Lowly Stanford Should Beat Arizona With QB Change But Problems Will Continue

By Dave Levine

Keller Chryst–the once-promising Palo Alto High School star QB–gets his first start of his college career with Stanford tonight against a weak Arizona defense. Will he look better than he has subbing now and then for Ryan Burns? It all depends on the awful offensive–and I mean, OFFENSIVE–line.

Chryst has a bad habit of thinking he’s a lightening-quick running when he’s a irksome-looking runner who should work on his passing-on-the-run. At 6-4, he should be able to see defenses well.

The problem with Chryst is he’s a “nervous nellie” and makes unforced errors. We shall see how he handles himself and the offense.

Burns has some really bad habits that destroy drives: 1) he holds onto the ball too long, 2) he doesn’t look off receivers, 3) he tries to run too often, 4) he throws into coverage and 5) he throws high to his receivers, leaving them at the mercy of safeties. Chryst cannot have these problems for Stanford to stay above .500.

With their season “over” as far as landing a quality bowl game (they’ll be lucky to get a bowl game), I believe Coach Shaw should play his freshman quarterbacks to see how they do. He should also be playing star freshman receiver, Donald Stewart.