My concern with using both QBs is, will it make it hard to get into the game rhythm? I could see one or the other trying to make plays that aren't there to stay in the game. Both are talented but playing 2 QBs seems to rarely work.
I'm ready to get to 6 to 8 wins this year!
Dino referenced Arizona alternating QBs and going 12-1 when he was there. Here are their stats:
1998 Arizona Wildcats Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Smith seems to have clearly been better than Jenkins so I'm not sure how long that lasted.
The next year Jenkins might have been somewhat better, (but they went 6-6):
1999 Arizona Wildcats Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Sports Illustrated's 1999 football preview says Jenkins was a back-up shooting guard for the basketball team. The article talks about how after a 10-2 season in 1994, (and becoming SI's projected #1 cover boys the next year), Coach Dick Tomey had tied going after 5 star recruits with the big boys and lost. So he went back to recruiting under-the-radar types like Jenkins. "Smith and Jenkins will continue to ham-and-egg the Wildcats to the end zone, though they may be more ham than egg this year. Even Jenkins acknowledges that Smith, in his last season, should get the majority of the snaps." Their real star was running back Trung Candidate who averaged 7.3 yards per carry while running for 1,220 with 10 touchdowns - from an average of 50 yards out!
The 1998 Street and Smith's says "Most of the people who made that happen, (402 yards per game, the highest average since Arizona joined the Pac10 in 1979) are back for Coach Dick Tomey and new offensive coordinator Dino Babers. That includes the best quarterback tandem in the league, sophomore Ortege Jenkins and junior Keith Smith...Smith is the nominal starter but Jenkins threw for 19TDs in just seven starts." Here are the 1997 stats for the Wildcats:
1997 Arizona Wildcats Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Jenkins that year was much the better thrower, Smith the better runner. he didn't follow up on that start.
The 1999 Street and Smith's: "You start with the quarterback tandem of senior Keith Smith, who set a Pac10 record with a passing efficiency of 174.17 and super-athletic junior Ortege Jenkins." 2000: "A lot is riding on senior quarterback Ortege Jenkins, who has been used to sharing time with graduated Keith Smith but now will have to go it alone. He has plenty of talent but hasn't been as consistent as Tomey would like."
the 2000 Blue Ribbon Football Yearbook, (the first year they had one): "At quarterback, Tomey might be better off to have less people. With Keith Smith's graduation, senior Ortege Jenkins will no longer have to share time or try to force things to happen in the hopes that he will gain extra time on the field. "the comfort zone is going to be a whole lot better for me", Jenkins said. "I'm not going to worry about making something happen so fast. I'm going to have time to work into the game." He had a disappoint senior year:
2000 Arizona Wildcats Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
He was never as good as he was as a freshman.
What i get out of this: alternating quarterbacks or "going with the hot hand" isn't ideal, despite Arizona's 1998 success. But the flashy freshman doesn't necessarily turn out to be the best option.
