Upon closer inspection, you're probably right. He's with Barnette but behind Rivers, Wilson, Glennon and Brissett when looking at QBs of the last 20 or so years of Wolfpack football.

My memories of Barnette are clouded by my constant playing of NCAA Football 98 and scoring 100 points every game with Torry Holt/Alvis Whitted.

9/21/2017 6:29:08 PM

He's much better than Barnette and a better passer than Brissett and Wilson when they were here. Of course Wilson's running and scrambling made him a better overall player (and padded his qb rating), but Finley is a better passer whose stats last year were pretty much on par with Wilson's here. So far this year, he's blowing Wilson and Glennon away. Rivers' senior year is the only thing we have seen that rivals Finley's current pace this season.

People forget how much we struggled to move the ball at times under Wilson, especially vertically and people remember these guys as great college qbs just because they were talented and went on to the NFL. Talent doesn't always translate into college production which is why I will yield that Finley is more a product of a great system than an individual talent but he still gets credit for who he is.

Rivers QB Ratings
FR 126
SO 134
Jr 141
SR 170

Finely QB Ratings
Last year 135
This year 154?
Next year ___ ????

As you can see, Finley was statistically better last year than Rivers sophomore year.

Brisset
JR 136
Sr 130

Wilson
FR 133
SO 147
JR 127
SR (191) at wisconsin where he came to form

Glennon
113
119
136
130

Barnette
112
134
131
115

In conclusion, Finley's year last year was on par with the best qbs we have had. Rivers senior year and Wilson's Sophomore year were the only years that were significantly better.

[Edited on September 21, 2017 at 7:44 PM. Reason : revisionist historians itt]

9/21/2017 7:39:59 PM

i agree, graham harrell is better than all our qbs

9/21/2017 8:16:17 PM

#factsonly

9/21/2017 8:22:45 PM

I like Finley but I think he has/had more weapons than Russell ever had.

Dayes, JSam, Harmon, Thuney vs Graham, Larsen, Spencer, Brown

9/21/2017 10:00:23 PM

thanks to DD

9/21/2017 10:02:19 PM

wrong thread

9/21/2017 10:03:32 PM

If we "struggled" to move the ball with Wilson then it's only because the rest of our roster was dogshit.

Rivers had a rough Soph/Jr year, glennon was a sack hound, and brisket didn't have much help... but i don't recall russell ever struggling beyond the ECU game.

The guy was the equivalent to football jesus here. I made a good thread about why we would almost never, ever win another game after we Judas priested him. And so far I've been right

[Edited on September 21, 2017 at 11:14 PM. Reason : A]

9/21/2017 11:11:51 PM

State was 20-18 in the Wilson era and 34-17 with Rivers

Wilson was 3-0 against UNCheat so that skews peoples' memories of him but Rivers was clearly the GOAT

[Edited on September 21, 2017 at 11:23 PM. Reason : .]

9/21/2017 11:21:56 PM

Quote :

"I like Finley but I think he has/had more weapons than Russell ever had. Dayes, JSam, Harmon, Thuney vs Graham, Larsen, Spencer, Brown "

Finley never had Thuney, that was Jacoby. but overall, i do think Finley's had a better OL than RW. RW also had George Bryan, Toney Baker, and Jarvis Williams. i'm not totally even disagreeing with your statement....just thinking back on a few of RWs weapons.

but, i think this group of WRs is our best in a very long time.

9/22/2017 6:54:16 AM

Russell Wilson had to throw to a bunch of wide receivers who couldn't catch a cold.

9/22/2017 7:42:37 AM

Spencer had the drops early in his career, but by the end, Wilson was throwing jump balls left and right that his big receivers were grabbing. Harmon is probably the best receiver we've had since the Wilson era.

9/22/2017 8:58:45 AM

and he's a true sophomore. he's got the potential to be better than any of those RW era guys....if he's not already.

9/22/2017 10:26:52 AM

What should concern us is that Finley came in with the OC. So we didnt get him through a normal recruitment process.

What do our other QB's look like behind him? Can we maintain this kind of talent after Finley leaves?

Thoughts on the QB's we've had other than Finley?

9/22/2017 10:30:43 AM

Quote :

"Finley never had Thuney, that was Jacoby. but overall, i do think Finley's had a better OL than RW. RW also had George Bryan, Toney Baker, and Jarvis Williams. i'm not totally even disagreeing with your statement....just thinking back on a few of RWs weapons. "

Oops about Thuney, but yea JSam and Dayes are on the all time list for touchdowns. Brown obviously had NFL talent but he never produced to that level in college.

Quote :

"Spencer had the drops early in his career, but by the end, Wilson was throwing jump balls left and right that his big receivers were grabbing. Harmon is probably the best receiver we've had since the Wilson era."

Harmon looks like the best receiver we've had since at least Cotchery. He's as close to a full package WR as we've had since then, speed, size, hands

9/22/2017 10:47:22 AM

Quote :

"What do our other QB's look like behind him? Can we maintain this kind of talent after Finley leaves? Thoughts on the QB's we've had other than Finley?"

hard to say, kinda. McLendon was this staff's first QB recruit (right?) and he was a pretty well thought of recruit who hasn't panned out. then Jakobi Meyers has moved to WR.

Matt McKay is redshirting this year, he was a solid recruit...i think a 4* on ESPN but a 3* every where else. but the guy for the future (we hope) is Devin Leary. he committed back in the spring and has really gained a lot of attention...some thought he'd decommit and commit to Penn St but that has all blown over with him being solidly committed still. he's a consensus 4* that really blew up during the Elite 11 camps this summer. by a lot of accounts, he's got a ton of potential and we should be very excited about him.

finley is a junior (but in his 5th year of college i believe) so we should get another year from him. allowing leary to redshirt next year and then have a RS SO McKay and RS FR Leary battling for QB in 2019, i think.

[Edited on September 22, 2017 at 11:12 AM. Reason : f]

9/22/2017 11:10:57 AM

^ none of this matters if we fire DD tho as some people would love apparently.

9/22/2017 11:42:05 AM

Quote :

"Harmon looks like the best receiver we've had since at least Cotchery."

What's the name of the guy who was supposed to be Glennon's primary receiver. He caught the game winning touchdown against FSU. That dude was supposed to be awesome, but was pretty inconstant.

Right now, I'd put Harmon in that same category. I think he has a long way to go before he's in the Cotchery category. But the good news is, he is only a sophomore. No one would have thought Holt would be one of the greatest NCAA receivers ever after his sophomore year.

9/22/2017 11:44:48 AM

Bryan Underwood caught that ball

9/22/2017 12:06:25 PM

George Bryan, the tight end, I believe

[Edited on September 22, 2017 at 12:11 PM. Reason : jk]

9/22/2017 12:11:19 PM

^^ Thats it. That dude had all the tools. Not sure what happened with him.

^ He caught the game winning TD pass from Russell

[Edited on September 22, 2017 at 12:20 PM. Reason : 1]

9/22/2017 12:19:06 PM

harmon's already better than byran underwood imo. underwood's best season was 44 catches, 620 yards....the impressive part was that he had 10 TDs. harmon's on pace to crush that this year (not the TDs part, the yards and catches). and his freshman year was better than any season aside from the 10 TD season that underwood had. underwood had 4 100+ yard games in his career....harmon already has 3. underwood only had 6 games with 5 or more receptions in his career. harmon already has 4, including every game this year.

they're also different WRs....Harmon has size that Underwood lacked. Underwood was more of a slot guy wasn't he?

[Edited on September 22, 2017 at 12:28 PM. Reason : i'm not trying to shit underwood or anything]

9/22/2017 12:27:47 PM

TOB also loved using the TE. Either because we had the talent assortment that required us to use at the time or his system required it.

9/22/2017 12:46:42 PM

[Edited on September 22, 2017 at 1:26 PM. Reason : A]

9/22/2017 1:24:02 PM

Quote :

"TOB also loved using the TE. Either because we had the talent assortment that required us to use at the time or his system required it."

They were the only guys on the team who could actually catch the ball. Russell Wilson's receivers were not good at that little part of the game.

^again, let's see what his completion % is after playing actual teams. I already gave you his conference vs noncon from last year and the drop-off is huge.

9/22/2017 1:35:59 PM

damn Syracuse is going to be a tough game for us.

9/22/2017 1:41:01 PM

I hope not, they lost to Middle Tennessee State. I like Dino Barbers though.

9/22/2017 2:09:06 PM

we should beat syracuse....but their pass game could give us fits.

9/22/2017 5:10:40 PM

Legendary QB. They said he would falter against good defenses and he went on the road against one of the best defenses and still performed.

9/23/2017 3:42:41 PM

JSam preformed. Finley was just there for it

9/23/2017 3:43:26 PM

hes like the andy dalton of college qbs. which is fine, at least he doesnt suck

9/23/2017 3:51:12 PM

Overenthusiastic Finley fan is my new favorite TWW character

9/23/2017 3:53:31 PM

Jesus, underenthusiastic Finley is my least favorite character. That secondary prob has 2 first round picks at a minimum and Finley performed. That Myers pass was perfect and Harmon should have had the one he dropped, that was a great throw to tight coverage.

FSU kid already has a way better deep ball, but Finley gets the job done

9/23/2017 6:36:32 PM

Quote :

"hes like the andy dalton of college qbs. which is fine, at least he doesnt suck "

Dalton throws picks and fumbles.

Finley is mother fucking Don Draper.

9/23/2017 7:18:09 PM

Some of those Blackman deep balls would've been picked off for sure against the FSU secondary. You can't just hang balls up for grab against high level dbs.

9/23/2017 7:25:23 PM

Those Blackmon deep balls were dimes man. Maybe better defenders break them up but he threw some long ass balls dead on. Don't hate.

9/23/2017 8:02:50 PM

yeah blackman had some good throws, especially that first long completion just before he got blown up. the td he fit in just over pratt's head was also pretty sick

but lets be real if Auden Tate finished the game i don't think we would have had a chance. we had no answer for him, that kid is a monster.

9/23/2017 11:25:04 PM

^ maybe, but Blackman got lit up enough through the game to reduce his effectiveness down the stretch.

1st quarter Blackman-Tate wouldn't have been the same in the 4th.

9/23/2017 11:34:32 PM

a fair point

9/23/2017 11:49:17 PM

Finley is good, period.

He doesn't have much arm strength but this East/West thing is really working. It completely negates other teams pass rush. He gets rid of the ball quickly, makes good decisions, and is accurate. He's getting the ball into the hands of playmakers.

He's not a Heisman type gaudy numbers guy. He's not a guy who can carry an offense. But he's absolutely a guy you can win some big games with. He's much better than just a game manager for sure.

I can't name one other QB in the league besides what's his name at Louisville, so to me Ryan Finley is the only QB not named what's his name in the ACC.

[Edited on September 24, 2017 at 6:13 AM. Reason : a]

9/24/2017 6:10:46 AM

Do you think not knowing lamar jacksons name is cute or something?

[Edited on September 24, 2017 at 6:33 AM. Reason : it makes you look like someone who hasmt followed college football for 2 years]

9/24/2017 6:32:20 AM

I don't follow college football. I find it exceptionally boring. I watch us play occasionally and I normally watch UNC play. That's about it other than maybe the national championship

[Edited on September 24, 2017 at 7:11 AM. Reason : a]

9/24/2017 7:11:13 AM

So you watch more UNC football than NCSU football?

9/24/2017 7:38:37 AM

Quote :

" He's much better than just a game manager for sure. "

what you just described is the very definition of a game manager.

9/24/2017 9:48:10 AM

Finley managing the shit out of this game!

10/5/2017 9:46:59 PM

Pretty solid game managing IMO

10/5/2017 9:48:27 PM

Our D has done a good job keeping what’s his name in check.

10/5/2017 9:49:52 PM

GAME. MANAGED.

10/5/2017 11:50:01 PM

mambagrl was right again. shouldve never doubted her

10/6/2017 12:35:47 AM

10/6/2017 12:38:50 AM