If Moevao's ready...he needs a shot...

After attending three Beaver home games and watching the other away game, I have come to the conclusion that if Moevao is healthy, Riley needs to give him a start. As many have read, there is plenty of blame to go around. I am not writing this because I think Sean Canfield is the only reason why the Beavers are struggling. Surely one can point out the lack of a pass rush (two sacks in four games...ouch!) Or the fact that Suesi Tuimaunei couldn't cover a grandma with a walker if she ran a route (and if she caught it he'd miss the tackle). Or the fact the offensive line has played horribly and shown no noticeable improvement. I'm writing this simply because Moevao has one clear advantage over Sean Canfield: he gets rid of the ball quickly.

Put aside the fact that Moevao is 11-4 as a starter. Or that he's just a natural-born winner and natural-born leader. From very minute Sean Canfield arrived on campus, he has consistently struggled to make quick decisions and proper reads. Matt Moore had a similar problem in 2005, and it took five games into the 2006 season to finally get it. Sean Canfield has had five years. And with no noticeable improvement in his decision making, it is time to give someone else a chance.

Canfield continues to hold onto the ball too long. This puts added stress on the young offensive line. While Canfield has dropped some weight in the offseason and has surprisingly showed some mobility (see Arizona) his pocket presence is still suspect. He still refuses to step up in the pocket and when plays call for him to roll out of the pocket, his accuracy steeply declines. There has been a lack of a deep threat and many have acclaimed this to route running...or could it be that Canfield simply doesn't look for the route period? Several times against Arizona, Canfield missed open receivers downfield because he never looked off his first read. This happened several times on third downs.

With Canfield not looking downfield for long and even middle-range passes, the safeties have been able to come up and play closer to the line of scrimmage to help with the run (Quizz hasn't eclipsed the 100-yard mark for two straight games.) If nothing changes, Beavers' opponents will continue to stack the box and force Canfield to throw. With Canfield's immobility, also look for teams to blitz a lot more since Canfield really struggles under pressure.

I understand Riley likes to stick to his quarterbacks. Too many times in the past have I leaped to conclusions and wanted to bench our starting qb in hopes that the back up would somehow magically be that much better than the starter. This year is different however. With another proven winning qb and another fifth-year senior at that, Moevao needs an opportunity to see if he can rally the troops and light a fire under their bellies. Otherwise, look for the Beavers to struggle even more in the near future. They play at ASU this coming weekend where they haven't won since 1969. ASU also almost beat (and should've beat if they made a field goal in the end) Georgia in their house. The Beavers also still must play Stanford, at USC, at Cal, and at UO. Plain and simple, this is Moevao's team. In five years, Canfield is still making the same mistakes he made in his early days. With this lack of progess, he needs to sit because it only gets harder from here.