SHOCKING NEWS: KIRK COUSINS NAMED STARTER

by LVS on Dec 18, 2009 2:07 PM CST in Michigan State Spartans Football Comment 10 comments

After 12 games, today Mark Dantonio finally -- grudgingly, perhaps -- removed the "OR" designation that has vexed us all season long: your starting quarterback for the Alamo Bowl is shockingly not Kirk Cousins OR Keith Nichol. As reported first by Rexrode and later confirmed on the official site, it's Kirk Cousins. Period.

There's probably no need to rehash the arguments and incredulity about this topic; that can all be found here. This decision is the right one, and although it should have been made a long time ago, I'm glad it's finally happened. The number of distractions and level of drama is already far too high heading into an important game; thankfully, we apparently won't be bringing this particular controversy/saga/facepalm to San Antonio as well.

Once more, with feeling:

NAME	CMP	ATT	YDS	CMP%	YDS/A	TD	INT	RAT
Kirk Cousins	185	301	2460	61.5	8.17	18	7	145.2
Keith Nichol	49	91	764	53.8	8.40	7	3	143.2

Nichol has been good, Cousins has been better. This is the correct choice.

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Anyone know...

…what the rushing stats look like for both QBs? After all the talk about how Nichol is a better runner/playmaker Cousins’ has shown us some mobility. I would be interested to see how many times each QB has been taken down behind the LOS per pass attempt.

by zeke4heisman on Dec 18, 2009 7:24 PM CST reply actions

Positive rushing yards (excludes sacks/negative gains)

Nichol: 125
Cousins: 116

84 of Cousins’ yards came in the Michigan game.

Cousins is certainly mobile—and the better all-around quarterback—but Nichol is the better pure runner.

Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!

by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 18, 2009 10:13 PM CST up reply actions

In other depth chart news

Who the heck is Brad Sonntag?

Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!

by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 18, 2009 10:09 PM CST reply actions

Maybe it is the eggnog...

but I say why not give Nichol some PT in a meaningless game?

by RickTheBloggerMartel on Dec 19, 2009 7:16 PM CST reply actions

Dude.

Bowl games are never meaningless.

PP-TPW.
The Only Colors

by LVS on Dec 19, 2009 9:08 PM CST up reply actions

usually I would agree

if this was the Capital One/Outback or a BCS caliber bowl…..but really this game doesn’t mean a lot in the grand scheme of things.

I’d like to see what Nichol can do in a dome with bowl practices to develop some packages for him as a runner.

by RickTheBloggerMartel on Dec 20, 2009 3:12 PM CST up reply actions

To QB or Not to QB

I hope Cousins has a good game against but I would like to see Nichol take 40% of the snaps. I’m really wasn’t all that impressed with Cousins this year. Cousins throws a good ball but didn’t rise up against the better teams in the Big Ten. I like the mobility Nichol brings and will take a less accurate passer if we use him like Lefevre. Our offense is very stale and predictible.

by Prime Time on Dec 20, 2009 12:38 PM CST reply actions

Cousins vs. the "better teams"

Combined stats vs. the 5 Big Ten bowl teams on the schedule:

91-160 (56.9%) for 1,098 yards (6.9 yds/attempt), 8 TDs, 4 Int

There’s certainly room for improvement, but those are pretty good numbers for a first-year starter playing without much of a running game. To the extent the offense was predictable, it was precisely because we didn’t use Cousins’ throwing ability enough.

Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!

by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 20, 2009 2:49 PM CST up reply actions

Cousins was the second-ranked QB in the Big Ten

Clark just barely beat him out at the end.

Whatever faults our offense has (and there are a few, such as the insistence on the run-run-pass-kick sequence at the goal line), Cousins wasn’t one of them. Nichol wasn’t awful, but he one-hopped so many throws that Cousins would have put on the money.

When you have a player going at All-Big Ten level (granted, as much due to lack of competition as anything else), you do not yank around his playing time by putting in someone who was less effective.

by SpartanDan on Dec 20, 2009 5:44 PM CST up reply actions

It all about the "W"

What I like about Nichol is his ability to extend the play with his feet by moving the pocket to find an open receiver. With the struggles our O-line has in creating a pocket or opening running lanes, I feel Nichol’s assets are more valuable. It seems to me we need more playmakers on offense besides K-Mart and Blair White. I just think Nichol has more upside than Cousins and he should be given every opportunity to win the job. Fortunately, we are stiil a young team with plenty growth ahead of us.

by Prime Time on Dec 20, 2009 9:31 PM CST reply actions