An Excerpt From Cougar Sports Weekly

We take a look at what Mike Leach has to say about evaluating quarterbacks in his book, “Swing Your Sword,” and apply his standards to Jeff Tuel and Connor Halliday:

Says Leach, “It’s very difficult to gauge a quarterback’s intelligence from recruiting tape, but I know that guys who throw into double coverage aren’t making good decisions. What I want to see is him throwing to his receivers right on the break, or just as they find themselves wide open.”

Substitute “recruiting tape” with “watching as a fan on TV” and you’ve got our position. All we can do is apply the same two standards Leach does when he watches quarterback prospects: Is he throwing to guys who are open and is he throwing it to them as they come open?

In terms of the latter, I see this as another push between the two of them. But with regards to the former, I think this is an area where Tuel has a bit of an advantage at the moment. Among the seven full-time starters in the Pac-10 in 2010, Tuel had the lowest attempt-to-interception ratio. This jives with what I saw with my eyes, and I think part of it is due to Tuel’s ability to tuck the ball and run rather than force the ball when nobody is open.

Halliday, on the other hand, has a bit of a gunslinger mentality. Sometimes he gets away with it and throws for 500 yards. Sometimes he throws four interceptions in the first half, as he did against a Utah team that actually was prepared for him and his skill set.