He has not been getting reps with the offense for about six weeks. The timing and communication were all off, which happens when you haven’t practiced with guys for a while. He racked up over 300 yards in his most recent game against Toledo (poor decision on his last throw notwithstanding), so let’s not pretend like he wouldn’t normally be much better against a lower division team.

Add to that, Zach was directed to run very simplified plays. Those dump-offs looked mostly designed this week, to get him back into the flow of throwing again. We kept it very easy for him, with a few low-risk deep shots to test his arm. He was given little more than scrimmage scheming to work with this week. To Critchlow’s point, he’s a little more familiar with that type of scout team offense. It’s doubtful that our offense will continue to look that way against D-I competition. I’ll probably withhold judgment until we see how he looks with a real gameplan next week.