Welcome to Week Three of the Emmy* award-winning Race to QB Mountain watch list.
Last Week Thoughts
For the most part, everyone held serve. Stidham ran into the Clemson defensive line destruction committee, but for the most part, it was an uneventful week for the QB list.
Darnold’s play (particularly one of the early touchdowns vs. Stanford) was quite good – with Rosen and Rudolph leading their teams on blowouts that didn’t really do much for drama, but you still got to watch them work. Lamar Jackson made UNC another victim on the list as well.
NFL Team Check ins:
Right now, the Bills and the Browns are the only two teams with multiple firsts in 2018. However, the “other” picks are going to be interesting – as Cleveland has Houston’s first (currently playing with SEVEN OFFENSIVE LINEMEN vs. Cincinnati) and the Bills, as we all know, have Kansas City’s. The Browns also have 3 second round picks (Eagles and Texans, again. Thanks BROCK!) as well, so this is going to be really messy should DeShone Kizer not pan out. Go Kizer go?
When we get to weeks 6-7-8 or so we’ll revisit this and go in detail. For now, I’d be leading you down a road that isn’t there.
Games to Watch this Weekend: (All times EST)
Saturday
Oklahoma State at Pittsburgh (12pm, ESPN) – Well, after Pitt’s showing against Penn State, nothing says “make up game” like…
(checks notes furiously)
Oh.
Oklahoma State is firing on all cylinders and the Rudolph-to-Washington connection is hot, to the tune of 243 yards and 3 touchdowns in two games. Pitt’s defense is going up against a long ball specialist in Rudolph that is proving his hype is real and I’m only slightly hyperventilating. Is it hot in here? It feels hot.
Anyway, I think this will be a showcase of how accurate Rudolph is in the swirling winds of Heinz Field, a pre-cursor to any New Era Field questions, should the Bills decide to pull the trigger (get it, cowboys? …sigh, I’m sorry.) on Rudolph in April.
UCLA at Memphis (12pm, ABC) – This should be similar to the Hawai’i game, where Rosen is dealing until the game gets out of hand and they put in the shock troops. However, until then take a gander at my absolute favorite QB in this draft.
Mercer at Auburn (4pm, ???) – This is one of the “find it on Draftbreakdown in January somehow” games where it’s an inferior opponent and I am not going to waste your time or mine hunting it down when far more fun games are available in the same time window.
Oregon State at Washington State (5:30pm, PAC-12 Network) – Last week’s game was awesome on the Wazzu side of the ledger, with the Pirate Mike Leach somehow pulling that comeback out of nowhere. However, Luke Falk was not covered in glory, as he was benched, then re-entered, then injured. Tyler Hilinsky, his backup, is nipping at his heels and I’m sure NFL scouts are furrowing brows as they evaluate the signal caller. Personally, I’m meh on Falk, but to each their own.
Louisiana Tech at Western Kentucky (7pm, TWTR) – Mike White and co host La Tech and this should be a bit of a shootout, so that will allow me to see (again, Draftbreakdown special this time instead of 2am couch special) more of him than I have to date, which isn’t a lot.
Oregon at Wyoming (7pm, CBS Sports Network) – This is one of the final chances for Josh Allen to break his Power 5 duck in terms of not being at his best against quality competition. For Allen, with 16 teams in town to see him play – now is the time to show those tools of his can be used on stronger competition than his typical conference fare.
Clemson at Louisville (8pm, ABC) – I am eagerly awaiting this game and the final one of the evening I’ll watch for #QBMountain purposes. Lamar Jackson vs. this Clemson defense is going to be fun. The Clemson front seven is as dominant a group as there is this season so far and the eternal “can he win from the pocket” question will instead be, “can Jackson do what he has to do to keep the chains moving” for me.
Texas at USC (8:30pm, FOX) – Darnold is the leader in the clubhouse at QB for most that are following the college scene. Going up against Texas, he’ll bring back memories of the greatest college game I’ve ever seen, Vince Young’s Texas vs. Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and Lendale White’s USC.
This game isn’t that though. Texas is a team in transition, and USC going to look to put it on ’em early and try to get out of the game healthy and with a win.
* – No Emmy’s have been nominated or won by Buffalo Wins. Susan Lucci we are not.
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