Ok, things are slow, so I thought I would throw this out for discussion. Which C-USA quarterback will have the best season this year? I think the two front runners are Cato and Heinicke, but I really do not know much about the other quarterbacks in the conference. Looking at only passing statistics (not won/lost record) I think it will be Heinicke.

For comparison, here are the statistics for Heinicke (12 games) and Cato (14 games) for 2013:

2013 Passer Efficiency Ratings:
Heinicke 158.6
Cato 147.8

Heinicke 70.0% completion rate, 4,022 Yards, 8.3 Yds per Attempt, 33 TDs, 8 Ints, 19 Sacks
Cato 59.7 % completion rate, 3,916 Yards, 7.8 Yds per Attempt, 39 TDs, 9 Ints, 25 Sacks

So, what do you think? Which C-USA quarterback will have the best year in 2014?

Look for Brandon Doughty to have a huge year. QBRat 134 if not for a 2 game span early in the season his rating would have been a lot higher 14 INT for the season with 7 coming in the 2nd and 3rd game with 2/3 of those tip balls or a bad route ran. In the Tenn game Western had 5 turnovers in 6 plays.

QBRAT 134
Pct 65.8
2857 yards
7.6 Y/A

Western will most likely throw more this year compared to the last two where we had one of the top backs in FBS. Bobby Rainy two years ago and Antonio Andrews 1730 Yds last year. If the spring game means anything we will be passing a ton more...we recruited a ton of receivers last year. Doughty threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns in the first half on Saturday for our Spring game. I don't know if we will be passing for 4000+ yards like Heinicke or Cato but it's a possibility especially since this is the 2nd year in this new offense.

(04-21-2014 05:50 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  Look for Brandon Doughty to have a huge year. QBRat 134 if not for a 2 game span early in the season his rating would have been a lot higher 14 INT for the season with 7 coming in the 2nd and 3rd game with 2/3 of those tip balls or a bad route ran. In the Tenn game Western had 5 turnovers in 6 plays.

QBRAT 134
Pct 65.8
2857 yards
7.6 Y/A

Western will most likely throw more this year compared to the last two where we had one of the top backs in FBS. Bobby Rainy two years ago and Antonio Andrews 1730 Yds last year. If the spring game means anything we will be passing a ton more...we recruited a ton of receivers last year. Doughty threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns in the first half on Saturday for our Spring game. I don't know if we will be passing for 4000+ yards like Heinicke or Cato but it's a possibility especially since this is the 2nd year in this new offense.

That's a pretty damn impressive first half. If you project it to full game, that's 730 yards, and I don't know too many quarterbacks that have done that. It sounds like he will be a 4,000 yard QB if you pass like you did in the spring game.

Not the north texas qb...we have a bus driver...nothing more...nothing less...

Heinicke and Cato's stats can't be compared, not seriously anyway. The competition level was too different. I could pull the Maryland and ECU stats, but that's really too small of a sample.

This year I don't think you will be able to compare them either, my guess is Cato will have several 3 quarter games and we'll be playing from ahead a lot more often which equals less passing, more running.

I will guess that there is a chance that Cato will be the league MVP and Heinicke has a shot at offensive player of the year.

Cato (Marsh)
Heinicke (ODU)
Johnson (FAU)

Everybody else.

(04-21-2014 07:43 PM)NTTHOR Wrote:  Not the north texas qb...we have a bus driver...nothing more...nothing less...

Run the offense, few errors, execute the game plan. That's what Mac wants and apparently it wins games. Mac doesn't want a gunslinger.

"Best year" and "best statistics" are different measures. Cato is a three-time C-USA "Player of the Year", on a team that should be favored in every game, and has one of the league's top rushing attacks that will force teams to stay honest. Cato (as always barring injury) will have the best year.

As far as other QBs in the league, don't sleep on FAU's Jaquez Johnson. I was impressed with him during the second half of the season, and he has the tools to succeed. I think a lot are overlooking Johnson and FAU this year. I think they could be the second best team in the East this year.

I do want to see what Heinicke does against a full schedule of deep Div 1A defenses before I pass judgement. I think he can succeed and want him to, but hard to compare him to the already battle tested. Basic Training is over. He will see some speed week in, week out that is hard to adjust to. Should be fun to watch him, anyhow.

Heinicke's going to be just fine. I can't see him putting up the video game numbers anymore as those days vanished when ODU left FCS. But he proved a year ago that he's tough enough and skilled enough to play on this level. And he's seen 3 ACC teams so far plus ECU--all on the road. And he was a Jr, so his knowledge and skill is still growing as well. And for the first time, he will get to play some of these FBS kids at ODU's place with the crowd on his side. I think we'll see where he is pretty early in the season at Rice. It probably won't get much tougher than there, at NC State and at Vandy for him.

That said, Cato is definitely out in front on this. He has been a stud at this level and going into this year you could argue that MU's schedule looks weaker than the one he faced last year. He not only sets up to have the best season in CUSA, he might be on that national list to hit NYC in mid-December. And I'd like to see him get there.