CORVALLIS – Nine games into his career as a starting college quarterback, Oregon State’s Chance Nolan already sounds like a veteran.
There’s no ‘I’ in team, and there’s rarely an ‘I’ in Nolan’s answers. It’s about we.
Nolan’s successes are Oregon State’s successes, and his struggles are part of the offensive unit.
It’s been a mixed bag for Nolan this season. His first few starts this season were razor sharp. Throws were crisp and accurate, quarterback runs were used sparingly but effective.
But of late, the passing game has stalled, forcing the Beavers to heavily lean on their running game to move the ball. Eventually, that’s not going to be enough, and perhaps as soon as Saturday when the Beavers face Utah. The Pac-12 South leaders aren’t known to allow offenses to gash their defense with the running game.
With Oregon State on a bye last week, Nolan spent the extra time getting back to fundamentals and figuring out how make the Beavers’ passing game a threat again.
“Offensively, we can be a little bit sharper. There’s some things on my end, a lot of things on my end that I can clean up,” Nolan said. “We’ve got to get back to what we do. We had success early on in the year. There’s a lot of things where, we’re just right there. We’re just little things away from putting a lot more points on the board.”
If that sounds heavy on vague and light on specifics, it is. That’s much how offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren described OSU’s troubled passing attack the past two games, against Washington and Washington State.
Nothing major, but a lot to clean up, from details of certain pass routes to timing of throws and protection issues. Lindgren said some of it’s as simple as finding the pass plays and routes that work, and build off those. And the ones that aren’t working, either fix or junk them.
Yes, the passing game is about we, but it starts with the quarterback. And Nolan – who completed 18 of 40 passes for 206 yards collectively against UW and WSU – has had a hand in the misfiring.
Lindgren believes he’s seeing improvement from Nolan since the Washington State loss on Oct. 9.
“I really like the way he’s been practicing. When you struggle at times, you’ve got to go back to work on the practice field,” Lindgren said. “I feel like he’s been pretty sharp the last week and a half.”
Nolan insists he didn’t get too high during the good times of Hawaii-Idaho-USC, and low when things weren’t clicking against Washington-WSU.
“Football is an adverse game. Week in, week out, you’ve got to bring it,” Nolan said. “You can’t let what happened the past week affect what’s going to happen this week.”
It’s not like Nolan is a bust. His performances against Hawaii, Idaho and USC were some of Oregon State’s best quarterback play in several years.
“I understand that things aren’t always going to go your way. But at the same time, we have a great running game, and lot of the things we do can help me get my passing game more involved,” Nolan said. “I think we’ve got a lot of juice at our wide outs. I’m excited to get back to where I was playing before.”
When Nolan needs a mental pick-me-up, he turns to his junior college coach, Mark McElroy.
“He’s like a mentor and a father figure to me,” Nolan said. “Talking and conversing with him kind of keeps my head level. That helps me stay on track, for sure.”
Nolan’s first Oregon State start was last December against Utah. It was a choppy performance, but Nolan had the Beavers in a position for a win before coming up short on a last-minute drive.
“He didn’t play very good in that game, and he’d be the first to tell you that,” Lindgren said. “I feel like he’s come a long way in just his knowledge.”
Nolan has plenty of motivation to bounce back. He hasn’t forgot last year’s game at Utah, or the recent performances.
“I’m excited with my knowledge and our playbook and having a second chance to go after the Utah defense,” Nolan said.
--Nick Daschel | ndaschel@oregonian.com | @nickdaschel
The Link LonkOctober 20, 2021 at 08:01AM
https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2021/10/oregon-state-quarterback-chance-nolan-just-little-things-away-from-a-bounce-back-performance.html
Oregon State quarterback Chance Nolan ‘just little things away’ from a bounce back performance - OregonLive
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