It became clear and obvious who the best QB for us was. Fans that looked at it with rationale saw it. So did the coaches and other players. Only the ones who just dont like JG didnt see it.
Was JG better than BM trying to come back from a neck/head injury? Yes. No doubt. OTOH, Maurer played better vs UGA than JG has in his career. UGA was the best D UT faced all year.
I don't dislike JG. I dislike his issues that hurt the team.... and I am not hopeful that a RS Sr is going to overcome what looks like an innate inability to anticipate throws or process quickly.
PS- They game planned differently for the two guys. That's the reason BM struggled more when trying to come in behind JG and to an extent why JG struggled when he replaced BM. BM processes fast. Too fast. He instinctively and confidently sees and throws. That can and did cause some problems. However they used a lot of RPO's in the game plans for his starts. Just over 20% of Maurer's throws were RPOs. JG was under 8%. They tried to take advantage of Maurer's impulse to throw quickly. That just doesn't work with JG. OTOH... asking Maurer to be patient on long developing plays didn't work very well either.
JG was the best in practice on a consistent basis. He out performed the others. Its just that simple.
He was one of the rare guys who looks like a Heisman candidate in practice but then goes back to what is "natural" under pressure.
Was he really good? No. Far from it. But Pruitt consistently said JG gave us the best chance to win and he was right. You alng with other JG haters just dont like that fact.
He was bad enough that Maurer as a true Fr got a chance to start in spite of not being ready. Before Maurer's injury... Pruitt believed that he and NOT JG gave UT the best chance to win. That was hard for Pruitt. He said many MORE times that he believes practice translates to the field.
There are few if any that "hate" JG. Do you "hate" Maurer or any of the others because they have problems? The difference with JG is that he's not a freshman like Shrout and Maurer. He's a RS JR with a long history of a fatal flaw. He doesn't anticipate throws or read/process fast enough. It has manifested itself in late throws and sacks when the OL was not as strong. It causes him to miss throws down field and check down instead.
A big part of doing that is innate. The announcers for the BCSCG said something interesting. They quoted Burrow as saying that if a defender's head isn't turned... he considers that receiver open. He anticipates and throws to a spot. He doesn't wait for the receiver to BE open like JG.