Tate.

I am pretty torn on whether Denard or Tate should have been playing towards the end of todays game.

In favor of Denard: he's explosive enough to take any play to the house, and he's earned the right to be on the field.

In favor of Tate: Denard's passing was pretty inaccurate (even the completions weren't the prettiest). Also, we constantly talk about having a stable of three QBs that we can win with ... so if one of them is having a bad day, why not dip into the stable?

Ultimately it's tough to pull Denard after what he's done the first 5 weeks. It will be interesting to see what happens if he struggles early against Iowa, though. Under RichRod's concept of letting the best guy play, I think Tate and Devin ought to be given a chance next week.

When the threat of Denard running the ball was taken away late in the game, I wouldn't have minded if Tate Forcier got a chance to come in and throw the ball.  Tate's better at reading defenses, in my opinion.  A lot of Denard's passes have been completed because of the threat of him running the ball.

I guess I would have been okay with Tate if Denard was hurt or seemed very lost out there, but the game was still in the balance well into the 4th quarter.  If you pick Denard as your starter, you have to be willing to suffer through these types of games as he improves.  Now, if Denard struggles the next few games maybe you give Tate a chance, but nobody is going to grow and improve if there is a near-constant fear of being pulled after a bad series.

This thread is ridiculous. Denard is our best quarterback and despite some bad decisions he didn't even have that bad of an outing. Not once did I think of putting in Tate and I imagine RR was in the same boat. Denard is our most explosive weapon so he should get the ball every snap imo.

...once we got down 14, then 21 points.  At that point, you roll with the guy who could get you that number of points in a hurry and that's Denard.

Let Denard grow up. He has started 6 games.

Reasonable forum posts? Can I haz rational thoughts and opinions? No? Ok, I'll quit reading.

 

Seriously, can this idea not go any further than this post tonight? Denard is our best chance to win. Period.

I wondered also what would have happened if Tate came in for only 1 series late in the game.  It seems like MSU prepared well for Denard, but how well did they prepare for Tate?  Maybe a change in qb for a series would have kept MSU's D off balance a little bit.  And it would keep future defenses from only preparing for Denard if they think Tate could come out at any time.  Sure Denard is the starter no question, just trying to throw the defense off a little.

Why is this being discussed

Passed through my head in the first quarter, not long after the interception. For some reason, and I am rather certain, Denard was not moving quite as quickly today. He was not running with confidence, particularly the first three steps. The Dink/Donk passing attack, which was largely working due to the coverage, is Tate's forte.

What I really wanted to see: Denard lining up at WR, Tate at QB.

Or: Denard/Tate sprinting on and off of the field.

My god, we're the worst fan base ever. Denard has done everything up to this point, and the passes he threw today are nothing new, he's always thrown to where the receiver is at and not to where they're going. We've lived on Denard to this point, and we're going to die with him too, let him grow and figure it out. He's only a sophomore, and he had terrible coaching in HS, give him time. Maybe Tate completes those passes against that coverage, but they wouldn't be in that coverage if Denard wasn't on the field.

Never thought about Tate needing to come in. There were plenty of well thrown balls that should have been caught that whether it was Denard, Tate, or Jack Kennedy throwing them, they would have still been dropped because of the receiver. 

The first pick was ugly. No excuse for that. Overthrowing Stonum looked to be duel responsibility. Denard got too excited, and for some stupid reason Stonum pulled up on the route. Really Stonum??

The other red zone pick was a tough throw that probably shouldn't have been made, but any QB is going to assume they can make it. Good defensive play more than errant throw.

The Grady pick is another example of dual responsibility. Yeah, Denard probably would want that back, but as much as I love Kelvin Grady - LOOK FOR THE DAMN BALL. I have no idea what happened with him on that play. 

Denard did look a bit tentative, but early on, they were able to move at will with a good run/pass mix and using others in the backfield. However, when State was able to move up and down the field, it put too much pressure on the offense to keep up (i.e. pass it more). 

Re: Tate - the last time he was meaningful playing time, he was confusing Buckeyes for Wolverines. So it's hard to say he would have done better. Besides, on any given play, Denard can take it to the house. You can't say that about Tate. Even if they lose to Iowa next week, they come back with Penn State, Illinois,  and Purdue - all three are very winnable games. That would make them 8-2 heading into Wisconsin and OSU. 

I just knew this post was coming after the game. Let's all back up from the ledge, Shoelace will bounce back and put up numbers against Iowa.