Kansas football: Is Carter Stanley the best option at QB for the Jayhawks?

Head coach Les Miles named Carter Stanley Kansas football’s starting quarterback for week three against Boston College, but is he the right man for the job?

Senior QB Carter Stanley had a rough outing last Saturday, to say the least. In a 12-7 home loss, Stanley was 13/19 for 107 yards, including two interceptions and no touchdowns. The fact of the matter is that Kansas’ unreliable passing game made the Jayhawks incredibly one-dimensional on offense. Even having the best tailback in the Big 12 can’t cover up the bad Jayhawks offense.

Pooka Williams can only do so much when the defense is keying on him every play because they know that the Jayhawks can’t throw the ball more than 10 yards downfield.

Kansas football will have to be able to effectively throw the football if they expect to be competitive this year in the Big 12. Otherwise, Kansas’ week one victory vs. Indiana State might be the only one this season. In that week one game, Stanley was 20/29 with 241 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. Weird how that works, right?

“You bet.” – Les Miles on whether or not Carter Stanley would remain the starter looking ahead

Amidst some controversy, coach Les Miles named Stanley the starter for week three at Boston College yesterday in his press conference. Many fans are calling for junior JUCO transfer Thomas MacVittie to take over the role of the starting quarterback. MacVittie and Stanley were locked in a tight race for the starting job that went all the way up to the week of Kansas’ first game of the season against Indiana State.

In his six games at Mesa Community College, MacVittie threw for 1,064 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. While many fans are ready to give up Stanley, it may not be time to pull the plug quite yet.

Yes, Stanley has made some brutal mistakes that a QB cannot make if he expects to help his team win games. His decision-making has to improve, and there’s no question about it. But, is a QB change going to help this team that much? MacVittie lost the job for a reason, and Stanley doesn’t have the easiest job in the world.

Take Stanley’s second interception last Saturday night for example:

The Kansas offensive line does an absolutely terrible job of protecting the QB, allowing just three pass rushers to get pressure on Stanley. When you’re running for your life after your o-line gets beat like this, mistakes are going to happen.

So once again, does it even matter if there’s a switch made at the quarterback position? It’s not like it’ll fix offensive line issues, play-calling, or one of the 100 other things this offense has to worry about.

Stanley has conducted himself extremely well thus far, taking the blame for the loss last Saturday. It’s respectable, but the ultimate apology would be proving that he can lead this team by playing mistake-free football the rest of the season.

Les Miles chose Carter Stanley as the starting quarterback for a reason, and it looks like Stanley will continue to be the man for the foreseeable future, whether the fanbase approves or not.

What are your thoughts on the Kansas QB situation? Drop a comment below on who your starter is and why.