I think it shows that Rourke is QB1 no matter what ... which is great!

After years of QB carousel, it's nice to not see the QB shuffle throughout games no matter if he struggles or not.

The turnovers certainly suck... and he made mistakes, but a dud like this hopefully helps him down the road and actually instills a little confidence in him knowing that its his team no matter what

Teams have enough film on us now and are learning how to make the pocket dirty in the spots where he first steps up and then retreats -- how he's been successful. I thought Rourke did a good job in picking spots to run, but where we ran into trouble with ball security was during the times when he was still deciding whether to throw or take a sack. One fumble, though, was on a run where he could've decided to tuck it instead of going for a few extra yards. To his credit, he did that later. I am confident he will get better with both elements after watching this week's film.

Other factors were involved in the pocket pressure. Credit to CMU's defensive line for getting pressure without many blitzes. Credit to their DBs for their ability to stay with coverage -- as Jeff McKinney said, #3 was all over the field for them. We, too, dropped balls that we've been catching in past weeks which put us behind the sticks and didn't put pressure on CMU's defense. This negated our advantage in running against CMU's front.

The INT happened close to where I sit. Odom did a great job on the double move and if the ball had gone to the outside shoulder it might've been a TD. It didn't and I was impressed with how the CMU DB rotated his hips to get in position to make the INT. We were going against the wind at that time and that could've been a factor. I liked the call even though it didn't work out for us.

[Hard Stop]

This seems a perfect summation. CMU seemed to know everything we did and were ready for about everything we had to throw at them. Our receivers got NO separation all day and one of the worst run Ds in the nation kept us almost entirely in check. (yes, I know our 190 rushing is a nice total, but when 100 of those come from your QB, you're not executing in the run game.)

They took our lunch money with ease because they knew where we hid it and we haven't yet considered a few alternate hiding places by game 6. I think yesterday's offense was a complete disaster in just about every possible way.

Better day from our D? Sure. but when we have a guy wrapped up five yards behind the marker on a key 3rd down in the last couple minutes to go and he drags two guys beyond the chains to effectively end the game, then one team basically wants it more than the other.

This is why I love it when you sit in my section -- we see much different games. I'm not kidding about this. I enjoy hanging with you.

First half possessions:

One three and out.
Touchdown drives of 10/72 and 9/68
8 plays/34 yards ending in a red zone fumble with short FG at hand
12 plays/51 yards with a blocked field goal. TD called back due to illegal formation.

Second half possessions:

Two threes and out -- both after McCray goes out following injury on interception return.
1 play/Interception when receiver was open for long gain
12 plays/50 yards ending with a fumble in plus territory
3 plays/-4 yards ending in a fumble in our territory
7/65 yards ending in a TD

Turnovers, the blocked FG for a TD and the untimely penalty calling back a TD and several drops by receivers masked a decent offense day scheme-wise. All done with our starting running back injured and limited, our best receiver still out (able to prepare knowing this, though) and our third running back out during the game.

We did a very good job early with roll outs left for good gains. When CMU adjusted to that, we were able to gash them with runs and option plays to the opposite side of the field. The last touchdown drive was a thing of beauty. We did a great job using Mangen as an extra blocker on the right side and were able to get a wideout open for first downs in the open spot in the cover two.

I say it was a good game plan with adjustments made based on game conditions. We can disagree.

Agree with Mike Johnson and Lucky Sparrow. Rourke is the man. He's good. Mistakes in handling the ball can be cleaned up.

Four turnovers = loss.

Rourke has done some great things for us so far this year, but that must be cleaned up.

The int was a bad pass, to the wrong side of the receiver. Stuff happens sometimes. Fumbles also happen sometimes. Ball protection is a fundamental thing, though... especially after you've lost one...or two.

Back to the initial post on this thread, I was just as surprised when Frank kept him in the game, especially given Solich's lack of tolerance for fumbles by his running backs. It will be interesting to hear his rationale if someone asks at the presser tomorrow.

From what I saw, Maxwell was just as surprised...he was ready to go in after each one of the three.

Rourke is our guy. Period. To battle back after being down; that's what you want to see from your QB. 4 turnovers is a lot I know, but this can be fixed. We lose by 3 losing 4 turnovers. It could have been worse. As stated in a previous post, CMU always keeps a good QB, a good WR and a good DE. We got beat behind Poling too many times. Our soft spot is the Cover 2 whole across the middle. I rather give up 5 yard hitches and flat routes. But what I did not like was how their good DE consistently beat our Tackles. The CMU DE had like 3 or 4 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. And when I saw the tackles get beat, they did not try hard to recover or even hold. Don't let the DE consistently beat you and you don't show any effort. As a coach, I think I would have asked our RBs to chip block him. But that's another story. I still believe we were the better team, minus the mistakes. Scoreboard is freaking amazing by the way. With Miami losing to BG I think we win outright now instead of the win-by-tie I predicted. Toledo won't be the same without Cody Thompson after he broke his leg. I seriously believe we still win the MAC. But watch out for Buffalo. That new kid can throw!!!!

+1

Especially when it's in the hands of the incompetent MAC officials