con·tro·ver·sy
1. a prolonged public dispute, debate, or contention; disputation concerning a matter of opinion.
2. contention, strife, or argument.
First off, let’s make something clear. Todd Graham, and the media who have quoted him, have it all wrong when they say there is “no QB controversy”. Why? Because it really doesn’t matter what Graham said. He may be truthful in stating that in his mind the decision is already made to stick with Sunseri, but by definition there’s a controversy if a ”prolonged public dispute” ensues… and there sure as hell is one now. There may not be a question in Graham’s mind about his course of action, there may not be debate in the Staff’s offices on this issue, but every blog, every message board, every newspaper article and thousands of PITT fans were, and are, talking about little else following the game yesterday.
Blather readers who have read my stuff on here may have noticed two things about my opinions on our QB’s. First, I’ve said that I thought Tino Sunseri would be a success in this new offensive system. I based that on his physical skills and the assumption that he’d progress as a gameday quarterback from year one to year two as a starter. I’ll say now that, at this point, I was mistaken. If anything he’s regressed in what is perhaps the most important aspects of successful QB play, his confidence, the ability to remain cool under pressure and to effect correct decision making.
Second, since Trey Anderson was recruited to PITT and signed up as a walk-on, I have championed him as a player where the common preconceived notions that a true freshman walk-on QB couldn’t be ready to play at the Div I BCS level didn’t apply. Especially now, after seeing him play yesterday, I’ve strengthened that opinion. I do understand fan’s concerns in this area but feel that a lot of the pushback is because they really don’t know what kind of a player, and person, Anderson is.
If you really want to understand, and be able to logically discuss, what we have in our #2 QB then you have to watch this video detailing Anderson’s play over the course of his 16-0 Texas state championship senior season. Remember as you watch it that Pearland plays in the biggest (“five star”) HS football conference in that state. It wouldn’t be too much of a reach to say that it is the highest quality of HS football in the U.S. Please, take some time and watch it as we’ll be talking about this issue all season.
All that said; circumstances have combined to create a controversy. Mostly this is the result of Sunseri’s play last season and his poor play in the 1st half of the Buffalo game, good play in the second and very uneven play throughout the Maine game. He has lacked consistency in six out of eight quarters of play so far this year. His decision making is, at best, head scratching. Aside from the blatantly obvious interceptions he threw, two examples of this in the Maine game come to mind.
In the 3rd quarter Sunseri was forced to rollout. He didn’t see that Shanahan had noticed and broken off his route to come back to help. The DB was five yards downfield from the WR when Sunseri missed Shanahan’s action and purposely threw the ball into the sidelines right in front of the receiver. Later on in the game Sunseri had defensive pressure, held the ball too long and ran out of bounds for a two yard loss as opposed to getting rid of the ball to save the lost yards. Both of these plays should never be done by a second year QB.
After Sunseri’s second INT Graham called Anderson’s number and was rewarded with 5 of 7 passing over the next two series. The first series resulted in an 11-play, 52-yard scoring drive. Both times Anderson moved the team crisply down the field and positioned us for scores; the second being a shot at a makeable 33 yard FG. You could see just how comfortable Anderson was in the shotgun and running this offense; his experience in this system showed through. Plus, it was pretty evident in seeing that the offensive players were re-energized when he went in.
Regarding the substitution Zeise of the P-G wrote: … the timing of the change raised a few eyebrows because it came right after Sunseri threw his second interception of the game. Graham had this to say:
“We planned on putting Trey in anyway, it wasn’t that I pulled Tino, it was a planned deal, we were going to play [Anderson] anyway. I still have 100 percent belief in Tino and like I told you at the beginning of the year, he has a very difficult job, he has a lot on his plate and we’ve got to execute better at that position. OK coach, sure.
I do feel the HC will stick with Sunseri as the starter until we actually lose a game based on Sunseri’s play. However, I don’t believe that it was just a coincidence that Anderson was put in directly after Sunseri’s 4th quarter INT from Maine’s 30 yard line just as we were holding onto a 13 point lead. Maybe Graham was sending a strong message to Sunseri with that move, at least I hope so. But I also feel that Graham has all the confidence in the world that Anderson can be successful running this offense.
We saw what Anderson could do in his first action and it was very impressive, especially considering we haven’t seen what may be his strongest attribute yet; the ability to run with the ball. Let’s hope the HC won’t hesitate with the hook if needed because he doesn’t want to hurt Sunseri’s confidence. Sunseri’s a big boy, or should be, and must take it in stride if it happens.
One last point; spare the “but a true freshman going into a crazed Iowa stadium on the road is putting too much pressure on him!!!” refrain. I heard that over and over from Colin Dunlap on 93.7’s post-game show and I’ll counter with this; the kid took a huge underdog Pearland team into the Texas state championship game in front of 43, 321 people, completed 17 of 23 passes and came out with a win… I’d say he already knows what pressure is and so can handle it at this level.
