BleacherCoaches.com

Two years ago, OSU had a highly touted quarterback with a great arm who could not perform. They started 3-3 with this quarterback, and Tressel decided to make a change. Since that time, they are 19-3 and their quarterback is a leading heisman candidate. Tressel made a great coaching decision.

At then end of three years as a starter, Zach Mills had a losing record as a starter. Michael Robinson had tons of talent and sat on the bench for the last two of those years. Before Zach's senior year, who did genius Joe decide to go with? Well, Mills of course. He was terrible, but he was a senior. And what did Robinson do when he finally got a chance to start? He almost (and probably should have) won the heisman.

Joe faces a similar problem now. Morelli is terrible and PSU will not reach its potential with him at QB. Will Joe make a change? A good coach would.

Now, I know some of you will point to Joe's career, which is great. However, he has won two championships in 40 years. Tressel has one in five years (and four at the 1-AA level); he could win his second this year. Tressel will never get near the praise that Joe gets, but he is a better coach. Want proof? Watch what happens with Morelli. I don't anticipate a benching, but instead, a mediocre career where Joe continually says he is better than he really is.

He's played 4 games. Two against highly ranked "great" teams (by 2006 standards). Morelli, like Zwick, has the capacity to be a premier QB. Let's give him a season to see how it goes. Is Clark the answer? No. Is Ciancolo? No. Who do you want running the offense? Williams? Give Morelli an opportunity to settle down. The game will slow down for him, and he'll be serviceable.

Morelli's Stats:
Comp. %-54.7 (Not Bad)

Yards- 655 (Henne 679, Tate 687)

Int.- 4 (Same a Stanton, Same as Henne, Less than Painter)

TD's- 4 (Same as Stocco)

Rat. 106.17 (Not Bad)

Considering the teams he has played in his first four game his stats aren't as bad as they people think they are. Also if not for two late interceptions against Ohio St. when he needed to drive the field he would have a lot better numbers.

He is not winning games like Robinson did last year but he is not losing games either. They have him on a short leash and I think it is actually hurting him. They will not run plays with deep routes, third and long they are running screens, and they are not getting the running game established early in the game.

I could not believe in the OSU game how they came out in the shotgun 5 wide. That put so much pressure on Morelli that I am not surprise that he did how he did. His longest completion in the game was 14 yards which tells me they are not running deep routes. He did have a comp. % in the OSU game of 64%.

To continue the comparison, Zwick also had a high completion percentage and few interceptions. He played against tough competition in his six starts, but most of his completions were short passes - similar to Morelli. The argument that he will get better should not fly if Penn State is a great team. If John David Booty had started 2-2, would that fly with Carroll or USC fans? No. Booty would be benched because Carroll is a smart coach. The reality is the Morelli will continue to start even if PSU loses 6 or 7 games.

The guys that I pity are the PSU defenders. For the past three years, PSU has played lights out defense (Notre Dame game was exception), but the offense has been terrible. They were okay last year, but the offense was entirely built around Robinson. They only had about 190 yards against OSU and Robinson accounted for over half of that. Who is running the offense? Whoever it is is a moron because they have talent.

As far as short leashes go, I think Joe has Galen Hall and the others on one even shorter than the one they have on Morelli. Paterno needs to hit the road. I'm sorry, but the time has come, and it is apparent he still has his hands all over this offense, whereas last season they let Robinson do things and got them a BCS win. Time to step aside.