its is his first year in a new system what do you expect?
This has been a common response in this thread, and if the problem I see was poor decision making then that would be a perfectly acceptable answer. But it's not poor reads or bad decision making that concerns me - it's simply poor accuracy. I haven't made any comments about his reads, only about his accuracy. The ability to throw a fade has little to do with taking the snap under center or from shotgun. Underthrowing a receiver by five yards on an 80 yard touchdown strike has nothing to do with spread v. pro-style. That's not the concern.
The other common answer has been "Dayne is completing 60% of his passes". I obviously used inflammatory language, but that's simply not an adequate response to what I posted. I've cited several throws as examples:
1.) The fade TD to Floyd a few weeks ago
2.) The 80 yard TD to Floyd on Saturday
3.) The should have been Pass Interference throw to Floyd Saturday
4.) Overthrowing Floyd on the rollout Saturday
5.) The 5 yard out against Purdue to seal the game
All five of those were dreadful passes, but he completed 60% of them. According to the logic that 60% completion rate inherently means accurate passing, the very throws I'm concerned about are proof he's doing fine. Nobody can watch those five throws and say things are going great. Anybody who watches the long TD to Floyd and says it wasn't badly under thrown is an absolute idiot (that TD is all on Floyd as it is, if he was led properly he never would have been touched). Anybody who watches the fade TD and says that's what a fade should look like is an idiot. Anybody who says that the 5 yard out to seal the game against Purdue was a good throw is an idiot. I haven't even addressed any of the missed throws against MSU and Michigan that cost us points.
Then there is also the issue of comparing Dayne's completion percentage to previous Kelly QBs. Zach Collaros completed 75% of his passes last year, his guys as Grand Valley State completed just under 70%, and even Tony Pike completed 63% last year. Dayne's completion percentage is actually very low for a Kelly QB.
There is no question that Dayne has a cannon of an arm (which is another issue raised in his defense that has nothing to do with my concern). The question is whether he has any touch - and right now he doesn't. Moreover, it's not getting better. This was an issue in week one, and it's still an issue today.
What's funny is that my knowledge of football is being criticized when this shouldn't have been a controversial statement: Dayne's Scout Profile listed accuracy as his lone concern when he was a recruit; the NBC announcers have addressed it on a few occasions; this has been addressed on less biased forums without vitriol; his own coach gave him a c+ as a mid season review; Crist himself has addressed his lack of accuracy this season; and there are actually identifiable moments this season where his lack of accuracy has cost the Irish points.
Just having a cannon of an arm is fine with some offenses, but Kelly's spread requires touch and accuracy more than the ability to throw 30 yards on a rope. If the accuracy doesn't improve, the team won't improve either. This is the one thing holding us back right now. Kelly isn't a coach who wins based on defense (Cinci gave up 45 points to UConn last year, 36 to to Illinois and 44 to Pitt). The D isn't going to get that much better, the issue is that his offense averaged 38.6 points per game with the Bearcats - they simply outgunned people.
Facts are facts, and our defense is doing just as well as Kelly's others have done, it's the offense that is struggling. The spread demands accuracy, and Dayne isn't providing it.