Panic or Patience: DJ Uiagalelei, Oklahoma offense, OSU defense | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde debate whether it’s time for patience or panic with Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei, the stagnant Oklahoma offense, and Ohio State’s bottom level defense.
Video Transcript
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DAN WETZEL: Panic or patience? We're going to go, should you panic over this performance or not? DJ Uiagalelei-- 51 to 86, 475 yards, one TD, and one interception. Not exactly Trevor or Deshaun reincarnated so far. Panic or patience? Pat.
PAT FORDE: Oh, I'd say panic is justified at this point. Because it's-- it's been bad.
DAN WETZEL: Not surprised.
PAT FORDE: Are you kidding me? I mean, it's been really bad. You know, the middle game against South Carolina State doesn't count. Total toss out. You get rid of that, they've scored 17 points this year. Now Georgia defense, excellent. We know that. Georgia Tech, you score 14, you barely hang on to win. You're five yards in attempt, you throw for 126 yards? Come on. That does not compute.
And Dabo is trying to protect DJ, in terms of from criticism, but so far, it's just not working out at a place that's used to having Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. So the expectation level is that high, and he's nowhere near looking like the guy who nearly beat Notre Dame in overtime last year. He looks like a guy who is in over his head and trying to figure things out.
DAN WETZEL: Oklahoma offense scored 23 against Nebraska-- lowest total since they lost in 2016 to Houston. I don't think the Spencer Rattler Heisman campaign is going all that great. Panic or patience, Pete?
PETE THAMEL: It's funny. I talked to some NFL people this week. NFL people do not like Spencer Rattler. He is very much cooled in the eyes of the NFL. I think the notion of him as a Top 5-type pick is quickly slipping away. So I would be panicked if I was Spencer Rattler, and here's why. Caleb Williams, freshman quarterback from Gonzaga High School in D.C., I think has a much higher ceiling than Rattler long term.
He's 6' 1", 218 pounds, was one of, if not the, top quarterbacks in the country on the camp circuit. People raved about Williams in a very, very rare way. Quarterback guys I trust compared him to like a Russell Wilson. So it would be interesting to see if Rattler continues to be good, but not great, if a window opens for Williams to start getting some more snaps. I mean, thing about that Oklahoma QB room now is, it's loaded and it doesn't wait for anybody.
So again, I'm not suggesting that's going to happen imminently, but I am saying that Caleb Williams is sitting there and it will be interesting to see as they get into the Big 12, if Rattler is still up and down.
DAN WETZEL: All right. Ohio State defense ranked 118th in total defense gave up a 503 with Tulsa 612 to Oregon. Pat, panic? Let's not even-- forget patience.
PETE THAMEL: Yeah.
PAT FORDE: Yeah, no.
PETE THAMEL: Level of panic.
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah, no nobody-- even, like, crazy Buckeye fan is panicked. Everyone's panicked.
PAT FORDE: Yes.
DAN WETZEL: Not good.
PAT FORDE: Oh, yeah. No, I'm panicking on all these things, but I'm definitely panicking on their defense. My gosh. I was really surprised watching Oregon just push down the field consistently over and over and over and score 35. But Tulsa, which only managed 17 points against UC Davis, is right there in the game. I was like this-- there is something wrong at Ohio State. They've got some issues to fix because the competition after Akron this week, which doesn't count, but the competition will not be easy the rest of the way. And the way they are playing, they're going to lose two or three more games. Now, they could improve, but I've got to see it. Right now, I'm hammering the panic button.
