It’s all about Cam Rising

Agree 100%, Proud, but you can probably say this about every other BigXII team’s chances if they lose their starting QB.

I don’t know if I agree with this. We have Cam as our starting QB and he’s another level up. But backing him up we have Wilson and Huard. And it sounds like Huard is taking the #2 spot.

Huard has potential out his ears. He was a 5 star kid.

Now, going into the Big 12…look, it ain’t as hard as the PAC-12. Do we need a 5 star/Rising level QB to win the Big 12? Not really.

Look at our schedule:

Southern Utah, Baylor, @Utah State. If we could beat Baylor on the road last year with a pig farmer and Johnson…we should beat them with Huard or Wilson. So, no Rising = 3-0.

@Oklahoma St and Arizona. This is tough. Both are good teams. To feel really good about winning the conference we’d need to go 1-1, but say we go 0-2. Our record is now 3-2.

@Arizona State, TCU, @Houston. We are just better than ASU and Houston. We should win those games. But what TCU team is showing up? The one that was in the playoffs last year or the one that only beat Houston, BYU, SMU and Baylor last year? Last year’s TCU team was BAD. So, we go 3-0. That makes us 6-2.

BYU, @Colorado, Iowa State, @UCF. We will beat BYU. 7-2. And Colorado…if they are healthy, they could beat us, but with our defense and how mentally weak that team is…I could see a pretty experienced Wilson or Huard beating them. 8-2. Iowa State plays right into a Utah team with no QB. 9-2.

That means we’d have to go to UCF to beat them and have a shot at going to the conference title game. And as we all know, G5 teams are pretty beat up come November.

So, I don’t think we “need” Rising to win the conference. I do think if Rising is healthy, we roll through the conference. Absolutely roll. Like 1 or 2 games that are close…within 2 scores.

We are just better than everyone else. Better QB, better coaches, better defense, easy as s**t schedule. We are just better.

Utah will be walking a fine line this season. They have to run Cam enough that his running ability makes the defense play honest. But they can’t put him in harm’s way too much, given his value to the team. I know we’ll all be holding our breath every time he’s tackled. May the Great Spaghetti Monster in the sky rain his lucky marinara down on Cam.

Keeping Cam in the pocket is not necessarily going to prevent injury. His knee was a non-contact issue. If there were an algorithm for effective and injury-free QB play, everyone would use it and there wouldn’t be any injured QBs. We will take our chances like everyone else.

Very few teams have elite and proven backups. At this point with NIL and the transfer portal, there probably are no teams who have elite and proven backups.

What happened to Brandon Rose? I think he should have the inside track for QB #2 in Fall camp.
Also, I think the chances of winning the conference championship depends on having a bigger running back that can get the tough yards on 3rd down, as well as great QB play.

Not one of the current running backs is a 220 lb. plus back with a history of hitting the correct holes hard and making tough gains. Mike Mitchell is the best possibility at 6 foot and 211 lbs.

Yes, rising has to avoid injury, but the Utes better have plays and plans for converting 3rd and short consistently. It may involve Kuithe, or converting an athletic TE, or LB, etc., to running back. I would not depend on Rising to convert 3rd and short, either passing or running, on a consistent basis. That is a recipe for greater odds he gets injured.

Calling Cam a QB that can run and not a running QB is a distinction without a difference. Either way defenses have to account for his ability. If Utah cloisters him in the pocket and tells him not to run, we lose a valuable part of the offense.