UNLV, Kansas, and Cincy all kicked our butts on both sides of the ball, so I’m not going to stick the blame solely on Donovan for those losses.
The result against OU was NOT going to change as a result of Zeon.
He probably wouldn’t have passed any better (24 of 28 is tough to beat), probably worse, and as bad as our O-Line was that game, I am not sure our run game would have done much more with Zeon.
QB play was simply NOT the reason for that loss.
It was our bad O-Line, which created a non-existent running game, combined with some VERY questionable play calling from the staff (a draw on your own goal line with time running out???).
Given that, I REJECT 1927’s BOGUS claim that with a different QB, we’d have beaten OU.
Highly dubious assertion in light of those FACTS.
As for ISU…Donovan did indeed start, but when Zeon was in…Zeon was 1 for 4 for only 1 yard passing, and an INT, and he averaged fewer yards per carry rushing that game than Donovan did.
I don’t see him making much of a difference in that game either.
Could some other QB have done better, as 1927 suggested on another string? Maybe.
But given that we lost by at least three TDs (a TD is worth six points, right?..we lost by 20 points), I will NOT assume that ANY QB would make up for a THREE TD difference.
Again…VERY dubious arguments by 1927.
I reject them for very good reasons, which I’ve articulated.
People simply need to allow for Fritz to have the same “freebie” sucky first season that Sampson had, given how little talent he had returning. Neither he, nor Sampson, had the roster for anything other than a sucky first season…and they both either had one, or are in the process of having one (perhaps Fritz could pull a miracle out of his pocket in these last four games…but most prognosticators probably aren’t seeing that), as is expected/permitted.
I hope I’m wrong though!