Morgantown, West Virginia – Jarret Doege, West Virginia’s redshirt senior starting quarterback, is currently the 167th ranked quarterback out of 200 eligible quarterbacks in the nation, according to Pro Football Focus.
The thought of taking Doege into Norman, Oklahoma as the starter to play the 4th-ranked Sooners has to keep Neal Brown up at night. Not only is Doege statistically bad, he also doesn’t protect the ball well when he’s pressured. And he will be pressured on Saturday.
Doege’s lack of mobility is a real issue for the Mountaineers and it will be a glaring weakness against Oklahoma. When the pocket breaks down – and again, it will break down – Doege has a terrible habit of either taking sacks or wildly throwing interceptions.
He has absolutely no ability to create outside of the pocket and so his options are very limited.
Brown has expertly created the narrative that Doege is his best option right now. He claims that Doege “has done some good things” and has convinced anyone that will listen that redshirt freshman Garrett Greene just isn’t ready yet.
Greene, of course, has not been given a real chance to prove himself, even during West Virginia’s blowout win against Long Island University in week two. Greene being allowed to show that he’s a capable passer that game would have destroyed Brown’s narrative and made the quarterback situation even more murky.
While starting a new quarterback – particularly a redshirt freshman with almost no real experience – on the road against the #4 team in the country is certainly not ideal, it would clearly give West Virginia the best chance of winning.
Jarret Doege is the safe choice, but Doege has been a starter for five seasons – three at Bowling Green and two at West Virginia – and he’s never proven that he can win a big game. In fact, he’s proven just the opposite. His poor decisions lost the season opener against Maryland and nearly did the same against Virginia Tech, if the West Virginia defense didn’t bail him out.
Throwing Garrett Greene into the fire seems outrageous right now, but his ability to extend plays and create big, explosive things with his feet make him the obvious choice. And besides, he just can’t be worse than Jarret Doege.
Who would you feel more comfortable leading the Mountaineers into Oklahoma this weekend?
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) September 23, 2021
