You guys really need to wake up to reality. I broke down every dropback in the first half of that Monroe game, it was a significantly worse performance than Ohio State. The timestamps are below, just jump to them and watch for yourself. Objectively look at the plays he's making or rather not making and ignore the commentators that are literally blowing him for simply being able to tie his shoes
First play of the game in GIF form, same side-armed off balance delivery you saw Saturday. Helm runs an out to clear the flat/under for Golden, ball has to be gone ASAP Arch sees Will commit to rush. Golden is open, read and throw are late allowing contact, side armed, off back foot delivery that sails, lucky not to be a pick
And there's no rationale behind this decision, most 8th graders know better than to make that throw
Everything in the summary is unbiased, if anyone wants to dispute it go ahead. But it might have been the worst game I've ever seen a Texas QB play. He should have had 7 TD's and 6 INT's in the first half, 4 INT's were dropped/misplayed and 5 TD's were missed due to bad throws
00:42 late read, Golden is wide open and waits too late allowing LB to get pressure. Sidearm overthrow that could have been picked
00:58 first read, 5 yard hitch, Moore is wide open
01:10 first read isn't open, bails on progressions, steps up into clean pocket and creates artificial pressure leading to minimal gain
01:40 decent throw, requires diving catch by Bolden
02:00 panics under pressure, throws duck into triple coverage that's picked off
04:55 great ball, legitimate nfl throw assuming he's just not airing it out
07:50 doesn't feel pressure, late throw while hit that's off target. can argue the blocking scheme sucked, but he should know the timing of a blitzing lb getting home on that play from practice
08:10 first read, 5 yard quick slant to helm who is wide open as corner is playing off on 3rd and 12
08:35 first read, simple flat route to blue
10:50 rb screen thrown off back foot, off target. there's slight pressure by design but shouldn't cause the misfire, should have still been caught but the ball location fucks up the play's momentum regardless
11:00 wingo is open, ball underthrown by 10 yards and could have been picked but ultimately draws PI
11:20 good throw, wingo is wide open
11:50 te/wr screen
12:20 busted coverage, wingo is wide open. basic throw any high school qb can make
15:20 bolden is wide open for a long td, ball is overthrown when it could have been lofted for an easy td. result is diving attempt but ultimate drop
16:25 first read, horrible decision and throw. only reason this isn't a pick 6 is because it's off target by 5 yards
16:45 slight underthrow, if he leads golden it's probably a TD
17:10 golden is open on a 5 yard hitch/dig, misses him, panics under pressure and takes a sack
18:10 blue is wide open on a wheel route for a td, overthrown by 2-3 yards
18:53 goal line fade that's off target by 3 yards, should have been picked as he threw it directly inside to the db rather than the outside/wr shoulder
26:25 accurate ball, but it's into triple coverage and should have been picked
26:40 blue is wide open on another wheel route for a long td, overthrows him when noone is within 10 yards of him
27:20 tight throw into coverage to a rb, he does good job going through progressions to get to his 3rd read but should have never made this throw as it's very dangerous and is ultimately picked on the ricochet
ULM couldn't stop the run and didn't have the athletes to cover the WR's, they were forced to load the box, and sit in cover 0/1 with a safety 30 yards downfield. It can't possibly get any easier than that as the WR's were literally wide open all game
Anyone thinking his release/arm strength is close to NFL level should take a look at 16:25. He got owned by that DB. I just don't understand why Sark gave him the keys to the team/paid him like the best player in CFB as a freshman unless truly elite QB's don't trust him with their careers and Arch was the best he could get. Either that or Kiffin was really the QB guru at USC and Sark just shared the credit/doesn't know how to scout
The one thing I will say in Arch's favor is Sark's scheme is dogshit vs Ohio State's Tampa 2/cover 3. Those mesh/rub concepts essentially let Downs take away 4 positions at the same time. He could sit in the hole and and take away both crossers, spy Arch, and help in the run game without taking a step. Georgia's 3-4 is even worse as those dragging WR's get hung out to dry vs LB's in zone 8-10 yards off the LOS. The concept is worthless vs anything but man/cover 1/quarters
And fwiw, the team could theoretically still win the title with him as the run game looked formidable and the defense still elite, but it would be one hell of an uphill battle. Many SEC teams will have made adjustments from last year and scheme a better way to attack our defense, and Arch's limitations will limit the offense to ~20-25 ppg in conference play. Finally be prepared for the worst vs OU, it's a guarantee Venables spent the last 9 months tailoring a defense to make Arch look like dogshit and Mateer's style is virtually indefensible, may very well be a repeat of Gabriel running wild in 2023 but this time with no offense to keep up