I said same earlier (and a big reason I think Sorsby is the qb you overpay for next year- he can extend plays and doesn’t turn the ball over). With the way Cristobal manages games, turnovers are more harmful than they would be with a lot of other teams.
@k9cane said it best - Cristobal rarely wants to push the pace and get extra possessions when he has superior talent (which is what he should be doing). Instead he wants to get a lead and slow down the game. Because of this, a turnover (ESPECIALLY if it leads to opponent putting points on the board) becomes difficult to overcome.
The secret sauce last year was Cam Ward was so good we had a quick strike offense and were excellent at overcoming dumb penalties (a staple of Cristobal teams). 2nd and 15 didn’t mean much to Ward any more than 2 and 5. We got extra possessions because we kept the chains moving. The one game where the formula fell apart was the GT game last season, where they successfully limited the possessions. Defense actually played pretty well that game but Ward wasn’t having a good day.
Mendoza takes care of the ball. I don’t think he throws game ending picks like Beck and he can pick up first downs when there is green grass in front of him. I can’t think of a single time this season I ever said, “Now that is only a throw that Carson Beck can make.” Mendoza gives you all the positive attributes of Beck but with far fewer negatives and a lot more mobility.
So I don’t agree at all with the porsters who say we are no different with Mendoza. Yes we are. I have zero doubt about this. Look at last season. QBs who can extend plays make this offense dangerous, even if Dawson is calling the plays (and I personally think Dawson is going with a safer playbook this year because Beck is turnover prone and makes critical errors at the absolute worst times).
With Mendoza we AT WORST, have 1 loss right now and are still in the hunt for the ACC championship and are a playoff lock, with people calling us a dark horse for winning a national championship even this late in the season.
Sad thing is we’re so close to being title contenders. As someone else said, put Ward on this team and we’re closer to 2019 LSU. Put Mendoza on this team and we win ACC and make a deep playoff run. We have a great defense but missed at QB. I am not going to **** Mario for this - lots of people got it wrong with Beck and I get why he wanted an experienced QB who had a lot of SEC wins. We got the wool pulled over our eyes, but on the plus side this was back to back years he went out and paid a lot of money for a transfer QB. One worked out far beyond anyone’s expectations, one didn’t. Next year maybe we win the transfer lottery and get the Cal QB or Sorsby, but we don’t have Bain or Mesidor and the defense takes a step back. Just can’t catch a break.
