South Carolina football Question of the Day: Unrealistic expectations for Jake Bentley
November 13, 2017
@Cowboyz_1993 asks … Coming into the season, most of the media — ESPN — led us to believe that Jake Bentley was possibly the best QB in the SEC. While his stats aren’t that bad, he has not passed the eye test this year. He misses on a lot of open throws and I’m starting to believe he’s more to blame for our offensive woes than [Kurt] Roper. Is this a fair assessment or were our expectations just too high?
There were folks who began this season with some unrealistic expectations for Bentley, and it wasn’t just ESPN’s fault. There were plenty of offseason lists written on sites other than ESPN — SEC Country authored plenty — that included Bentley among the SEC’s best quarterbacks.
Back in June/July, I wrote and spoke plenty about Bentley and what to expect from him in his first full season as South Carolina’s starting quarterback. At the time, I thought his body of work, all seven of his games in 2016, left him among the top half of the SEC’s quarterbacks, but wasn’t convinced he was the best or even among the top 3.
I caught a pretty fair amount of heat back then, but felt pretty comfortable not including him in the echelon of Jalen Hurts (Alabama) and Nick Fitzgerald (Mississippi State) or even Jarrett Stidham (Auburn) and Drew Lock (Missouri).
To me, it’s no coincidence that three of those quarterbacks are on some of the best teams in the SEC.
Did I think Bentley would be a little bit better than he has this season? Sure, but I’m not sure if there’s a way to quantify how much. Plus, I didn’t think Deebo Samuel would be done after three games.
There are several reasons why Bentley and South Carolina’s offense haven’t quite lived up to expectations this year — no matter how unrealistic they were, but I don’t think there’s any one person to blame.
Football doesn’t always work like that.
Could the coaching be better? Sure, at times. Those guys will even admit to that, but I don’t think it’s as bad as some people make it out to be. Injuries have played their part, too — Samuel, the offensive linemen, Rico Dowdle, etc.
But there were some expectations that were a tad bit too high.
All that being said, South Carolina is 7-3 (5-3 SEC). Those records, before the season, were realistic goals for Gamecocks fans to hope for in 2017.
That’s why I have a hard time understanding some of the frustration.
SECCOUNTRY
November 13, 2017
@Cowboyz_1993 asks … Coming into the season, most of the media — ESPN — led us to believe that Jake Bentley was possibly the best QB in the SEC. While his stats aren’t that bad, he has not passed the eye test this year. He misses on a lot of open throws and I’m starting to believe he’s more to blame for our offensive woes than [Kurt] Roper. Is this a fair assessment or were our expectations just too high?
There were folks who began this season with some unrealistic expectations for Bentley, and it wasn’t just ESPN’s fault. There were plenty of offseason lists written on sites other than ESPN — SEC Country authored plenty — that included Bentley among the SEC’s best quarterbacks.
Back in June/July, I wrote and spoke plenty about Bentley and what to expect from him in his first full season as South Carolina’s starting quarterback. At the time, I thought his body of work, all seven of his games in 2016, left him among the top half of the SEC’s quarterbacks, but wasn’t convinced he was the best or even among the top 3.
I caught a pretty fair amount of heat back then, but felt pretty comfortable not including him in the echelon of Jalen Hurts (Alabama) and Nick Fitzgerald (Mississippi State) or even Jarrett Stidham (Auburn) and Drew Lock (Missouri).
To me, it’s no coincidence that three of those quarterbacks are on some of the best teams in the SEC.
Did I think Bentley would be a little bit better than he has this season? Sure, but I’m not sure if there’s a way to quantify how much. Plus, I didn’t think Deebo Samuel would be done after three games.
There are several reasons why Bentley and South Carolina’s offense haven’t quite lived up to expectations this year — no matter how unrealistic they were, but I don’t think there’s any one person to blame.
Football doesn’t always work like that.
Could the coaching be better? Sure, at times. Those guys will even admit to that, but I don’t think it’s as bad as some people make it out to be. Injuries have played their part, too — Samuel, the offensive linemen, Rico Dowdle, etc.
But there were some expectations that were a tad bit too high.
All that being said, South Carolina is 7-3 (5-3 SEC). Those records, before the season, were realistic goals for Gamecocks fans to hope for in 2017.
That’s why I have a hard time understanding some of the frustration.
SECCOUNTRY