Brian

It would have been interesting to see sacks allowed in your article to see what kind of pressure each QB faced during their first 8 games as well. Also, you forgot to point out that our OL has its 4th OL coach in 5 years ... which affects the QB greatly. Olson, and Cowan, often do not have enough time even in a 3 step drop to find their receivers.

DD,

I agree, but there is only so much room in a newspaper.

I appreciate your point, but I think there is a lot more to the story. I believe, though I may be wrong, that Palmer, McNown, and Anderson were all 4 yr starters who took their lumps as freshmen and had time to develop into great QBs. BO is a junior! He has this year and next year, but next year is supposed to be a rebuilding year anyway. The bottom line is that we don't have time for him to develop and we need to play the guy that gives us the best chance to win now, while we have our 20 returning starters. IMO that man is Cowan.

You may point to their stats and say that there is no significant difference, or even that Olson has a better record. LOL! That's a terrible abuse of stats. Olson has played Utah twice, Rice, BYU at home, a bad UW team, and 2 terrible Stanford teams! 3 out of Cowan's first 4 games were away at Oregon, ND, and Cal, who were all very good. And everyone watching knew the offense looked better with him in, even then! Of course they were crediting KD for taking playcalling away from Svoboda, but was that really it? Amazing how this year the playcalling looks strikingly Svoboda-like when Olson is in.

Anyway, I agree that Olson might develop into a great one over time, but are we willing to waste this year, and take a chance that he will grow enough by next year to lead a young and inexperienced team? If KD tries it, he won't be around to reap the fruits of it anyway. Go with Cowan!

Olson can win games with his arm that Cowan cannot win with his legs. The problem is the WCO, not Olson.

Dohn,

Thanks for the article - this was a good subject to look into.

Buy why make special mention that 12 of Anderson's 15 TD's we against the 4 teams you mentioned, but namke similar note of the fact that 8 of Olson's 10 were against Stanford and Utah, or that all 10 were accumulated on only 3 game?

Have to agree with schmo that Cowan can help win games that Olson can't. Sure, Olson might be the more technically proficient thrower, but Cowan brings a set of intangibles similar to Vince Young. Now, I'm not saying Cowan is in the same class as Young, but he brings leadership and can flat out change the course of a game by keeping drives alive when a play breaks down. He'll never look like the better QB on paper, but the bottom line is that he makes plays when we need them.

Carson Palmer's first 3 seasons were spent under Paul Hackett who ran the same complex WCO that Dorrell has brought to Westwood. It wasn't until Hackett was fired and Pete Carroll brought Norm Chow from BYU that Palmer bloomed into a Heisman trophy winner.

Attention Dan Guerrero: Norm Chow is still looking for a head coaching job and would love to come back to So. Cal.

Good point MTB, although I doubt Chow would take the job.

As someone else mentioned earlier, BO is 24 freakin' yearls old, those other guys were probably not even twenty when those statistics were compiled. An extra four years during your college years, no matter what you do (ie, go on a mission, etc.) should have allowed you to develop and refine your wisdom and leadership skills, two important attributes that BO still lacks on the field.