A Study on Backup Quarterbacks

Oct 31, 2024 | Uncategorized

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Missouri backup quarterback Drew Pyne, left, and starting quarterback Brady Cook, right, talking before Pyne relieved Cook of duty in the second half of a game against Murray State on Thursday, August 29, 2024, at Faurot Field in Columbia. (Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation)

As Missouri’s season is on the brink and we await news on Brady Cook, a brief examination on other power schools playing backup quarterbacks.

I have been thinking a lot about backup quarterbacks ever since Drew Pyne imploded in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. It was a disaster showing, hinted at in the previous week against Auburn. In his first extended action on homecoming, Pyne was out of sync and inaccurate; in Tuscaloosa, he was catastrophic, and threw three interceptions.

The online reaction was a meltdown of Chernobylesque proportions. The fanbase was furious with head coach Eli Drinkwitz for bringing Pyne to campus and not having anyone better than him. But it’s hard to pick up a good quarterback in the spring transfer window, especially when you can only guarantee to that player that he will be an understudy. The depth in Mizzou’s quarterback room has gone off the rails with recruiting evaluation misses and one hard luck UCL tear. The big surprise is not that Drew Pyne was the best available player for the role, but that he was so tragically bad compared to his stint at Notre Dame.

I wanted to take a look at other peer teams in 2024 that have used multiple quarterbacks. There are 18 teams from Power Two programs that have given some semblance of meaningful playing time to multiple signal callers. There are three main reasons why they have played two quarterbacks: long-term injury to the starter, short-term injury, and juggling options. Some teams have been wildly successful with two QBs; others not as much.

My first conclusion was: holy crap, 18 out of 34 teams have needed a second quarterback by Halloween. Quarterback depth is as important as ever, but also as hard to keep as ever. Gary Pinkel spoiled the fanbase by getting his young backup options quality playing time and having them ready and well-seasoned when it was their turn. In the portal and NIL era, building and keeping homegrown quality depth will be nigh impossible.

That does bring me to the two bluebloods that break the rule: Texas and Florida. Both have played their ultra-talented youngster over an injured veteran this year. A QB room like those will not be the norm in college football, and almost certainly not at Missouri.

Almost every team that has juggled options has been bad. Of course, there is some selection bias here: if your QB is playing well, you would not have to juggle. But the backups have rarely performed better – the only real scenario of a team voluntarily going to a backup and working out well this season is Marcel Reed against LSU last weekend. (The Aggies are also on the short-term injury list).

Most schools choosing to play multiple quarterbacks are going through it: Michigan (they can get over it, as defending champs. Oklahoma (hopefully we can make this worse). Auburn, although for Hugh Freeze it was about being punitive to Payton Thorne (has a coach ever hated his own QB as much as ol’ Hugh hates Thorne?) Purdue, Northwestern, Iowa, Kentucky have all dallied in backup options. The overarching theme here is: if you are trying out backup quarterbacks midseason, your offensive infrastructure probably already stinks and you are not gonna find much relief here.

Two teams from this sample lost their starters to injury for the season. (Well, three, with Florida and Graham Mertz – but DJ Lagway already went in the “breaks the rule” bucket.) Mississippi State lost Blake Shapen and Wisconsin lost Tyler Van Dyke. The backups have not matched the starter’s performance, although neither injury has really changed the season trajectory for either ballclub. The Bulldogs were going to be terrible regardless, now they are just terrible more slowly and with fewer passes. Wisconsin is doing Wisconsin things and will probably finish 7-5.

Now, the short-term injury teams. This is Missouri’s peer group. (We think – still waiting for word on Cook’s injury.)

Eight teams have had to play a backup for a mid-game replacement or a spot start. Six of them have notched wins: Indiana (2-0), Penn State (1-0), South Carolina (1-1), Arkansas (1-0), Texas A&M (they just win no matter what I guess?), and Texas (3-0). The Lone Star programs here kind of break this: Arch Manning is no normal backup, and the Aggies are having a blessed year where a freshman backup can throw only two passes while leading four touchdown drives against a top ten team. Whatever. There is no formula to replicate that.

In the other four examples: Indiana outclassed two conference foes with Tayven Jackson at the helm instead of Kurtis Rourk; their passing game was far downgraded but the rush attack was better. Penn State and Arkansas got clutch emergency second half play from Beau Pribula and Malachi Singleton in notching their wins over Wisconsin and Tennessee, respectively. And for South Carolina, Robbie Ashford took the final drives in the loss to LSU and led a cupcake victory over Akron the next week.

Two teams turned to backups for short-term injuries and got disasters: Missouri and UCLA.

In all the cases of the short-term injuries, except maybe Texas A&M, the team is going back to the original starter, no question. While Indiana is happy with what Jackson did, or Penn State is pleased with Pribula, etc, most of these guys were clear downgrades to the passing attack. The common theme is mobility: Reed, Jackson, Manning, and Pribula all brought more to the QB run game; Ashford and Singleton replicated what the starters already did.

And perhaps that is the key to it. Pyne is a statue and his presence removes the threat of the QB run game from the defense’s accounting. With no need to spy or respect a read option, defenses can attack the pocket while keeping an advantageous number of defenders in the pattern. Auburn roasted Pyne with interior blitzes; Bama seemed to have fifteen players in coverage on his dropbacks.

In two months we are going to start talking about portal shopping. Missouri will need at least one player, maybe two, for the quarterback room. Getting a starter will be important, but getting a decent backup will be critical too. Drinkwitz would be well-served to find someone who has some mobility to his game. Scrambling and QB runs can create cheap yards to calm down a jumpy player and a worried team that just lost a starter. They can keep a defense honest while you run a simplified playbook for a backup. And they are more difficult to prepare for on short rest.

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