In Reply to: Moore might not be back - and Raiola might be the better QB posted by donutello on September 29, 2026 at 08:00:02
As we saw when we played Nebraska the past 2 seasons, especially in the road win, Raiola is a great QB... if he doesn't have to move his feet. If you can get enough pressure to make him move off of his spot, he becomes decidedly average (or even worse than average, as there are a lot of QB's out there, including Moore, who throw far better than he does on the run).
For us, that means getting pressure on him, especially when rushing just 4. Outside of the Maryland game, we've struggled to get pressure without blitzing in the first 3 quarters, but we've had a little bit more success in the 4th, and when we do blitz, we've been pretty good at it - see Sammy O leading us in sacks, but only West on the DL has any sacks.
When JMU played Oregon in the playoff, they rarely got pressure as well - Oregon's offense dominated the defense. We'll need to do far better, and it will probably be on the Offense to make this a shootout early, and grind them down late by forcing Raiola off of his spots.