Oh, no, here we go again! Does everybody still forget the whole saga? I called it early in the year, probably in Sept. that Mack needed to get the backup some reps, because the backup was a freshman. Gilbert's ball was much, much faster than Colt's. When timing is off, even by a tiny bit, it is much harder to complete passes. Mack didn't understand the situation. All Mack cared about was appearing to look like a good sport by handing off starting the moment we had about a 28 point lead or so. Best chance for quality passing reps for Gilbert came in the game in November against directional Florida school at home. We had about a 30 point lead at half. By the time Gilbert comes in he might have thrown one or two passes. Not enough for him to be ready in January. All he needed was about two quarters of live game action, with the entire playbook and the entire first team.
Proof of timing problem happened in the Rose Bowl when Gilbert slings a fastball to the end zone and it was dropped by the player...1st half I think. If that player had any reps with Gilbert he would have had a much better chance of catching the ball. Add that TD in and confidence would have soared.
We would have won the game if Mack had given Gilbert the reps needed to be ready. The window opened and closed in November vs. the Florida school.