McCarron 1st half vs Penn State

Out of boredom I watched and charted McCarron's throws against PSU. I chose 1st half Penn State's defense because it's the only D that Bama has played that's anywhere near LSU.

Passes 10 yards or less: 11/13 1 TD; ~43 YAC

Richardson: 4 catches/5 targets 19 YAC
Bell: 1/1 12 YAC
Maze: 1/2 7 YAC
Lacy: 1/1 5 YAC
Gibson: 1/1
Smelley: 1/1
Williams: 1/1 TD
Norwood: 1/1

Passes 10-20 yards: 1/5

Norwood: 1/1
Maze: 0/1
Williams: 0/1
Smelley: 0/1 (Near int)
Jones: 0/1

25+: 1/1 to Maze
but as everyone already knows the Bama offense thrives on underneath throws.

Of the 4 intermediate incompletions, the throw to Jones was the only bad decision as he lead Jones right into a defender. The throw to Maze was a tight window but a good decision, just thrown behind him. The incompletion to Williams was actually from 6 yards out of the endzone, thrown to the back of the endzone out of Williams's reach. Smelley was open but was underthrown leading to a near int (which would likely be an int against LSU).

The deep throw to Maze was defended well with a nice throw and catch.

As the season has progressed McCarron has gotten much better in the intermediate passing game but none of those teams compare to LSU. McCarron does a good job of finding the open receiver; if Bama's receivers can get open against LSU's DBs McCarron will have a good day. I don't expect him to "throw open" any receivers though.


TL;DR version: McCarron is neither great nor is he a liability