Don't limit a good player

[Danm1983]

From the BE ESPN blog (Week in Review):

Best call: To South Florida's coaching staff, which decided to let B.J. Daniels do his thing instead of putting him under wraps like they did against Pitt two weeks ago. "I handcuffed him in the Pittsburgh game," Leavitt said Friday night. "I didn't let him go out there and play. He had some interceptions, and I was so tired of interceptions. I wanted to protect him a little bit. That's nobody's fault but mine.

"I told (offensive coordinator) Mike (Canales), 'In this game, let him go. Let him do what he does. We'll just hope he makes good decisions.' "

Good call. Best call, in fact.

Interesting. At least CJL admitted it, but it pains me when I see any coach do that to a guy. Had he not kept BJ "handcuffed" for Pitt, at the least we would have lost a very close game, and at most perhaps could have come out with a win. It's almost as if the defense during Pitt could tell the coaches were keeping the offense bland, and thus they fed off that apathy and played as such...

I hope they let BJ do his thing. Coaching staff should have great faith in our defense, and if BJ makes a mistake, the team will rally around him and get us more opportunities.

Makes you wonder if the staff ever did this in the past 2 years against Grothe...I wonder if CJL and Gregory minimized the playbook (and thus got predictable) because they were "tired of Grothe's interceptions"...

I hope we let BJ out the gate in Piscataway and let him and Mitchell/Hester show Savage and Brown/Sanu who the real long bombers are.

[Apis Bull]

I think whenever you have a young and inexperienced QB, the tendency is to try to bring them along slowly.  At least CJL, has learned from his mistakes.

[DELdaBull]

Grothe threw 5 interceptions as a sophomore. Next game he was out there slinging it again.

I don't understand the way our coaches think sometimes.

Interceptions don't cause you to lose games. I have learned that much about football from this board.

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

i give Leavitt credit for recognizing his mistake and correcting it...

but it is a mistake that should never have been made in the first place.

our game plan going into Pitt seemed to be, in retrospect, to reduce BJ's role and rely on our ground game from the running backs...

which is inexplicable, given the coaching staff's inability to choose a back and stick with him. 

putting Jamar back into the lineup at a time when the coaches should have simpled settled on Mo was ridiculous.

hopefully our coaching staff learn from this mistake and let BJ do his thing from here on out... the kid has legs like Mike Vick and an arm like a rocket launcher. 

win or lose, this kid is our future and MUST be allowed to learn the game without coaches putting him under wraps.

[cmhatter]

Grothe threw 5 interceptions as a sophomore. Next game he was out there slinging it again.

I don't understand the way our coaches think sometimes.

Interceptions don't cause you to lose games. I have learned that much about football from this board.

lol

[Brad]

That's the "great" part of being a coach, you're gonna get second guessed regardless.

I think some of us on here need to realize that.  Had he set B.J. loose and he uncorked 5 INTs the usual suspects would be calling for CJL's firing.  Instead, because B.J. did well this game, we'll look back to Pitt and blame the coaches some more.

Like that 4th down play on the first drive.  One of our usuals is already on here calling it dumb.  B.J. wanted to go for it.  He knew something.  At the least, he knew that they were playing with heart, to use a fav concept, and would get that 1st down (just as they did agian later in the game).

Turned out to be a huge gamble that paid off this time, just like unleashing B.J.

Once you start the rampant second guessing it's hard to stop. 

[Orlando Bull]

IMHO, BJ did some talking about not wanting to run before the Cincy game, and he didn't. Instead, he gave up a lot of yards that were there for the taking, and could have potentially allowed us to win that game.

So, for Pitt, it looked like the staff wanted to make sure that they forced BJ to run a bit, to let him know, he's still a freshman, and a QB in our system has to run. Sometimes lessons hurt the team, but judging by what I saw on Friday, BJ is learning. He tucked the ball when he should and bought time when he should.

So, if it took the Pitt game to make BJ see what he has to do to be a leader and to be a winning QB, then so be it.

[nobull.Bulls]

Hey, we were prepared for the shovel pass and screens this year. Ask Noel Devine... ;D

[Bull94]

Both 4th down calls were great' they show confidence in your offense and defense. we passed up a short 4th down early against Pitt. That sends the wrong message. You're playing not to lose.

Great mix of run and pass with BJ this week. I think he should run on broken plays more and run the read option less. definitely doesn't need to carry the ball 20-25 times a game on the read option.

[mikebeau]

Both 4th down calls were great' they show confidence in your offense and defense. we passed up a short 4th down early against Pitt. That sends the wrong message. You're playing not to lose.

Great mix of run and pass with BJ this week. I think he should run on broken plays more and run the read option less. definitely doesn't need to carry the ball 20-25 times a game on the read option.

if we couldt get half a yard we didnt deserve to win.  i liked the 4th down calls