I thought the same at first but after rewatching his numbers were not as good as his play. WRs dropped a lot of easily catchable balls.
I was at that game and when you're in the stadium there's a tendency to get caught up all the emotion. So I re-watched the LSU game today to see if my mind was playing tricks on me and maybe if he was better than I was thinking.
And I still say he wasn't that good in the LSU game. Let me also say that it's hard to tell about the officiating from in the stands but having had a chance to watch the replays, that was one of the worst officiated SEC games I've ever seen in my life. LSU got away with a flagrant DPI, face mask, and running into the receiver making a fair catch. You think it at the time but you give them the benefit of the doubt from the upper deck.
Hurts was 11 of 24 for 183 yards and 1 TD.
On the first two drives he was 4 for 4 for 80 yards and a TD.
That means from 6:08 of the first quarter to the end of the game he was 7 of 20 for 103 yards and 0 TDs.
47 yards - 1/4 for the game - came on ONE pass play to Ruggs....a ball he underthrew slightly for what it's worth.
On the second play of the game he held the ball too long and took a sack that set up a 3rd and 15. He had time to throw on that one.
On the third play, his line blocked a blitz and he hit the receiver who was covered a yard short of the first down. I'll be charitable and
blame Foster for not running out long enough for a first down on that one. Decent pass.
His completion to Ridley on third and long in his own territory was good - if we ignore the fact he threw the ball behind Ridley and an in stride catch would have been interesting to see how many yards we got. It's forgotten because we scored on the drive, but another foot behind him and the whole game is different.
He threw his best pass of the game to Ruggs on the second drive, covering 47 yards. Again, it was perhaps SLIGHTLY underthrown but I'll spot him with another good play.
On the third drive, he dodged the rush and (good) threw the ball along the sideline to Ridley. I'm hard-pressed to blame Calvin in light of the fact he was well-covered. A drop maybe but a debatable throw. His next pass was through Damien's hands. Debatable, but I'll blame Harris for that. Of course, since there were two tacklers right by him, he dropped a pass that would have gained 1-2 yards at best (this is hardly an advocacy for downfield passing).
SECOND QUARTER
Downfield pass to Ridley that was a decent pass and gained 24 yards on third down. Bo got a TD run on the next play.
On the next drive, he overthrew Ruggs downfield. His next pass was basically out of bounds on the sideline and we punted.
The third drive, he had a delayed QB draw up the middle that was a designed play and one of his better runs. The next play his short screen was batted down by a penetrating LSU lineman (not Jalen's fault). D Smith dropped his next pass in coverage - and ok, we can blame Smith as it would have been a first down. Of course - as Danielson noted - Smith has perhaps the surest hands on the team. It was a tough play, but I'll admit Smith should have caught it. That's a second drop and would have netted a first down. On third down, he held the ball and tried his run around the side and got stopped short of the first. Note that LSU was playing for that result....because he isn't much of a downfield passer.
So yes, there were two drops in the first half. They would MAYBE have netted 15 yards max and a first down. In light of the fact his short toss that Ridley had to stop and get likely nets 15 additional yards if thrown on target, I'd call it a wash yardage wise.
SECOND HALF
On his first pass, he overthrows Hentges (in coverage) out of bounds on a play that on target gets a first down. We punt while leading 14-3.
On the second possession, the play call was a play action pass. LSU penetrated and Jalen got nailed, no fault of his own. On 2nd and 17 he went deep and LSU basically got away with a defensive hold. Pretty good pass that was incomplete and Jeudy almost made a very good one-handed catch. On the third and seventeen, he hits a wide open Smith for 12 yards....because LSU was conceding the pass to prevent the first down.
On the next possession, Hurts did a great fake to the running back and keeper up the middle for a 15 yard run. He threw another good middle range pass to Ridley that was called back on a holding penalty. After a good short completion, he got away with firing into quadruple coverage to Cam Sims for 15 yards. On the next play he - literally - missed a read on a Calvin Ridley, who was six yards away from the closest defender....and threw the ball away. The following play, he ran the same basic play and got Ridley close to the end zone.
We scored, they scored, 21-10.
A screen to Bo for no gain. Jeudy in coverage dropped it (ok, a third drop and a first down failure). Another tuck and run for a first down (with a key block by his receiver).
To start the fourth, he hit a wide open Irv Smith for 21 yards. He then threw a good TD pass to D Smith, who dropped it. He threw the next one in blanket coverage and Smith never had a shot.
His last pass to Jeudy was Godawful....indeed, he's lucky LSU didn't return it for a pick six.
So you're half right. Receivers DID drop four balls and one cost a TD. But I would argue that he blew just as many opportunities that make the drops a wash. He missed a TD, but he made a horrible pass that could have easily gone for a pick six - at a time that was the only way LSU could have stayed in the game.
His extreme value - as always - was in his running.
Keep in mind that Troy scored as many points against LSU as Alabama did. And MSU scored 37.
Just so we're clear: I'm NOT saying that "well, we could have played anybody at QB and still won" - that's not true.
But it's equally true we could have played ALMOST anybody in the country with better passing stats and still have won.
(I began this last night before I heard about A Day; I surmise Hurts has likely played his last game for us).
As far as the Auburn game "team meltdown" (I disagree with this - we led, 14-10, after the first drive of the second half, and our defense forced a turnover when Auburn had the ball on our six while up, 7-0; and Auburn only took a small lead with 18 minutes left - and Diggs immediately returned the kickoff to Auburn territory):
it wasn't "the team" that fumbled the ball in his own territory on the second drive
it wasn't "the team" that threw into triple coverage in the end zone (Hentges nearly bailed him out)
it wasn't "the team" that drew a delay of game penalty with 2nd and 10 at the Auburn 12 (it's the QB's job to get them ready & know)
it wasn't "the team" that threw the ball short of a first down on 4th down in Auburn territory (to be fair, I'll only blame him for 1/2 this one)
Hurts threw for 112 yards in the Iron Bowl; 65 of that came on the last, meaningless play....meaning he was 12 of 21 for 47 yards the rest of the game, 36 of which came on one TD pass to Jeudy that was underthrown.
Now - before anyone thinks I'm putting the loss squarely on Jalen's shoulders:
1) he DID make some important plays that kept drives going
2) he wasn't the one who gave up 408 yards of offense to Auburn
But a QB in the modern day throwing for 47 yards in the rest of the game against a team that allows 182......isn't doing enough.
I'm done.
