JonathanE

December 16th, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^

Inspired by Ivan Boesky's commencement speech to the University of California, Berkeley, School of Business Administration.  “Greed is all right, by the way.  I want you to know that.  I think greed is healthy.  You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.”

Joined: 09/03/2017

MGoPoints: 2366

STW P. Brabbs

December 16th, 2022 at 3:04 PM ^

The vitriol directed to Cade is a really bad look, in my opinion. Are we as a fan base so thin-skinned that we need to denigrate a college kid who got a little salty when he lost his starting position following a year that was the best the program had seen for a long time?  

Be the bigger people. Cade played his ass off while he was here. Maybe he didn't handle being passed by JJ with impeccable grace, but cut the dude a break. We look like assholes who don't give a flying shit about any of the players unless they're winning games for us.

Joined: 08/27/2008

MGoPoints: 3867

KeyserSöze

December 16th, 2022 at 5:16 PM ^

It is important to just stick with the facts.  Cade is the only player voted captain in the history of UM Football who quit.  Speculating on his maturity levels or character faults isn’t our place as supporters of UM Football.  Just stick to the facts. He is a quitter.  Rather than stick around and support the players who foolishly voted him a captain, he quit.  #FACTS

Joined: 01/26/2016

MGoPoints: 230

The Oracle 2

December 16th, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^

My only prior assumption was that McCarthy was the better player. It has been McNamara’s own statements and actions over the past few months that have revealed something about his character. I remember constantly seeing the injured Ronnie Bell on the sidelines last year, 100% engaged and encouraging his teammates every week. We didn’t see any of that from McNamara this year. I wondered if TV just wasn’t showing it, but then read confirmation from people who attended the games in person. As it turned out, McCarthy was both the better player and, apparently, the better person.

Joined: 02/25/2018

MGoPoints: 19191

bronxblue

December 16th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^

Yeah, it's sort of crazy to me that people look at Cade's passing stats from the 2021 Big 10 season (65% completion, 7.75 ypa, 12:4 TD:INT ratio) compared to McCarthy in 20220 Big 10 season (62%, 7.5 ypa, 17:3 TD:INT ratio) and frame the first one as some try-hard game manager and the second one as some savant who led this team to the playoffs.  

Cade is gone and I wish him luck and McCarthy is the future and a better QB for what UM wants to do.  But this place has been denigrating what McNamara has done basically since he started in 2021 and at some point it's just lazy and petty to keep saying it.  He wasn't the best QB in the world but he played well in the roll given to him, same as McCarthy, and whether or not he was happy with losing his job that really shouldn't matter.

And I'd like to add that McCarthy benefitted IMMENSELY from Cade getting hurt and not being a looming specter to replace him/spell him when he struggled.  I know the official position of this blog is that the wide receivers, wind, "game situation", etc. were always the reasons why McCarthy struggled for stretches of this year but there were games this year where a healthy McNamara would have absolutely been brought in to calm McCarthy down or give him a breather (like in 2021) and not having that concern took a lot of pressure off Harbaugh and McCarthy because that would have undoubtedly been controversial.

Anyway, much like the Erick All discourse I hope the offseason quiets it down and people can just chill out on both sides.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171786

UMForLife

December 16th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^

Cade did not perform well in the first few games against cupcakes. One game OL had issues and it seems to be mobility might be a cause. His attitude stunk. So, now we know what we know, I highly doubt he would have been brought in to give JJ a breather. Harbaugh might have let JJ ride it out. 

Joined: 11/04/2013

MGoPoints: 63393

bronxblue

December 16th, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^

Do you honestly think that Jim Harbaugh wouldn't have brought in McNamara at any point when the offense scuttled from stretches against Maryland, Iowa, MSU, Rutgers, etc.?  Maybe during those numerous games where McCarthy couldn't hit a deep shot?  He did it last year with McCarthy both as a package and sometimes just to give McNamara a chance to calm down after a bad series or two.  

At this point it's no longer worth arguing because McNamara is gone and McCarthy is the starter but it's weird to me that any criticism of McCarthy/praise of McNamara is met with almost reflexive defensiveness.  McCarthy was every bit the game manager McNamara was last year, and I'd argue McNamara played a tougher schedule with a weaker receiving corps and a worse offensive line in 2021 compared to 2022.  McCarthy's ceiling is higher because of his legs and arm strength but he's not infallible and his performance this year was, much like last year with McNamara, insulated from pressure because of a stout running game, a good offensive line, and a strong defense.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171786

steviebrownfor…

December 16th, 2022 at 2:10 PM ^

I agree with you that people are way too hard on McNamara (it's actually kind of gross).  But I disagree that Cade would have seen much meaningful time. 

A big part of the reason the offense as a whole was better this year (and it was better) is McCarthy's legs.  McCarthy is just flat out a better player, but Cade was also very good.

Joined: 02/01/2009

MGoPoints: 10078

MGoOhNo

December 18th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^

Bro, picking stats that bolster your assertions (leaving out total yards, passing yards, running yards) and deleting plays JJ makes that Cade either can’t make, or hasn’t exhibited the potential to make is just silly. 

makes it hard to take the balance of your arguments seriously 

Joined: 08/12/2014

MGoPoints: 8977

ShadowStorm33

December 16th, 2022 at 1:23 PM ^

Cade did not perform well in the first few games against cupcakes.

This can't be understated. He did not look good, at all. He was slow to make decisions, and his passes were not accurate. Honestly, even when playing with the starters (against three abysmal cupcakes), he didn't look like a QB that would be starting at many schools. In addition to the eye test (e.g. JJ and even Davis Warren came in and immediately looked better against the same defenses), his stats also bear that out. His season RTG (121.7) would have been 103rd in the country had he had enough attempts to qualify, and that's including Roman Wilson's 61-yard screen pass TD against CSU (that was thrown three yards BEHIND the line of scrimmage, i.e. was pretty much 100% due to Wilson's running and 0% due to Cade's throwing). Take that out, and his RTG drops to 87.5, which not only would have been dead last among qualifying QBs (125th), but is nearly 10 points lower than the lowest qualifying QB, i.e. likely much lower than 125th. His RTG was over 21 points worse than Petras's; let that sink in for a second...

Joined: 07/22/2008

MGoPoints: 23065