Stat comparison - Tyler Shough / Haynes King
(Apologies for those on mobile devices – this is a bit wordy.)
Shough is listed at 6’5” 225#, vs. King at 6’3” 215#
Shough is touted as a strong runner/dual threat in the SI article that described him as a transfer. Not a surprise given his size. Shough ran the ball a good bit at his former school but has not been running in his first 2 games at Louisville. I haven’t watched either of Louisville’s games, but if they ran as many option-type plays as I would expect, it doesn’t show in his stats. At Texas Tech he ran about half as much as King does in our offense and averaged about half as many yards/rush. This tells me that he can be a threat to run, but may have average speed and isn’t as likely to break off a TD run as King is.
As a passer, just looking at prior year stats, Shough’s completion percentage was average. The SI article about him as a transfer lists the deep ball as a strength. His career yards/pass stats are similar to King’s at GT, but in Shough’s prior two years at TT they were significantly less. He fumbles at about the same rate as King (not a lot). Shough’s TD/INT ratio approaches King’s in 2023, which is not good. Watching some of their condensed game with Jax St., he appeared to be a competent passer with enough mobility to avoid pressure. Most of his passes were easy pitch and catch throws although he did send a couple deep that were contested but caught. The condensed game only shows successful plays, so it's hard to get a complete picture. Bottom line, I don’t think Shough is at McCord’s level but he may not need to be for their offense to be successful.
Shough has had three injuries (collarbone/shoulder/fibula) that have cost him several games each of the last three seasons. I don’t think any of the injuries would be a limiting factor this season, but it might indicate a certain fragility, which may be a reason Louisville hasn’t pushed a QB run game yet.
Other impressions from their game with Jax State...Louisville has several weapons on offense and they spread it around a lot. I am expecting them to score quite a bit on us. On defense, they seemed relatively slow and vulnerable to a running QB. I forecast a high-scoring game similar to last year’s matchup. The game may hinge on turnovers. We need to be able to run the ball to limit possessions, and I think we can with a healthy RB room.