• Anyone who thinks ZA should have been replaced based on his first-half performance is a knucklehead. He was 9-for-20 for 135 yards. Give him the two drops by Johnson and he's over 150 yards passing at the half. BTN had a graphic at the start of the game, pointing out that since 2000, only seven B1G freshman QBs have passed for more than 1,100 yards. ZA is one of them. Anyone calling for him to be benched is likely named Morgan.
11 for 20 is 55% completion percentage. Not garbage, but hardly jaw dropping.
I don't think ZA is a bad passer, on short to medium routes. I don't think he gets much zip on the ball, but as long as he's accurate and timely ... good enough.
He can't do anything running ... because he's hurt. He's been hurt since the Miami game. If PJ wasn't such a stubborn mule, he would've taken him out much earlier. Who knows what happens if he actually gets a chance to heal. He's never had that chance, the entire season, save the bye week before Iowa, which clearly wasn't enough. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to find out that he reaggrivates the injury in every, single, game. Why? Simple: he gets smashed, every, single, game.
And that brings me to my final point: he isn't decisive enough. And he, for mind boggling reasons, seems to drift towards the DL! I'm telling you, watch the first half against Nebraska again. There were at least two, maybe three dropbacks where he started drifting towards the DL, and got eaten because of it. It's like .... dude, no!! Don't do that!! I guess, he's can feel/hear the edge rushers coming around the tackles and is trying not to get sack lunched, so it's scaring him towards the front of the pocket.
To my eye, Morgan didn't suffer from ANY of that. And, again in my worthless opinion, was every bit equal a passer as ZA. In fact, he even made a great throw while he was getting smashed, on the flea flicker play I believe it was. Still got the ball off, at the last instant, and it still went for a big gain.
I rest my case. TM *should* be the starter against Indiana. Won't surprise me if he isn't. And then it won't surprise me again to ZA have to be benched again, either because of reaggrivated injury or because of poor performance outright (probably because of injuries).