AR third highest P5 graded QB last week (by 'PFF College' on Twitter)

Your last sentence is purely AR fanboyitis. Vandy didnt require 400 yds passing to defeat them. Hell Jeff D or J Brisett would have woodshedded them after 10 games in this offense. Who knows what EJ would do with this running game. John B might have been serviceable.

Defending individual stats in a loss does the team a disservice. Vandy’s coach CL said post game they didnt feel like AR could win the game with his arm. he was right regardless of the personal accomplishment of 400 yds and 3-1 td/int

end of story

 

or if he throws INTs on the Hail Mary and uncatchable 4th down pass instead of incompletions, his score goes down.

 

I didn’t realize he was playing 5D chess. Kudos to him if he knows the PFF formula and is spitting out a performance to enhance his numbers.

 

AR could have played better.
Errbody else could have played better. Much mo better

 

Absolutely. Everyone (myself included at times) should suspend wishing AR had been Superman Saturday and consider he did more than enough to win the game without all the other mistakes being made around him and when he wasn't even on the field.

 

We had several self inflicted setbacks in this game, other than AR not running for TDs.

The muffed punt return for a TD was one of them.

Two field goals instead of two touchdowns were more points not realized. We had two long runs wiped out because of penalties.

We beat ourselves, and AR had nothing to do with our losing this game. But, like you said, he 'might' have won it for us if he had chosen to run. But he NOT winning it is a strange way to describe the possible reason for outcome of the game.

 

Those two FGs instead of TDs are on AR and the offense. 24 points may be good enough to some, but AR himself said their goal as an offense was to score 42 points each game. Him running would’ve gotten us closer, agree or disagree.

 

Some of that might have been on the O-line not blocking... the play calls... the receivers.

AR not choosing to run was frustrating to me too, but he's NOT the reason we lost that game.

 

No, but we needed him to run to win.

 

It sure would have been nice... I agree it would have given us a better chance to win too.

What I don't understand is why he chooses to run in some games and not to run other games. That is perplexing to me.

 

Please. The game was a special team fundamentals mistake away from a win... Plain and Simple. The mental was off all day.

 

This team needs its best player to play like he’s the best player. I don’t care about PFF, that’s UTk winning recruiting championships stuff. Show some fire, rally the players around you and win that ball game. It’s Vandy, it’s not the ‘85 Bears.

 

Yep, there's is way too much inconsistency in AR's game for my taste.

 

It’s frustrating to watch as we all know how good he can be. It’s like one of those cheesy Disney movies about believing in yourself and focusing on what you have and not what you don’t have. Just hope he can embrace his athleticism as he continues to improve as a passer. Right now, it’s like he’s trying too hard to prove that he’s a pocket passer.

 

That's a big assumption. How do you know this? What makes AR good is his running. His strength is NOT in passing. So, if we have the AR of the UK game, or USF game, or Vandy game where he chooses to be a drop back passer, are you saying Kitna is worse? We have seen Kitna some and he was pretty impressive.
How would we have known Trask was so much better than Franks unless given the chance? I disagree with your assumption but that's ok, it's what makes such forums fun.

 

I ain’t absurd. Did you watch the game? He could’ve easily had 100 yards rushing. Stop with your defending your position and look at the info in front of you

 

Had he run the ball which was open again and again, I would bet he wouldn't have to throw 400 yards. Isn't it strange to you that most of our starting wr's were out, our strength was in running the ball, and yet we never really took advantage of AR's running keeping the ball but instead repeatedly handed it off the the rb into a stacked line.
At first blush 400 yards seems impressive, but how many sustained drives? How many third down conversions? What did all those yards get us?

Now, true, we left lots of points on the board. AR could have run it in, the rb non catch could have scored, AR's int gave points, muffed punt, stupid penalties. But an engaged AR running and throwing imho could have overcome this.

 

Nobody's wishing him to be superman. nonsense. We were hoping to see an engaged AR running and throwing which gives this team a much better chance of winning, especially facing a team like Vandy. It was crystal clear he had no intentions of running that day and most have speculated as to why.
Did he lose the game? No. Team/coaching lost it. Team started the game as if they were sedated. But could things have turned out differently if AR was the AR we all knew he could be?