Why Id Take Nassib Over Barkley

After watching Saturdays game, I was blown away with Ryan Nassib's play.  Since the pinstripe bowl he has looked like the first team all BE QB, but I expected him to come back to earth against SC. However, after traveling all the way across the country and playing in front of 70,000 hostile fans I can comfortably say position for position, QB (along with maybe TE, MLB, and whatever guard USC was starting that freshman from Vegas) is a position where we have the better player.  Now maybe Ill get flamed with statistics, but the tape tells a different story.  Nassib and Barkley were not playing with the same tools in the same conditions. Barkley was home, with home refs and tall fast WRS.  Nassib, on the road with - well less just say less than what USC had. Call athletic ability even (Nassib showed he can run) and we have seen all season Nassib can throw darts. The kid has a cannon. Maybe he doesn't take it in the looks category, ( hes not a bad looking guy either) but Ill take arm strength over Orange County looks all day.  He throws hard accurate balls. His touchdown pass is a perfect example.  He threaded that ball through the seam in very very good coverage against a D made entirely of 4 and 5 star guys. He runs this offense to very very well and knows when and where his guys will be open.  He started 11-11 and would have been 16 for 20 had it not been for a lot of dropped balls.  No picks agaisnt a D as good as SC is amazing.  Even more so when you consider he had no help from the run game and put the team on his back. He throws a tight hard ball and has a great grasp of this offense, the same offense that NO and GB run.  Nassib will be a pro, even if its just as a back up because any team that runs that system can plug him right it.

Barkley on the other hand didnt impress me with any but one of his throws (which was not caught where he put it ahead of his WR so SUs DBs couldn't make a play).  He was off with his WRs (see the throw where he was looking for the back shoulder and the receiver wanted the ball in front of him) and all his touchdowns were floater jump balls.  I know he can get away with it because he has the 5 start future NFL WRs against young SU DBs who didnt get rotated out, but it doesn't show me anything.  Credit those scores to his WRs, not his great throws. Many of his yards were on dump it off screen passes.  Nothing across the middle.  No threading the needle.  I know, he doesn't have to, but consider why Tom Brady says hes so good - because he is constantly tested and it makes him perform at a higher level.

My point is, that maybe not in raw talent, potential or good looks, but in terms of quarterbacking as of Saturday, Nassib is the better player.  If the rolls were reversed, I dont think Barkley could keep SU competitive against SC and Nassib would have carved up a D with SCs protection, run game and WRs who dont drop balls much better than Barkley did.   

I hope that in spite of dropping the game, Ryan gains confidence from out playing arguably one of the best QBs in the nation.

And to Matt Barkley: Ryan Nassib is a swagger jacker, and your swagger just got jacked.