We're less than a month out from the start of the next journey to Frisco. There are plenty of questions which will need to be answered during Fall Camp & over the course of the season but today the focus is on one question that hasn't been getting enough attention from the establishment media - Is the quarterbacking good enough?
Cam Miller had an efficient performance in the 2021 championship as Hunter Luepke, Kobe Johnson & Quincy Patterson pounded Montana State. That capped a season in which Miller threw 14 touchdowns. He followed that with 13 tosses for six points, while having 15 runs past the pylons. As running options, Miller & Cole Payton are as effective as anyone in the country. They are quality successors to the lineage of Jensen, Wentz, Stick & Lance - as ball-carriers.
In order for the team to not be a playoff semi-finalist or runner-up again this season they will have to be more than that though.
The responsibility for an explosive passing offense doesn't all fall on them. The rams have to give Miller & Payton the time to see down field, pass-catchers have to fulfill that role and the coaches have to design, teach & call the game plans.
For all the QBU-ness that's gone on the last few years, the offensive line has been even better at churning out the highest level of player so putting blame on them would be misguided.
While mostly-unproven, the backs, tight-ends & receivers were all highly-regarded coming from their respective high schools so at least four, five or six should be able to make plays on a typical Saturday. Call that part a TBD.
Which leaves the coaches.
Offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl is a favorite son of the community who one day will have the big chair of a college football program. Even for his status in the program's lore & Fargo, he wasn't just handed the job. Roehl earned the position over years of rising through the ranks and when gifted with a top quarterback in the nation in 2019, the offense hummed in the top-10. So Miller & Payton are a couple rungs lower than the 9er. Whether he can get more out of those two could define the successfulness of Roehl's tenure as the OC.
It is unrealistic to expect every quarterback who has the starting job to be a top-15 player at the position in the nation, but ultimately the buck stops with the top dog.
With two championships in his four years at the helm, Matt Entz has done a great job managing the twists of 2020 & the extremely-early departure of Marshall's finest. Even so, there might be some crack-pots on the internet trying to drum-up for a change at that spot.
That is not the point of this.
Entz has continued to identify and secure the same level of talent as his predecessors. Some of the guys that have come aboard during his tenure may even exceed their predecessors, again wait and see. Point is, Tthe two Matts are nowhere near having to have the conversation.
But as a defensive coordinator by trade, Entz could put some stipulations on the offense that limit their ability to explode i.e. score in five plays or less. With most of the subdivision so very far behind the Dome Squad, scoring points & winning comfortably is not typically going to be a problem. But with South Dakota State now on the same championship level there needs to be more practice along the way so that when a comeback or shootout is required, it can be achieved.
If Miller & Payton are not able to get their heads enough above water to execute that sort of offense then some of the other options on the roster should be considered. If there is no viable option found then Matt Entz may soon find himself in the same position that Dave Richman has been in for years - very successful, but not quite successful enough for a portion of the Herd.
It's just something to keep in mind as the depth chart takes shape and the season begins with Eastern Washington at the Purple Palace. Following each game there will be a dedicated piece focusing on how the quarterbacks performed their primary responsibility.
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