Last week or maybe two I was watching Alex Smith playing whoever it was that afternoon. The sportscasters showed an interesting statistic on Smith’s completion rate. I don’t recall the exact figures but his completion rate when he threw the ball within 2.25 seconds was above 70%, and well below 40% when he held the ball longer.
It would be interesting to see such a breakdown on TW2. I noticed that the best QBs in the PAC-12 also had a quick release. TW2 was successful with longer passes, leading the conference if I remembered correctly in that category. He certainly did not impress me with a quick release. In fact, the fear of an interception gave him the appearance of being tentative. To be sure, TW2 did his share of over and under throwing his receivers.
Some observers here have commented that TW1 and TW2 regressed as the season deepened. I have another take, opponents understood by then the Ute’s QB weaknesses and tendencies and exploited them.
Anyway, I would love to see a full package breakdown of TW2’s performance and progression to get to issues we observed. Here is where KW may have influenced the offense; the prospect of an interception was more onerous than a sack or incomplete pass in his eyes. So TW2 was tentative. I expect him to be much improved in 2017. I trust that Troy Taylor is smart enough to fashion an offense to match the talent on hand, while that remains to be seen.
EDIT: The Swinney interview posted above is encouraging in that TT acknowledges the obvious need to tailor the offense to the skill sets of the players. He was appropriately evasive or should I say vague on Utah’s QB talent. But he did call for the competition to begin. I have no issues with his 60/40 split between passing or run game. But we all know that running the ball eats clock, a terrific strategy in its own right in certain circumstances and situations, fumbles notwithstanding.
Arizona @ 
Utah .
