And as far as "what was his weakness" that kept him out (for 1 game of his RS freshman season)... what are you even talking about here?
There are all sorts of reasons this could have happened, even beyond Watson's decision-making. For one: experience. Is it always best to go with the more experienced player? No. But does it end up counting for something a lot in college football? Yes. Even on a team where the policy is "if the senior and the freshman play similarly, the freshman gets the start", you're talking about game 1. Ever. As a college football player in a major conference. Game 1. On the road. At Notre Dame. Even if you had all the faith in the world in a player (and I'm sure that wasn't totally the case with Heard at that point), I mean, we've seen what can happen. UT fans lived through Gilbert's first game ever being the NC game against Bama... and then the aftermath. Who knows if that's why he didn't work out, but could it have played a role in shaking his confidence? If Heard had be thrown out on the field against Notre Dame, maybe he would have played his heart out and made a game of it. But Notre Dame was a good team. There's a hefty chance that we still would have lost, and a scene where you make freshman mistakes, pay for them, and a stadium full of fans keep reminding you of them...? There's every possibility that sticks with you. I mean, our kicker who has a pretty good record, missed ONE PAT and the coach stayed up with him to talk him through the situation because, yeah, these are kids. Things CAN stick with them and get in their head. @ Notre Dame, game 1, could have done that.
And heck, let's look back at one of UT's best QBs ever. Vince Young was a pretty good QB, I think you'd admit, right? Chance Mock wasn't horrible, but let's face it... one is remembered by every college football fan in the world, and the other a lot of people wouldn't know who he is. Chance Mock was the starter to begin the year when VY was a redshirt freshman. He won some games, he lost some games. And in that case the decision to start VY from time to time (or to sub him in in some games) wasn't nearly as decisive as Heard being set as the starter now sounds. Now, I cringed when I saw the other thread on this board that suggested that "we've found the next VY" or whatever it was. Let's see him win some big games before we start with that kind of talk. But my point isn't that Heard = VY. My point is... sometimes the better QB isn't decided until you've seen him play in games. And sometimes, even when the answer ends up being ridiculously obvious later, it wasn't as obvious to the coaches (or even some of the fans) at the time.
We'll all see how it actually plays out, starting this Saturday, but arguing that the way this game played out wasn't a big deal (and sounding as ridiculously overconfident about it like you do because of Cal's past defensive stats and Heard not having been given the first start of the year) seems like it lacks the context of reality when it comes to college football.
