, he gets dinged for it but it’s a wash. Yes he over threw some deep balls, big deal. He also threw 2 long touchdown passes.
    What I like seeing about Luton that we haven’t seen in several years including mannions years, is the fact that he is actively checking down on his passes. MCM stared down his first receiver Every. Fucking. Time. Is Luton perfect….no, but he’s way better than MCM. Angry what completion percentage did you want early during fall camp? Around 60% well he did 58%.
    He showed some escapablity and scrambled when the pocket collapsed a few times, and only took 1 sack.

    • Cool, so throwing for 300 yards is the benchmark of great QBing. Got it.

      He did check down, but so did McM, and got criticized for it via “no deep passes”.

      • “He did check down, but so did McM, and got criticized for it via “no deep passes”.”

        Bulllllllshit, he didnt check down ever. It wasn’t because he didn’t throw deep it was because he couldnt throw deep. He made 15 yard passes arch like he was throwing 40 yards.

        And I’m just adding stats with 300+ yards because if he had gone 27 for 47 and 115 yards you’d be bitching and whining about “he only threw for 115 yards, who cares anybody can do that.”

  21. So people generally like Luton and thought that was good QB play? That’s what I’m hearing via all the excuses how it was other’s fault.
    Cool.

    Just wanted to get the pulse.

    • At least as good as mcm and he completed some passes to beavs mcm can’t throw. Luton stat line wasn’t terrible, better than some mcm games.

      Maybe wait until you have a better sample size

      • Yeah I will wait for a better sample size to be completely sure, but I’m pretty sure now.

        I just thought that was bad QB play, but I also thought DA was a bad QB and people loved him. The CSU QB was great. That’s what great QB play looks like, and we never see it on our roster. Yet guys like him (e.g. K. Moore, LeFevour, even Rothlisberger) continually pop up at lower level schools.

    • I think the pulse is you can’t pin the loss entirely on Luton. He was good and bad but so were many other elements of the team and coaching staff in this game.

  22. Yet another year and our team can’t finish in the second half of a game. When will we become a legit team? This year? Next? The year after? Do we even give Gary 2 more years at this rate?

  23. Year three ideally means win small, which means playing MISTAKE free football
    Luton made some costly errors. Beyond the INT’s he missed or passed up check downs which put our shitty D back on the field. Team is not good enough to overcome this. To his credit he did make some nice throws, but this team needs a SUV, not a sports car. Now we need a tow truck.

  24. The offense needed to play a perfect game to overcome the poor play of the defense.

    The defense needed to play a perfect game to overcome the poor play of the offense.

    Neither happened so they lost by 31.

  25. Oregon State QB Jake Luton on his momentum-swinging pick-six: “I just ripped it a little bit too much…that’s 100 percent on me.”

    Aw shucks?

    He ripped it alright…

    • The quote game is fun…

      “UCLA sealed its victory in the most opportunistic and highlight-worthy way, when Randall Goforth jumped in front of a McMaryion pass and sprinted 40 yards to the end zone to give the Bruins a two-touchdown advantage with 2:14 to play”

      How many TDs did mcm throw that day? I mean, to beavs receivers

  26. Early, Nall was stacked up by CSU but several passing opportunities were available. Luton hit one to Hernandez and missed on roughly 4.
    Later the running game was looking viable after some stretch throws, but the calls were apparently predictable to CSU.
    Just seemed like the plays being called were behind the moment. Bobo inc were adjusting very much faster and the results showed.
    OSU off balance for entire game it seemed to me.

    • To me, when I see McGiven in interviews answering simple softball questions with “um….”, “uh….” and lots of stuttering, it tells me all I need to know about his in game decision making. He’s not a quick thinker in interviews, so why would he be any sharper at play calling. Those synapses aren’t built for D1 football.

  27. What’s concerning to me is this is the same guy I saw play in JC last year. Some good throws followed by bad misses and terrible INT’s. I don’t think we have the mind on our staff to develop Qb’s. Granted the competition was better today than at the Jc level but still Luton shows very little progress as a cerebral QB.

    I think the assumption that Marcus would have been the better option for this game is correct.

        • Tar-Baby story
          In one tale, Br’er Fox constructs a doll out of a lump of tar and dresses it with some clothes. When Br’er Rabbit comes along he addresses the Tar-Baby amiably, but receives no response. Br’er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as the Tar-Baby’s lack of manners, punches it, and in doing so becomes stuck. The more Br’er Rabbit punches and kicks the tar “baby” out of rage, the more he gets stuck. When Br’er Fox reveals himself, the helpless but cunning Br’er Rabbit pleads, “please, Br’er Fox, don’t fling me in dat brier-patch,” prompting Fox to do exactly that. As rabbits are at home in thickets, the resourceful Br’er Rabbit uses the thorns and briers to escape. The story was originally published in Harper’s Weekly by Robert Roosevelt; years later Joel Chandler Harris included his version of the tale in his Uncle Remus stories.

  28. If McM had been playing he might not have thrown 3 picks but the team would probably have been more dependent on the running game so CSU could have stacked the box even more than they did.

    Taking a quick look at the stats…. If you remove the 75 run by Nall the Beavs rushed 28 times for 77 yards. That’s 2.75 yards per carry.

    So while the game would have probably been less embarrassing it still would have probably ended in a loss. So the OL did not open the necessary holes AND imo, too much of the time Luton was getting a lot of pressure.

    If the coaching staff can get Luton to subdue the gunslinger mentality it looked to me like he has potential to be very good.

    Shame on the coaching staff for running off McM. JMO

  29. I enjoy watching a program build and I thought until today it was happening. They’re still unable to find the mental toughness they need in early games. (assignments, discipline, proper angles, footwork, reads, blocking, etc) It’s embarrassing how they get pushed around, they have little edge to them – OSU might as well forfeit the first 4 games of every season because they won’t be alert enough to be competitive. Something is way too sleepy in Corvallis and has been for…ever (Dennis found it for a year). Maybe it’s Corvallis itself. They’re sheltered from tough boy world. Figure it out. Whatever it takes. It doesn’t matter as much who is QB, WR, OL, DL or any other position until they weed out the profound wuss-ness that pervades this team early in the season. Every year. I support this weak frame of mind less and less every year. Figure it out. That’s you marketing, that’s you coaches, that’s you players. Blame it on sleepy Corvallis all you want and continue to lose. Or, figure out the mental part of the game right away. If you can’t self motivate then you shouldn’t come to Corvallis because being on fire for playing for Coach A at practice clearly does not translate into the toughness and discipline it takes to win in sayyyy…Fort Collins, or any other road venue. That’s not a pretty sign for the future of football at OSU.

  30. It’s really too bad you’re so obsessed about being right with 3M. There’s not many decent sites to talk Beavers football. Who cares if Luton or 3M was out there today. A terrible OC with a terrible scheme trying to run AirBeav with an unrecruited QB is one major issue. Luton under center may be a decent compliment to a heavy run game, but we may never know. His arm is certainly more dangerous than 3M, and could make the defense pay if they had to stack the box to stop the run. The point is, what the hell was the OC thinking. Another major issue is they can’t seem to recruit a Pac 12 caliber QB, period.

    Sadly, the big surprise was how bad the defense sucked. They don’t have athletes and they didn’t seem to make adjustments. I thought Clune was at least going to be a good coach, though not the recruiter that Sitake was. This a bad omen that an Andersen-led team is so bad on defense. And here too, no relief is coming from recruiting.

    You were right about a lot leading up to this game, Angry. Fans underrating CSU, the stadium atmosphere, the heat, an undersized center. You also called it that stupid McGiven and Andersen would fall in love with the pass game with a completely unproven QB. Sadly, it’s even worse than any of us thought.

    • Also, directly to the question, I think you were accurate with your assessment of Luton. I don’t think it’s quite as bad as you think, but definitely not a passer the entire offense should be based off of. I think he could be relatively effective if utilized in the correct capacity, which is as a threat once the defense focuses on stopping the run.

      • the defense focuses on stopping the run.

        The defense was focused on that today. They stacked the box, so Luton had favorable one on one matchups most of the day. That’s what I saw at least, and the telecasters commented on it several times.

  31. Lol this take is too hot to touch. Defense gives up a 50 spot and you say the QB is the problem This would be embarrassing if it weren’t so predictable

  32. Just happy to have football back. We stink, but what’s new? Andersen has these boys fired up! We’ve got some real talent on this team. At least we can still make the rosebowl too! Yaaaasssss! #GoBeavs #ReserTime #WeAreOranges

  33. Brent Brennan’s SJSU team is up 16-0 on #19 ranked South Florida after 1st quarter. I guess Willie left the cupboard bare?
    Or is this all on Charlie Strong?
    Nice start for Brennan as a head coach.

  34. Gina tweets:
    Oregon State LB Manase Hungalu on the defensive performance: “It was horrible…the lack of communication out there was really bad today.

  35. I liked MM and would have preferred him as the starter. However, if he started, the Offensive Coordinator probably wouldn’t have allowed him to throw (for some reason). The big problem lies with the OC. No matter the qb, the game plan never seems to take advantage of the team’s strengths.

  36. In case missed above, from Calibeav who watched Luton in-person at JC:

    What’s concerning to me is this is the same guy I saw play in JC last year. Some good throws followed by bad misses and terrible INT’s. I don’t think we have the mind on our staff to develop Qb’s. Granted the competition was better today than at the Jc level but still Luton shows very little progress as a cerebral QB.

    I think the assumption that Marcus would have been the better option for this game is correct.

    That’s exactly what I see, been saying, and think we’ll continue to see. Just like Seth, Luton will make a few “wow plays” that lure everyone in and keep support (the idea that IF one day “everything clicks”! yada yada)….

    • What does it matter at this point? Your mind is made up weather he throws 0 or 50 interceptions for the rest of the year. The real problem is the defense. Or lack there of. We gained 450 yards today and gave up 500+ and Luton is the problem? One of those is pretty good the other is bad, guess which one?
      I’d take 3 Ints a game with 450 yards of offense if we could hold a opponent to under 200 yards a game.

          • Sorry to tell you but I don’t think we can swap jerseys with Alabama. And I get what your saying, I too want perfection, but the gap between where we are and where you want us to be is where I’m sitting waiting.
            Question, take away Lutons interceptions today. Did he play smart for you?

          • I’d have to go back and watch the film to answer that, but I remember several routes where the underneath guy was wide open for a first down and he threw it longer downfield into traffic. So, no, unless there was good reason upon second look, but I don’t think there was. He also didn’t audible well. There were some formations that didn’t look good for the Beavs and he didn’t call a TO, etc.

            Oh, I saw him make some NFL type throws. And I also saw Seth make some NFL type hurdles. Guys with power arms and leaping ability will wow you a few times per game. I was wowed a few times. But at the end of the day, I didn’t see a good QB. I see a tall guy, with a big arm, who people feel should be a good QB, so they line him up behind C and hope for the best.

            He’ll probably have some good games and make me look stupid, just like Jake Thompson, but at the end of the day Jake wasn’t elite or a winner (team-wise), and Luton won’t be, either. He doesn’t have “it”. “It” is command of your instrument. In this case, the offense, a football, and your arm/accuracy. Without total command of those things you’re just a dude tossing darts in the dark. Yeah, sometimes you’ll do awesome just out of probabilities.

          • If you look close on the audible calls (at least the ones I paid attention too) he was getting everything feed in from the sidelines. Watch the receivers, and olinemen, they all looked to the sideline to get calls or changes. It’s like they didn’t let Luton make decisions on his own. Anyway just an observation.

          • Ps. I don’t expect the Alabama roster. They usually have pretty bad QBs, actually.
            What I don’t understand is why we can’t recruit guys like K. Moore, LeFevour, Rothlisberger, that CSU QB today, etc. There are guys who don’t get P5 offers yet are good, and we have nobody who can spot them. Once Jim Gilstrap died it was all over for OSU. That was the decline. He built those teams up toward the Rose Bowl. Riley gets the credit, but Gilstrap found all the talent. Gilstrap died in 2007, and Riley was all downhill after that (well, of course he road those Gilstrap classes to Rose Bowl bids then collapsed).

            The irony is the current staff drove away some of the guys most fitting the QB mold I mention. These guys are like the anti Gilstraps. They’re totally blind to ballers and fall for hurdlers and 80 yard throws. That shit doesn’t win games nor is any of it important. Luton’s canon did shit today other than overthrow guys. Without accuracy it’s worthless. Meanwhile, that under-recruited dork for CSU who can probably throw 45 yards max was throwing darts in stride efficiently and carving us like the turkeys we were.

      • I had stats before this game and I think it rings true now, we win the turnover battle, gain more than 250 yards rushing, pass effectively for more than 130 yards, and we hold the opponent to 200 yards rushing and passing, we win. The defense didn’t do that today. When did the turnovers start? First one was the fumble by #8, next was Timmy falling down and ball getting intercepted, then the tipped ball that was thrown late by Luton(up, back of WR, and thrown hard) pick 6, then we were really behind by 3 possessions and we would never catch up to that because our defense couldn’t make a stop to save their lives. 3rd and long and they get a deep ball over the right shoulder of the WR and the WR first looked left then went back to the right and caught the ball.

        Defense played against a senior QB and it showed that the CSU QB has report and timing with his WR’s unlike Luton. Luton should have audibled to a pass once he realized the defense was stacking the box on any of the 3 run plays by Nall in the 3rd quarter that caused us to have to punt. I also feel the coaches wanted to see how Luton would handle a comeback once it got to that point instead of trying to restablish a whole new game plan of establish the run and then the pass. Also remember that most first games with a new QB it’s very vanilla and CSU had about 5-10 plays for passing and running that they’re just rotated with. Our defense were on their heels the entire second half because we couldn’t figure out what their top 20 plays were at halftime. Throw deep to #4 came about every 3rd-4th play and run 2 run plays then a swing pass then a deep ball and then another swing pass then run some more. They had a pattern and we couldn’t do anything to stop it.

  37. Gopher, was it noisy in that stadium today? I barely noticed the crowd noise on tv and expected that to be more of a factor. Maybe it just wasn’t mic’d in a way we coyld hear the crowd on tv?
    Or maybe they were saving their energy since CSU didn’t need help today?

  38. Problems ranked:

    1. Turnovers
    2. Red zone def. csu was 8for 8 in red zone
    3. Overall def, esp the line
    4. More turnovers
    5. Unimaginitive offense, abandoned nall
    6. Altitude

    Comments??

    • It’s not that we abandoned Nall. We kept running the counter off the right side, and it was telegraphed. When we ran it up the gut without delay we were able to push them off the ball.

      We did not do that consistently except for the beginning of the game and for a stretch in the second quarter.

  39. I’ll wait to evaluate Luton until he has six games under his belt. He wasn’t great today. He wasn’t the worst. His mistakes were glaring enough to be corrected.

    But I think the agreed upon metric is six games.

    No?

      • I’m still thinking six or seven wins. I think we beat Minnie (and about four conference wins) if we play like we did today. I think CSU is legit on the O side. We didn’t bother testing their D. We played around the edges, where they were hoping we would play.

        If CU doesn’t run it straight at them, I’m guessing CSU goes a long way this year.

        • Why in the world would I watch college football if I wasn’t emotionally invested in it? It’s a crap product at best. A great game on this level involves a game with a majority of flawed play.

          Watching the worst NFL teams play each other is better sport.

          Then we add the fact that the sport is killing people on certain levels… or on all levels… and I have to wonder about the sport as a whole.

  40. 5 things I noticed with Luton for the positive:

    1) can throw a deep ball
    2) when he’s settled down, can adjust his deep ball to get receiver in stride
    3) has touch on the screen passes
    4) goes through progressions when he has time to throw
    5) when he feels pressure and doesn’t panic, he either tucks and curls, tucks and runs, or scrambles out of the pocket to throw the ball away out of bounds

    5 things for the negative:
    1) is inconsistent on his deep balls
    2) throws in tight windows when he shouldn’t
    3) cannot run in a spread offense
    4) gets rattled when playing from behind and the game rests on his shoulders
    5) becomes reckless when rattled and rushes everything when he has to play from behind

    With that in mind, doesn’t mean he can’t become a better QB over time as long as he’s properly coached. Which comes down to OC calling a game that doesn’t put pressure on him to force him to throw by calling pass plays instead of relying on our run game to help our defense to rest. Hard to run when they hone in on the running back instead of having a 2 running back set or a dual threat QB. the offense they have in place now is based on a mobile QB. hard to keep a defense honest if the QB only takes the ball once in a game, gains 2-3 yards, doesn’t slide, but awkwardly runs into his blocker and a defender and falls over. We need to change the offense to a pro-style/pseudo spread where there is 2 running backs and do a half back direct with the QB next to the running backs. I’d like to see more double tight end or wing T type formations with 3 running backs as an option type play. It could be a good formation with 3 stout running backs

  41. People cherry pick 3M’s performances against HORRIBLE defenses to end last season……3M was not going to be our QB savior. Imo, good D’s wouldve exposed him this season.

    That said, Luton had an opportunity to set the tone yesterday, and he didnt……their D was not impressive, and they were on their heels to start the game…..Luton could’ve ate lunch behind his pass pro….opening game gitters? Maybe, but bottomline he didn’t get the job done, and csu adjusted accordingly.

    The takeaway for me is this…..if he can’t make the throws consistently against defense of csu’s caliber, who were not very athletic up front, what’s going to happen against Minnesota, Furd, USC? He won’t have all day…..he will have to make quicker decisions, make more accurate throws, in tighter windows……I’m not super optimistic.

    • Interestingly, we were fairly competitive against Minnesota last year…. Wonder if there will be a drop off against them at home. Scary .

  42. If that’s the defense that our offense has been practicing against all spring and summer, then it’s easy to see how they came into this game with a false sense of confidence. Also, from the practice reports, it didn’t sound like the offense was completely dominating our defense. So that does not bode well for the potential of our offense. It would be great if this game was a fluke, but I’m afraid it was not. There are tough times ahead…again.

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