Territorial Cup 2014

[nashman]

Running game was average but at least we were not purely one dimensional

 

[desertdawg]

My love for you is like a truck... bezerker

 

[desertdawg]

Bezerker gets his head ripped off!!

 

[nashman]

Ballgame just dropped into coverage and its ova!

 

[desertdawg]

ASU showing some class after the game, that's cool.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Solomon + Wilson + Grant is better than any ********* the Devils can put out there on offense. RichRod is poised for a helluva run over the next few years...

 

[nashman]

Graham really did Kelly a disservice imo. He wasn't losing why switch? Ride or die with your proven senior starter! Terrible decision!

 

[82CardsGrad]

Graham really did Kelly a disservice imo. He wasn't losing why switch? Ride or die with your proven senior starter! Terrible decision!

He wasn't losing??

 

[TJ]

Graham really did Kelly a disservice imo. He wasn't losing why switch? Ride or die with your proven senior starter! Terrible decision!

Why was that bad? ASU was flat and about to get trounced. Berco inspired that team and came very close to winning. I would've done the same.

 

[Buckybird]

Bad move yanking kelly...

You mean the guy who missed 2 wide open bombs badly while looking like John Skelton? I bet if Berco would've had those throws they would've been TDs. Yeah he threw a pick that cost them 7 but Todd made the right decision IMO

That game was lost because they couldn't stop the cats RB & couldn't get 1 yd on 3 tries early on.

 

[Buckybird]

Why was that bad? ASU was flat and about to get trounced. Berco inspired that team and came very close to winning. I would've done the same.

Yep.

 

[StreetTruckinTitan]

Graham really did Kelly a disservice imo. He wasn't losing why switch? Ride or die with your proven senior starter! Terrible decision!

Grahams loyalty is to the organization not to one individual player. Ballz call. But his to make!

 

[nashman]

Was s tie game at half you wanna blame someone blame his personal defense that kept getting burned! You go to Berco mid game and abandon any sort of run game and just start slinging it how'd that work out for you? Lucky it wasn't 3 picks but the offense was as I said so one dimensional they dropped everyone into coverage and BAM game over! And you kinda screwed your senior QB who is a proven winner from even having a shot, and did strong even have a catch after you yank kelly? If he did I must have missed it. Whatever I said imo so you don't have to agree, but Kelly has came back and proven to be clutch and win games late, Berco did it once with a lucky Hail Mary.

 

[nashman]

Just earlier in the week you called Taylor Kelly the greatest leader you've ever been around and you takes him out with 2 TDs no picks like a 140 something QB rating. You need a calm senior leader in these type games and you benched him! Graham just looks like a fool in my eyes!

 

[Gee!]

Didn't #11 Wildcats just beat #13 Sun Devils that had a lot of meaning? Yessir.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Just earlier in the week you called Taylor Kelly the greatest leader you've ever been around and you takes him out with 2 TDs no picks like a 140 something QB rating. You need a calm senior leader in these type games and you benched him! Graham just looks like a fool in my eyes!

Have you not watched the games since he returned from injury? Other than his "leadership" he had no business being out there. He just doesn't look like the same player he was before the injury. The question isn't "why did he switch QB's", it's "why did he wait so long".

Steve

 

[82CardsGrad]

Have you not watched the games since he returned from injury? Other than his "leadership" he had no business being out there. He just doesn't look like the same player he was before the injury. The question isn't "why did he switch QB's", it's "why did he wait so long".

Steve

Yep!!!! Graham's allegiance to a player may very well have caused the team to come up short. I think with Berco at the helm, the chances for a win at Oregon St greatly increase, as well as today..

 

[Jay Cardinal]

Man what a game. Both teams played good, but not great. Props to UA's Scooby Wright and Nick Wilson, they really were the MVP's of the game. Rich Rod had a ton of confidence in his D and went very conservative on that last offensive drive. ASU had their shot, but the UA defense stood up and slammed the door.

Very evenly matched teams. Even though it was too late, I was glad to see Graham go with the better QB. I think this type of tough coaching decision bodes well for the future. I would of pulled Kelly on the first possession of the second half when he dove straight to the ground when getting blitzed.

I hate to say it, but the 15 yard pass interference penalty (instead of a spot foul in the pros) is a really viable strategy against Jaelen Strong. What would have been over 100 yards in penalties in the pros, was simply 3 pass interference penalties on UA. I will mark that up as good coaching and strategy within the rules. Reminded me of the hack-a-Shaq technique, tough to watch but very effective.

The game usually comes down to a few special plays and UA hit them this game. ASU had their shot and Kelly missed three wide open bombs. That combined with turnovers is definitely not a winning recipe.

 

[Zobaczcie suki]

Wow, what a great game. Congratulations to U of A and their fans.

I thought the difference was U of A exploiting our young banged up D in the 3rd quarter. They hung pretty tough in the first half. But with 3 key starters out on an already green defense, they got schooled in the 3rd quarter giving up 2 easy touchdowns.

I love Randall, but he gambled for another pick 6 in the first half, wasn't even close, and there's another TD for the Wildcats.

ASU's offensive line did a horrible job protecting Taylor Kelly, giving up 6 sacks.

And if I hear anyone else question Jaelen Strong's heart, I thing I am going to lose it. He gets injured in the first half, can't even lift his arm up, stays in the game and catches a huge TD. Dude has balls of steel.

I thought Berco. did a nice job getting thrown in to a difficult situation and completing a lot of great passes with a lot of zip. He gave us a shot in the 4th quarter when things weren't working for TK and it was clear we'd be trying to pass our way of a 14 point deficit. The pick Berco threw was a killer, but it is amazing that we were still in position to win it at the end.

As I suspected, this game could have went either way and the Wildcats just made the plays that we didn't. So they deserve a lot of credit obviously. I think this will go down in history as another "classic" Territorial Cup battle.

 

[Zobaczcie suki]

Yep!!!! Graham's allegiance to a player may very well have caused the team to come up short. I think with Berco at the helm, the chances for a win at Oregon St greatly increase, as well as today..

Your fixation with bashing Taylor Kelly is amazing. I wonder what you will post about next year after TK graduates?

I agree that we needed to make the switch today to change things up. But do you realize that Berco's stats were about the same as TK's today, except they are actually worse since Berco threw a critical pick? Check it out:

Att/comp Avg TD's Int.
Taylor Kelly 13/22 144 6.5 2 0 --
Mike Bercovici 14/22 123 5.6 2 1 --

This was a team loss. And a bigger part of it was the defensive lapses and poor pass protection.

 

[TimurT1990]

Better luck next time, fellas.

 

[Mainstreet]

If it hasn't already been said, Taylor Kelly will start in the bowl game.

Doug Haller @DougHaller · 1h 1 hour ago

Graham said they made the QB switch because they felt they needed a spark. Said Kelly will start the bowl game.

https://twitter.com/DougHaller

 

[82CardsGrad]

Your fixation with bashing Taylor Kelly is amazing. I wonder what you will post about next year after TK graduates?



I agree that we needed to make the switch today to change things up. But do you realize that Berco's stats were about the same as TK's today, except they are actually worse since Berco threw a critical pick? Check it out:



Att/comp Avg TD's Int.

Taylor Kelly13/221446.520--

Mike Bercovici14/221235.621--



This was a team loss. And a bigger part of it was the defensive lapses and poor pass protection.

Just calls it as I sees it... Berco is the better QB. Kelly was never the same after his injury and its a shame Graham couldn't accept that fact until today.
Kelly being a senior shouldn't have a thing to do with who should be starting. Who starts should be based upon who gives the team the best chance to win.
And while you make the mistake of comparing Kelly and Berco's stats today, I would never do such a thing as its apples and oranges. Berco didn't start. He came into the game late in the 3rd quarter. Totally different set of circumstance than what a starter faces. And, although he was still on the field, Berco didn't have a healthy Strong to throw to thanks to Kelly getting Strong injured with one of his many bad tosses that, in this case, forced Strong to lay out even though he was wide open.... Wonder if this game would've been any different had Strong not been injured...

 

[AZ Native]

I think we all know the better team won, which has not been true in many games of this series. Congrats U of A.

 

[desertdawg]

Kelly couldn't throw the deep ball to save his life, and the UofA runningback had like 175 yards on the ground. ASU is lucky it was as close as it was today.