Eyes on the Enemy: Mark Sanchez
After spotlighting Joe McKnight and Rey Maualuga over the past couple days, we finish up our Eyes on the Enemy mini-series with a look at USC QB Mark Sanchez.
The 6′3″ junior will be searching for his first signature win following a 2007 campaign that saw him go 2-1 in place of injured starter John David Booty. Sanchez was at the helm in a close win over Arizona and a blowout victory over a hapless Irish squad before losing a tight one at Oregon the following week.
His QB ratings were up and down (54.5, 109.0, 79.0) and he compiled a pedestrian TD/INT ratio of 7 to 4 with three sacks. Further, the scrimmage against ND served as a true stat padder with Sanchez recording 4 TDs against zero picks.
Sanchez came out slinging in the 2008 season opener completing 26/35 for 338 yards and 3 TDs against 1 pick in the blowout of Virginia. More importantly for Trojan fans, Sanchez showed no ill effects from a dislocated kneecap suffered back in early August.
Out of Mission Viejo High School, Sanchez was the top rated QB in the nation in 2005 and he chose USC over a host of schools including Ohio State. After a redshirt 2005 season, Sanchez rode the pine in ‘06 after riding a USC co-ed who would later falsely accuse him of sexual assault.
A prototype drop back passer, the key to defending Sanchez is to get “boxed” pressure. To classify him as immobile would be incorrect because he has good feet enabling him to move laterally in the pocket however he would prefer to move to avoid pressure or create a throwing lane versus moving with the intent of tucking and turning upfield.
Last year’s loss at Oregon saw Sanchez throw two picks in the 4th quarter to secure the defeat.
While his potential can’t be argued, it can safely be stated that he’s yet to really prove anything against elite competition. If the Buckeyes can get pressure, especially without the aid of a blitz, OSU could find themselves in position to escape the Coliseum with a signature win of their own.
I will be in New Orleans over the weekend. Does anyone know of any ‘Buckeye’ bars there? I would much rather watch the game with fellow Buckeyes than with the LSU faithful.
Any help would be appreciated. GO BUCKS!
http://www.cajunbuckeyes.com/
This is a great breakdown. Coming into this game, the media has made Sanchez out to be Joe Montana and that’s just not the case. For all the flack everyone (including myself) gives Boeckman, Todd’s proven a lot more in his college career than Sanchez has. A close victory last year over an Arizona team that didn’t even make a bowl game? When you take away the scrimmage that was the ND game, I see 2 TDs to 7 INTs.
The only competition he’s faced all year has been a terrible UVA team. That, followed by a bye week and then he faces OSU’s defense in his first primetime game at the Coliseum? Sanchez is going to be in a very new situation and in my opinion, there are a lot of question marks around him.
Just don’t tell ESPN.
Ike – interesting and encouraging
Got my stickers in the mail today and one is currently adorning my laptop. 11W is head and shoulders my favorite Buckeye blog. Thanks Corey!
Sanchez will dominate Boeckman in the stat department, OSU’s QB is waaaay overrated, especially of late.
The 24-year-old Boeckman has thrown nearly 200 more career passes than Sanchez, but in this what-have-you-done-for-The-Dash-lately world, he has not performed well against quality competition. Discounting Ohio State’s opening victory over FCS Youngstown State, Boeckman’s last four quarterback ratings going back to 2007 are brutal: 71 against Ohio, 77.1 against LSU, 30.9 against Michigan and 37.9 against Illinois. His yards per attempt: 4.2 against Ohio, 8 against LSU, 3.8 against Michigan, 6.8 against Illinois. In those four games he’s thrown two touchdowns and six interceptions. Ohio State has averaged just 21.3 points in those games — and lost half of them.
USC Fanatic, you do realize that the pass defenses in the Pac-10 are Swiss cheese compared to the rest of the nation, right?
Sanchez is good, but his stats are similar to Boeckman’s career-wise. You can’t cherry-pick games. People were saying “Heisman” after the Penn State game, so Boeckman has the capacity to be very good against very good defenses. It’s a head-game at this point. That doesn’t bode well considering the opponent and venue this weekend, but nevertheless, you can’t just count him out because his last 4 games have been a bit shabby. Oh, and did I mention that QB-rating is a meaningless stat?
Beanie Wells downgraded to Doubtful after practice today, 1460 just broke it….That totally blows
Eric: Thanks.
I move to disallow any quotes from the king retard, Pat Forde, on this message board.
I say we send Jermale Hines.
wow… not an USC fan, (a fan of CAL and the PAC-10) but you guys got blown the heck out and Beanie would not have been able to help you from that beating that you took. It was like a slow motion train wreck… WOW the Big Ten is clearly overrated. At least you are going to beat Michigan and be the class of the Big Ten, but now you have to be the underdog in the BCS game you go to…