If Only We Had 15 Defenders...

I'm starting to fill out a Q&A survey from Dave at Maize & Brew, and was a little surprised by the wording on one of the questions he sent:

10. Rhema McKnight = Hoss. Samarjwickawickawicka hasn't started all that strong. How big a deal were Stovall and Fasano's departures to this offense?

Personally, I think Samarjwickawickawicka has started off pretty well, although I guess "not strong" means not equal to his eye-popping stats and touchdown-a-game pace from the beginning of last season. In Samarjwickawickawicka's defense, a big part of his slightly lower stats is opposing teams keying their entire defense on him. Don't believe me? Check out this still frame from the McKnight touchdown at the end of the first half in the Penn State game:



One play left in the half, the Irish need to score a touchdown. So what does the defense do? They put one, two, three bodies on the Shark. Excellent gameplan. Wait, except there's some guy in a blue jersey running around the back of the end zone completely uncovered. Quinn could have lobbed to ball underhand to Rhema McKnight and it would still have been an easy touchdown.

My short answer? Who cares if Samarjwickawickawicka doesn't put up those big numbers. I'm more than happy to throw to other wide open receivers while the Shark draws everybody but the waterboy into coverage.