My Views on B.J. Daniels

As we all wake up after a long night at Raymond James stadium, the loss to Rutgers is still fresh in our minds and the play of senior quarterback B.J. Daniels is the topic of every discussion.  After 3 interceptions, bad decisions, and mis-throws, many are scratching their heads as to why he continues to make some of the bad plays.  Let’s step back and see what is going on out there, from my point of view.

First off let’s look at his numbers so far this season.  Daniels has completed 54 out of 99 pass attempts, good for just 54% completion percentage, including 830 yards.  He has tossed 6 touchdowns, but has thrown 4 interceptions now on the year (granted 2 of those were off of receivers hands last night, but still go on his stat sheet).  He has also carried the ball 32 times for 124 yards and has scored one touchdown.

I sat in section 337 last night, getting a bird’s eye view of the game and it was tough to watch.  Now as we question and over-analyze Daniels, take a look at what happened around him.  The offensive line struggled.  The Rutgers front 4 was able to get pressure, especially right up the middle (Reiter looked awful, let’s just be honest) forcing Daniels to run for it as soon as he got the ball.  The running game was just bad, partially because the line couldn’t get a block and secondly the backs just didn’t get the job done (Murray or Lamar).  Two of his interceptions (Daniels we are talking about) were tipped passes.  The first was a screen to Murray that went off his hands and the second was a bad catch by Landi in the endzone.  Both were momentum killers and just put the Bulls further in the hole, but there were little things Daniels did while in the pocket that had me angered, just like everyone else.

Each timed Daniels did drop back, he always seemed ready to run for it and roll out of the pocket instead of stepping up.  Even with the sloppy play of the line, he had time to find targets, but he would roll out, allowing defenders to chase him and he was forced into bad decision.  On the last drive in particular, the last pass, Daniels got the ball and within a second, he made a slight move as if he was going to run.  Now while a mobile quarterback is always thinking to run, that play was just bad.  Daniels needed to set his feet, stand tall in the pocket, and move up.  After another second, with a pocket around him, he rolled again to the outside and threw a terrible pass that could not be caught.  Daniels has very quick feet, but he is never settled in the pocket and gets flustered easily and can get nervous when there is a defender nearby, which makes him run and can cause bad plays to happen. 

Now it has been repeated all the time, Daniels is a dual threat quarterback that is in a pro-style offense and it would not be easy for him to learn, but the playcalling and just making simple reads has not happened over the past 3 years.  Daniels is still making bad reads, throwing off his back foot, and zeroing in on one receiver and not making the progression in his reads.   Against UTC, Daniels did the same thing and got away with it.  Against Nevada, he did it again, but huge plays and big grabs on tosses down the field saved the team in what easily could have been a loss.  However, against a strong defense, throws mistakes and tendencies led to an ugly game and a loss.

Now I’m not standing on the ledge and not packing up after just one game, but for those who follow the site, have been watching the team for years, it’s the same story each year.  2010, the team was scrappy and with star defensive players stole some wins.  Last season, the team was on the receiving end of those close losses and the coaching staff wasn’t able to get the players into the right position to close out games late.  Now here we are in 2012 and the miscues, bad calls, and bad decisions, are haunting this team.  The game against Ball State next weekend will really be a true test for this team if they can bounce back before facing FSU the week after.