Jared Allen and Garrett Jahn, Florida Atlantic’s quarterbacks, are just not getting the job done. While the Owls have started the season 0-3, neither of these two players have been the leader that this team desperately needs. Inconsistency has caused Allen and Jahn to split time sitting on the bench and watching the other be unproductive.
Against Bethune-Cookman, Allen threw two interceptions in the first quarter. Then Allen took a seat and watched Jahn play the rest of the game. Jahn lead the Owls on two straight scoring drives. Then he became inept, as the Owls did not score another offensive point on B-CC.
After the game, RaShean Mathis of Bethune stated that both Allen and Jahn were great quarterbacks. Well, why wouldn’t he say that? Allen threw both of his picks to Mathis, and Jahn handed him an 82-interception return for a touchdown to end the game. Arguably, Mathis’ best game fully explains his high praise to the Owl gunslingers.
When asked if there was a quarterback controversy, Jahn stated, “When (Allen) is in the game and doing well I ask the coaches to leave him in, and when I’m doing good he wants me to stay in.”
So who says “put me in” when the other is doing poorly? Coach Schnellenberger makes the call on which one will be in the game. After the Bethune game he said, “We will review the game tape and see which one handled the situation better.”
The following day, Schnellenberger named Allen as the starter for the James Madison game. Okay, there is no controversy; Allen starts the game against JMU and builds confidence for the rest of the season.
Not exactly how it happened.
For the second week in a row, Allen was inconsistent. After leading FAU to a touchdown in the first quarter, he could not help his team move the ball after that, adding another interception to his already lackluster stats. So, enter Garrett Jahn into the game again. This time, he had no magic in him to lead any scoring drives. With a chance to win a starting job for the second week in a row, Jahn could not make a case for himself.
This prompted Coach Schnellenberger to once again state that he needed to review the tapes to see who would start. Once again, Schnellenberger gave the nod to Allen at his Sunday press conference.
Statistically, I have to agree with Schnellenberger. Allen has an efficiency rating of 108.47 compared to 82.04 for Jahn. Allen has completed 22 of 43 attempts to Jahn’s 16 completions on the same number of attempts. The negative, statistically, is that Allen is averaging only 103.3 yards a game with 4 interceptions.
Not nearly good enough to put his team in position to win.
The intangible part of this equation is leadership and control of the offense. Neither Allen nor Jahn have taken control on the field to earn this position. Neither has leaded this team when it was necessary.
In the Bethune game while driving for a tying touchdown, Jahn threw his interception. His response, “It was just a stupid throw”.
In the James Madison game, Allen walked the sidelines with his helmet off as the Owls got the ball back to drive for the win or tie. A starting quarterback would have been standing next to his coach with his helmet on begging to go back in.
To get better production, Schnellenberger needs to stick with one of these two and stop swapping them in and out. On the other hand he can start a younger quarterback and see what other options the Owls have. Either way, until Schnellenberger picks a steady quarterback, expect more inconsistency out of Allen and Jahn.
It can only get better.
