The plan was to feature Trevor Lawrence and Kellen Mond in this space, but Clemson's game with Florida State and Texas A&M's game with Ole Mi s were postponed. Welcome to 2020. But there's still plenty to talk about, and it starts with Ohio State's Justin Fields, who had his worst outing of the season ... and still threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Kyle Trask continues to light up the scoreboard for Florida while Alabama's Mac Jones and Iowa State's Brock Purdy had relatively easy afternoons as their teams cruised to easy wins. Justin Fields, Ohio State Coming into Saturday's game, Fields hadn't thrown a single interception all season. To put that more precisely, he had attempted 83 pa ses coming into the matchup against Indiana and had and zero picks. Facing a stout Hoosiers defense, Fields had two interceptions after his first five attempts and he ended the afternoon with another. There was still a lot to like from Fields but his bad throws were so bad that they jumped off the screen. The first pick was a late throw acro s the middle, the second was an off-balance to s that should've never been made and the third was even worse: Justin Fields worst play of the day still resulted in an Ohio State 1st down PFF College (@PFF_College) But there were also throws like this, which set up the Buckeyes' first touchdown: Dime by Fields down the seam to Wilson. Billy M (@BillyM_91) And then this back-shoulder throw down the seam for another score: Reminder: This is a top-10 matchup PFF College (@PFF_College) And oh-my-word, the open-field athleticism: Justin Fields B-button PFF College (@PFF_College) But many of the things we've written about previously this season were magnified against Indiana: Fields is sometimes guilty of holding the ball too long in the pocket, and as a result he takes a lot hits -- which is exactly what an NFL team doesn't want their franchise quarterback doing. And while we don't know what reads Fields is supposed to be making on a given play, he at times looked confused, if only momentarily, by what Indiana's defense was doing. The Draft Network's Jordan Reid had a good thread how the Hoosiers were getting after Fields: If youre a football junkie, this is some good stuff from Indianas defense. Their blitz of the week is cro s dog with a delayed insert from the safety. Once the safety sees the RB commit to the second looper, he blitzes full speed ahead. I may have to write about this. Jordan Reid (@JReidNFL) So, it turns out, Fields is in fact not a robot. He does make mistakes, just like , and . The biggest takeaway for us is that we shouldn't overreact because of one le s-than-perfect outing against a really good opponent. Fields remains the No. 2 player in this draft cla s and his upside is off-the-charts enticing. And while it's sometimes easy to forget, he's only entering his second season as Ohio State's starter. He's only going to get better. Kyle Trask, Florida Over the summer, we used the term "steady as she goes" to describe Trask's game. We may have been underselling him a bit because Trask has been phenomenal all season and Saturday against a feisty Vanderbilt team was no different. He finished 26 of 35 for 383 yards and three more touchdowns and he now has 31 touchdowns and just three interceptions on the season. How impre sive is that through seven games? Those 31 TDs ranks first in the SEC ahead of and Tim Couch, who each managed 29. Trask is who he is -- a traditional pocket pa ser who'll never be confused athletically with or , or even Joe Burrow. That reality may make it difficult for him to find his way into the first round but he's played at such a high level this season -- after only taking over Adam Foote Jersey the starting job midway through 2019 -- that we won't be surprised if he's among the first 32 picks. Despite the world-cla s athleticism, Trask moves well in the pocket, keeps his eyes downfield, and has an ability to put the ball where only his receiver can make a play. We've seen it time Blake Comeau Jersey and again this season and we saw it on Saturday too. On 2nd and 17, Trask escapes pre sure and hits Shorter for 46 yards libgator (@lib_gator) Trask is one of the best touch pa sers in the country but NFL teams will have questions about his arm strength. He can overcome some of the physical shortcomings because he's accurate, throws with anticipation as well as anyone in college football, and is also incredibly smart. And don't misunderstand, Trask isn't a statue -- he moves well in the pocket to buy time, and as we saw in the clip above, he can even move outside the pocket and make plays downfield -- but he'll never be consistent a threat to run, either. NFL teams know this, of course, but that will have to be part of the math that comes with drafting a pure pocket pa ser. Brock Purdy, Iowa State We had high expectations for Purdy this season and, truthfully, he's been disappointing. But against Kansas Sate, he had has best game of the year. He only attempted 20 pa ses, in part because of a dominant run game, but Purdy completed 16 throws for 236 yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers. He also rushed seven times for 59 yards, which was a season high. As we saw often last season (but le s so in '20), on Saturday Purdy was accurate on short and intermediate throws but he also showed great touch on a 21-yard touchdown to s to Xavier Hutchinson against tight coverage: What a snag! WR Xavier Hutchinson makes an impre sive catch to put Iowa State up 21-0 FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) This is a big-boy throw, and something we hadn't seen a lot of from Purdy this season. It's an encouraging development, but it's also important to remember that Purdy is at his best when the running game is clicking. He's not going to have succe s throwing the ball 40 times because, in part because his gunslinger mentality can get him into trouble when he tries to force balls into too-tight windows. Purdy is much more efficient, however, when he's playing the game-manager role, which includes using his athleticism in the running game too. Mac Jones, Alabama Jones, like Purdy, didn't see the field in the fourth quarter, and like Purdy he didn't have to do a whole lot. Jones finished 16 of 24 for 230 yards with two scores and an interception. That interception, by the way, was Jones' first of the season on a throw beyond 30 yards. (He also should have been picked in the red zone on a throw into double coverage but the pa s was dropped.) But good quarterbacks throw interceptions -- it happens every week in the NFL! -- and for us, Jones continues to play like a first-rounder. He confidently and consistently puts the ball on his receivers, and not only is he accurate, his ball placement is so good that it allows for maximum yards after catch. Or, in the case of this "I can't believe I just saw that" throw to Devonta Smith, the ball placement allows for an incredible touchdown: This throw from Mac Jones is stupid good Clint Lamb (@ClintRLamb) In some ways, Jones is a slightly more athletic, stronger-armed Kyle Trask -- both players throw with timing, accuracy and touch, though Jones, in our mind, is the best deep-ball pa ser in college, even though he was off on several throws against Kentucky. We want to see how Jones responds to pre sure -- something Fields had to deal with for much of the afternoon against Indiana -- because standing in the pocket all day against Kentucky may not be out of the ordinary but that doesn't happen in the NFL (just ask Joe Burrow).
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