Jake has had a rough season and deserves some criticism but not for yesterday's performance. He had a shaky start throwing an interception in the endzone but after that he played with more heart and determination than I've seen him play with since he has been here at USC. He was the only bright spot on our offense. He can't go out there and catch the passes he throws. I saw a kid making great throws that somehow slipped right through the receivers' hands. Twice in the first half he threw long passes that would have put us in scoring position and our receivers just dropped the balls. He threw passes that would have moved the chains but slipped through the bread basket like the basket had no bottom. The 2 drives in the 3rd quarter showed pure determination. I saw a QB with a bum ankle hurdling himself through the air to get a first down, scrambling and making difficult throws, willing his team back into the game. I was in awe when we tied the game at 16. It was a brand new game. We struggled to stop A&M from moving the ball in the 2nd half but we still managed to hold them to a FG. We got the ball back, picked up one 1st down and then Jake throws a pass that would have gone for another, only to have it once again slip through a receiver's hands. No, I won't blame Jake for that loss. If I was a coach, I would have my receivers in practice catching passes until their hands had blisters. I would have every single QB throwing to them for the entirety of practice. When one unit is practicing, and certain receivers weren't participating, they would be on the sidelines catching passes. There is no excuse for the number of drops we have had this year. I feel robbed after yesterday's game and it was due to the seeming ineptitude of our receivers to catch the damn football!
