The first quarter of the season is over and we find ourselves still trying to figure out just how good this team can be this year.  After stumbling out of the gates against both Alabama State and South Carolina State, the Wildcats struck first against Miami this past weekend but made far too many execution errors to give themselves any chance of pulling off an upset.

Moral Victories won’t do

It was obvious from the postgame interview that Coach Jenkins was not at all happy with his team’s performance.  In fact, Coach Jenkins’ responses and overall disposition were much more reflective of a coach who felt like his team ‘let one slip away’ as oppose to a coach whose undermanned team was within 14 points of the University of Miami with 9:00 left in the contest.  The worse part about Saturday’s contest wasn’t losing, I mean we are talking about “The U”.  They have much more overall talent, they can offer 22 more scholarships (FBS-85; FCS-63), and they had the best player on the field in running back Duke Johnson; but the volume of  dropped passes, missed assignments, poor tackling, untimely penalties and overall poor execution by Wildcat players was troubling.

The easy thing to do is to simply write this off as BCU playing against a better team and being forced into execution issues.  The problem with that logic is that BCU has not played a full 4 quarters of crisp football all season long.  And oh by the way, Tennessee State is the #1 ranked team in HBCU football and they come to town in a few days.  The Wildcats can ill-afford to go through any periods of lull or poor execution against the Big Blue Tigers if they hope to stay undefeated in FCS play.

Make the decision for the coach

Here’s the deal.  BCU has three talented quarterbacks who all offer something different.   I would give up pork for 3 weeks if one of the QBs elevates the consistency of his play, separates himself from the bunch and become the Wildcat’s sure-fire starting quarterback.  You can say that I am praying for the next Matt Johnson to arise from this bunch and to do so quickly. 

Jackie Wilson has the most in-game experience of the trio.  Wilson has started all three games this season and he has not done anything to warrant losing the starting nod.  Wilson had most of last season and the first three games of this year to claim sole ownership as THE quarterback; but like a year ago, he is again stuck in a rotating quarterback system.  Good things seem to happen whenever Brock Waters is on the field, but Waters is sometimes erratic with his throws.  Quentin Williams represented well in his first collegiate game action but the sampling is way too small to draw any real conclusions. 

Neither quarterback has played pooly, but consistency at the position is the difference between this team having a good season and making a legitimate playoff run.  Hopefully one of these three guys will have a tremendous week of practice and make the decision for the coach with his play.  

The only person that will be more excited than me if this happens is Coach Jenkins himself.  It will be the first time in a year and a half that he won’t be asked “who’s the starter at QB this week”.  That alone may be enough to allow him to finally crack a smile.