Cato vs Litton

[Trebel06]

The point of this thread isn't to make any attempts at saying that Litton is better than Cato or will have a better career here at Marshall. Lots of football left to be played before Litton enters those types of discussions.

However, I feel like over the last 3 seasons, we as fans have became so spoiled by having offensive production near the best in the nation that I think many of us aren't truly appreciating how good of a year Litton is actually having. So to open some eyes, and maybe help people put Litton and the offense into perspective, I wanted to compare Litton's freshman stats to those of Cato's.

Cato - 182/304 (59.9%) 2,059 yards 15 TDs against 11 INTs with a QB rating of 125.8. Which was the highest QB rating posted by a Marshall QB since Bernie Morris' senior season. Cato would go on to eclipse that each of the next 3 seasons. Posting the 4th best QB rating since the Herd's move to FBS in 1997 with a QB rating of 155.4 for the year as a senior. (Chad's QB rating of 171.4 in 1999 is the #1 followed by Byron's 2001 and 2002 seasons where Leftwich posted ratings of 164.6 and 156.5 respectively.)

Litton- 139/233 (59.7%) 1,645 yards 14 TDs against 4 INTs with a QB rating of 135.4 If Litton's QB rating holds up it will be the highest of any Herd QB in their first year as a starter since the move. (Unless you count 1997 as Pennington's first year as a starter as he posted a 150.4 rating that year.)

 

[andy4theherd]

great info!

one huge thing to keep in mind when putting these numbers into perspective; Cato's 2011 team played by far the hardest schedule in Marshall history (ranked #56). i mentioned in another thread that we don't put enough praise on what that kid did as a freshman to go 7-6 and win a bowl game that year (also beat the Big East co-champ at their house).

in comparison, our current schedule is ranked 151...

not taking anything away from Chase... just pointing out how special Cato's 2011 season was.

 

[herdalicious]

Litton has looked good, but you can't ignore who it is he's done it against. Charlotte and ODU are effectively FCS programs, and FAU and North Texas might as well be too.

He shows promise, but that sputtering, inconsistent offense has been working against some pretty weak Ds.

 

[Trebel06]

Litton has looked good, but you can't ignore who it is he's done it against. Charlotte and ODU are effectively FCS programs, and FAU and North Texas might as well be too.

He shows promise, but that sputtering, inconsistent offense has been working against some pretty weak Ds.

Not saying they haven't been.. However, the majority of our schedule over the years has been made up of some pretty weak opponents.. ODU is no worse than Eastern Michigan was in our MAC days or the 2-10 Memphis team Cato went up against in 2011. Obviously schedule top to bottom this year is one of our weakest but it isn't like we ever had schedules that were that tough because we've been in two fairly weak conferences since the move back to FBS.

Point is, when you look at the numbers Litton is having a heck of a year and one of the better years for a QB in our history since the move (that's as far back as the stats I have access to go.) Also, the offensive struggles we have had as far as inconsistency goes has as much to do with our injuries and lack of production from the receiving core as it does with Litton.

My point for the post was, some people on here have been unfairly hard on Litton in comparing him to Cato. But, the Cato they are often comparing him to is experienced and matured Cato not true freshman Cato.. Because when you look at the numbers and actually think back to that 2011 season Cato had many of the same issues/growing pains that Litton has had.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

Trebel 06 - Awesome topic & a good perspective. I know Legg gets a lot of grief on this board, but remember he went through the exact same thing with Cato in 2011. It is a process & bottom line you either trust that Doc has a steady hand on the tiller or you don't.
.......If you haven't guessed already I 100%
believe John Holliday has "it".
WS

 

[herdit44]

Not saying they haven't been.. However, the majority of our schedule over the years has been made up of some pretty weak opponents.. ODU is no worse than Eastern Michigan was in our MAC days or the 2-10 Memphis team Cato went up against in 2011. Obviously schedule top to bottom this year is one of our weakest but it isn't like we ever had schedules that were that tough because we've been in two fairly weak conferences since the move back to FBS.

Point is, when you look at the numbers Litton is having a heck of a year and one of the better years for a QB in our history since the move (that's as far back as the stats I have access to go.) Also, the offensive struggles we have had as far as inconsistency goes has as much to do with our injuries and lack of production from the receiving core as it does with Litton.

My point for the post was, some people on here have been unfairly hard on Litton in comparing him to Cato. But, the Cato they are often comparing him to is experienced and matured Cato not true freshman Cato.. Because when you look at the numbers and actually think back to that 2011 season Cato had many of the same issues/growing pains that Litton has had.

but if you take out north texas and norfolk state, chase is 82 of 154, 53.2%, 889 yards (177.8 per game), 8 touchdowns, 4 interceptions in 5 games.

 

[Trebel06]

but if you take out north texas and norfolk state, chase is 82 of 154, 53.2%, 889 yards (177.8 per game), 8 touchdowns, 4 interceptions in 5 games.

Ok that game can be played with any player at any position at any time.. Could also play it this way if you take out Kent State, then Litton's completion percentage goes up to 63% and he only has 2 INTs on the year.. But, that's not how it works.

 

[herdit44]

Ok that game can be played with any player at any position at any time.. Could also play it this way if you take out Kent State, then Litton's completion percentage goes up to 63% and he only has 2 INTs on the year.. But, that's not how it works.

it just shows that against better than horrendous competition chase has had a pretty routine true freshman year. not remotely bad, but not remotely spectacular.

the comparisons between him and cato as true freshmen are just silly at this point. of chase's 7 starts, 4 of them have come against defenses ranking 101st or worse nationally. cato's first 7 starts were against the 33rd, 29th, 46th, 10th, 23rd, 9th, and 87th ranked total defenses nationally. (again, what cato did as a true freshman is pretty remarkable looking back on it.)

chase has the talent and skill set to be a very good quarterback, but he's been hit or miss this year. he's done well at times, but he's struggled (which isn't all his fault) plenty this year.

 

[Herd Fever]

Hard to say someone is hit or miss when they are 7-0 as a true freshman who didn't play football last year anywhere

 

[31Herd55]

I don't think Cato gets nearly the amount of recognition and praise for his LEADERSHIP. This kid was a fighter like no other we've ever had. He forced his "will-to-win" on every teammate whether they wanted it or not. He refused to allow anyone to get down on the team or get down on themselves. No Pity-Parties on Cato's watch. Nobody wanted to receive the wrath of an infuriated Cato... It was much easier to just go back and bust you razz and get your job done. We're really missing this type of leadership.

 

[Herd Fever]

I don't think Cato gets nearly the amount of recognition and praise for his LEADERSHIP. This kid was a fighter like no other we've ever had. He forced his "will-to-win" on every teammate whether they wanted it or not. He refused to allow anyone to get down on the team or get down on themselves. No Pity-Parties on Cato's watch. Nobody wanted to receive the wrath of an infuriated Cato... It was much easier to just go back and bust you razz and get your job done. We're really missing this type of leadership.

I think we will get back there once Litton gains more trust. Even with Cato, the team didn't fully trust him until the off-season after his freshman year

 

[Trebel06]

it just shows that against better than horrendous competition chase has had a pretty routine true freshman year. not remotely bad, but not remotely spectacular.

the comparisons between him and cato as true freshmen are just silly at this point. of chase's 7 starts, 4 of them have come against defenses ranking 101st or worse nationally. cato's first 7 starts were against the 33rd, 29th, 46th, 10th, 23rd, 9th, and 87th ranked total defenses nationally. (again, what cato did as a true freshman is pretty remarkable looking back on it.)

chase has the talent and skill set to be a very good quarterback, but he's been hit or miss this year. he's done well at times, but he's struggled (which isn't all his fault) plenty this year.

No one ever said Chase had been "spectacular" but the kid has been pretty damn good.

You could also say Cato had a better team around him on the offensive side of the ball as well.. I mean now that we are so banged up.. And we don't exactly have Aaron Dobson (49 rec. 668 yards 12 TDs) to throw to this season.. Until Allen's explosion against Charlotte the WRs had been basically nonexistent all year. There are always ifs and buts, and this's and thats when comparing players, but when you look at the raw stats Litton hasn't been nearly as far away from what Cato was as a freshman as some posters want to act like or believe.

My point wasn't to say one was better than the other.. Just to simply put into perspective that Litton is having a very comparable season from a statistical standpoint. And that if we want to compare Litton and his offense to Cato and his offense compare freshman Cato who made plenty of mistakes of his own instead of 2013 or 2014 Cato and his offense.

 

[SHAMMOND16]

not taking anything away from Chase... just pointing out how special Cato's 2011 season was.

Cato was good, but our defense & special teams did a lot of the hard work that year. Remember, that was the year Cato blew up on the sidelines at ucf and had to be benched. We flip-flopped between him & Graham there for a little while and it was debated over who should have been starting the back half of that season.

Kase Whitehead's punting & Vinny Curry's dominance won us a lot of those games. The So Miss & Rice games come to mind. I think a blocked punt helped us in the bowl game. It really was a lot like what we're doing this season. We have the punting from Williams, Reaves' returns have helped us a lot, and the defense is playing well to get us through some offensive struggles. Total team effort to cover up for a young QB. Nothing wrong with that. I just hope Litton progresses between his freshman & sophomore year like Cato did.