He wants to show the NFL that he's cut in the mold of Russell Wilson (of course). Stay in the pocket, manage the game, and keep plays alive with his feet when the occasion calls for it. And he'll be happy enough to get drafted in the 3rd round like Wilson. That's his agreement with Jimbo and that's what we got Saturday night.
Golson patiently spent the first half mostly handing the ball off (20 runs). He completed 7 of 9 (at least 1 was dropped) for 74 yards, no fumbles, no interceptions. He took 1 sack and had 1 other run for no gain. He led 3 TD drives, 2 lasting more than 3 minutes. For his first game at a new school, this was top notch performance.
The Noles broke Texas St.'s back with a 5:49 TD drive to open the second half, with Golson keeping that last play alive till Rudolph got open for that first score. Then Jimbo turned Golson loose for passing practice the rest of the way. When yards making up offensive penalties are included, all 4 drives Golson led were for over 70 yards, all went for TDs, and they used up a total of 14:09 minutes of the first 18:56 of the half. He was 12 of 16 (at least 1 was dropped) for 228 yards, 4 TDs, no fumbles, no interceptions. He ran once for 10 yards and took one sack (lost only 1 yard, more like an incompletion). Exceptional performance.
Overall, 19 of 25, 302 yards, 4 TDs, no interceptions, 230.3 passing efficiency. Compares favorably with 2013-Jameis. Now he isn't Jameis, not nearly as many shots downfield. But he did do one thing Jameis still needs to learn to do. He did check down to a running back 6 times. He was 5 for 6 (the other was dropped) for 49 yards; not gaudy stats by any measure, except that he averaged over 8 yards on passing plays when no receiver came open. I'll take that all year long.
Golson ran the ball only 4 times (including 2 sacks). While he probably will have more carries in some of the games to come, Jimbo didn't bring him here to run the ball. We've got 4 or 5 more durable players to do that. He's here to engineer long drives (exhausting their defense while keeping ours fresh), pick the low-hanging fruit (when there's single coverage on one of our excellent backs), hit tight ends in the back of the end zone (something he did a lot at ND), throw to open receivers, and keep plays alive with his feet. If he keeps doing that, he and the Noles will be alright at season's end.
Golson patiently spent the first half mostly handing the ball off (20 runs). He completed 7 of 9 (at least 1 was dropped) for 74 yards, no fumbles, no interceptions. He took 1 sack and had 1 other run for no gain. He led 3 TD drives, 2 lasting more than 3 minutes. For his first game at a new school, this was top notch performance.
The Noles broke Texas St.'s back with a 5:49 TD drive to open the second half, with Golson keeping that last play alive till Rudolph got open for that first score. Then Jimbo turned Golson loose for passing practice the rest of the way. When yards making up offensive penalties are included, all 4 drives Golson led were for over 70 yards, all went for TDs, and they used up a total of 14:09 minutes of the first 18:56 of the half. He was 12 of 16 (at least 1 was dropped) for 228 yards, 4 TDs, no fumbles, no interceptions. He ran once for 10 yards and took one sack (lost only 1 yard, more like an incompletion). Exceptional performance.
Overall, 19 of 25, 302 yards, 4 TDs, no interceptions, 230.3 passing efficiency. Compares favorably with 2013-Jameis. Now he isn't Jameis, not nearly as many shots downfield. But he did do one thing Jameis still needs to learn to do. He did check down to a running back 6 times. He was 5 for 6 (the other was dropped) for 49 yards; not gaudy stats by any measure, except that he averaged over 8 yards on passing plays when no receiver came open. I'll take that all year long.
Golson ran the ball only 4 times (including 2 sacks). While he probably will have more carries in some of the games to come, Jimbo didn't bring him here to run the ball. We've got 4 or 5 more durable players to do that. He's here to engineer long drives (exhausting their defense while keeping ours fresh), pick the low-hanging fruit (when there's single coverage on one of our excellent backs), hit tight ends in the back of the end zone (something he did a lot at ND), throw to open receivers, and keep plays alive with his feet. If he keeps doing that, he and the Noles will be alright at season's end.
