I look at Laviano as a safe, capable, back up QB in the B1G. He is a D1 QB, no doubt. There is also no question he lacks arm strength. It's not even a question. He cannot make all of the throws that threaten the full field. His arm limits the playbook and that which the defense has to defend. His percentage is so high because we dink and dunk and throw underneath stuff 95% of the time. He better have a very high percentage or we would lose every game.
He epitomizes Flood's philosophy. Conservative and risk adverse. Most coaches would play the guy with higher ceiling and bigger arm and have him grow into the role to reach his potential. Flood does things different.
I'm not sure how anyone who watches any other teams play would even consider debating this.
Yet I believe he leads the Big Ten in yards per completion ... how is THAT possible with only dinks and dunks?
Against IU he completed passes for 39 yards, 58 yards, 23 yards, 43 yards and 40 yards. Only 1 of those was on a short pass run in for a TD (the 58 yarder by Carroo).
It IS true that Laviano's arm strength is only so-so. No one really argues with that. BUT ... he obviously has other strengths that help him and help the team.
I have to say I am more than pleasantly surprised by Laviano (and yes, I thought Rettig ought to have been named the starter after August practice reports, and after the Norfolk State game). Rettig is on pace for about 2800 yards passing, 24 TD and 12 interceptions on the season (and yes, I understand "on pace" is a somewhat stupid metric - but we all look at that), and has completed 69% of his passes. What the heck more do fans want from a Sophomore QB who has made only 5 starts in his career? Jeez ...
For those who say Rettig MIGHT be better ... I say pffftt. "Might," "could," "should" ... ridiculous. YOU HAVE NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER, just your opinion as a fan, and an uninformed fan ... as I am uninformed also. Why uninformed? Because other than against Norfolk State, you have not seen Rettig in practice, with the team or anything else ... so if ALL of us are actually HONEST, we would have to admit we are like Jon Snow... We know nothing.
All we can do is judge by what we see on the field ... and on the field, Laviano has been better than ANYONE could have anticipated (except, I HAVE to eat crow, there were a few posters who I derided, who argued pre-season that either Rettig or Laviano would be an improvement over Nova - I am not sure that has occurred, but it MIGHT have, and at the very worst the drop off has been much more limited than I anticipated).
And based on actual performance NO ONE CAN ARGUE WITH ANY CREDIBILITY that choosing Laviano over Rettig has been a mistake. You . Just . Cannot.