One thing I can't help but notice is how different Milroe is treated versus Bryce Young.
With each guy as a two year starter (though Jalen's second is incomplete), here's what we know:
Both guys lost at Tennessee in their first try.
Bryce 1-1 versus Tennessee, Jalen 1-1
Bryce 1-1 versus Georgia, Jalen 2-0
In their first years, Bryce lost in the playoff versus the national champion and Jalen lost in the playoff to the national champion.
Bryce didn't make the playoff at all in his second year. Milroe still to be determined.
Both guys played a ridiculously close game with Auburn their first year in command, requiring insane heroics to pull out the victory.
Both guys undefeated against Auburn
Bryce 1-1 versus LSU. Jalen 1-0 with one game to go... 😬
Folks can get more in the weeds with the comparisons, but for every argument, there's a good counter. (Jalen lost to Vandy, but then Bryce had a far more solidly stable coaching situation. Milroe didn't win a Heisman, but he has set record breaking statistical marks, etc.) Where the rubber meets the road is success against rivals and winning championships. In that regard, the two guys are quite similar and I think it's inarguable that Milroe has navigated it all with college football, and our program particularly, in transition.
So again, why has only Milroe had to endure this crowd of ever-present critics? Why are other QB's allowed their share of mistakes, but each one by Milroe is proof that Bill O'Brien was a genius and that anyone but Jalen should be our starter?
to me it's pretty simple - how well did our passing offense and total offense work with each QB at the helm?
BY in year 1 as a starter, just second year in program: 4872 yards passing, 47 TDs passing (add 4 TDs rushing so 51 accountable).
JM in year 1 as a starter, 3rd year in program: 2834 yards passing, with 23 TDs (add 12 rushing so 37 accountable).
It's just a huge dropoff in offensive efficiency. Not that JM has to be BY, but a 2000 yard dropoff in passing yards with 24 fewer TD is simply a shocking drop.
For context - Blake Sims and Jake Coker both passed for more than 3k in their first years starting. The only other modern QB less than 3k - both Jalen Hurts seasons where both were right at 2700 (first year Jalen only and second year combined with Jalen and Tua since Tua did get more attempts than the average back up). Tua had 3900+ and Mac had 4500. Hurts first year total passing offense was still greater than Milroes first year (accounting for backups playing some, etc), so Hurts first year was slightly better overall than JMs, but barely)
AJ didn't cross 3k his first year (did his third), but that was in more of our old school offense days before we brought Kiffin in to transition us to a more offense oriented team. I think a guy like AJ could have been close to Mac like in the offense we had in 2020 though.
In a more even comparison, just looking at the three dual threat QBs since Kiffin; since you might want to think about total scrimmage production instead of just passing due to their dual threat tag (name year, passing yards, rushing yards, total yards, total TDs):
Sims 2014, 3487 + 350, 3837 (28 + 7) 35
Hurts 2016, 2780 + 954, 3734 (23 + 13) 36
Milroe 2023, 2834 + 534, 3368 (23 +12) 35
Oh, and total offense for Sims was 484/game and Hurts was 455/game. Milroe was 393/game.
I've said again and again, I understand why folks get excited about potential, but the bottom line is that potential just isn't being realized.