Lewis or Chappell? Who's your quarterback?

[Brett Goldenhorn]

Well, let me first begin by saying that I am happy to announce that Indiana proved me wrong. With a win over Northwestern, Indiana has snapped a five-game losing streak. A losing streak that had many Hoosier faithful believing that our dearly beloved football team would not win another game this year.

In this most recent win and upset over Northwestern, Kellen Lewis sat the bench with an injury that has kept him out for the entirety of the past two games and part of the game before then. Ben Chappell has stepped in and posted a 1-1 record as a starter.

Many have asked me: When Kellen is healthy, why don't they just put Kellen at a new position like WR or RB and leave Chappell in?

While I agree that Big Ben has been a successful passer in our offense, my opinion is that Kellen is proven at the QB position. Here is a comparison of the two quarterbacks...

If Lewis were moved to a new position, there is always risk for injury. His size is not ideal. He is already injured and moving him to Receiver or Running Back would increase the odds that it will happen again.

Putting it simply, Chappell has performed well in replacement of Lewis. Other than his signature move, the blind bomb, where he looks away and tosses it downfield, he has come to play. He impressed me this week against Northwestern, however, he is not the better quarterback.

Kellen Lewis has broken several Indiana University records as a quarterback. He lead us to our first Bowl game in over 13 years as a quarterback. Even in a season where he has shared time and struggled with injury, he has still thrown for 925 yards as a quarterback. He has rushed for 404 yards and 3 touchdowns as a quarterback, allowing Marcus Thigpen and Bryan Payton to enhance the rushing threat.

Kellen Lewis is my guy and I look forward to his return. He is an electrifying player to watch and he is the best player we have at that position.

Who's your quarterback?

[IUHoosier4Life]

Ben Chappell... Hands down... Extremely competitive and less showboat and risk than Lewis... Lewis will be just fine as a receiver... Use the dual threat with Chappell as primary QB... Lewis can still throw the ball in trickery plays or any reverse... He serves better as a runner...As far as Lewis getting injured, he's going to run as a QB anyway, let him do it where it counts - on the other side of the line of scrimmage with fewer interceptions and bumbled plays. Though I am sure it is only a dream since every IU fan and media commentator thinks that he is the best thing since Randel El, I think his plays as QB are risky and often times just plain dumb. I know it's just a pipe dream and am sure Chappell will be back to warming the bench while Lewis is enjoying media glory while throwing interceptions and fumbling the ball, but Chappell has shown us all with a defeat of a ranked team that he can get it done... Kellen has shown us that we can lose to teams that we should have beat.
The stats above show me that Chappell, playing far fewer games than Lewis, should have the position. Those stats are extremely competitive given the number of games Chappell has actually played.

[Brett Goldenhorn]

While I agree that you can't compare their rushing stats, for all intents and purposes, the pass line is pretty even in terms of reps. They have thrown roughly the same amount of passes and Lewis' stats are better. After all, a player doesn't break the school record for touchdown passes if he can't throw.

If you think Lewis is a risk now, what will he be if he were lining up as a receiver every down. That would put him in harms way every play. He has a talent at quarterback and that's where he should stay.

And yes, he gets all of the media attention in Bloomington any time he steps out of the locker room. But, that's because he has earned it.

I have great respect for what Ben Chappell did this weekend, but Kellen Lewis is the man in Bloomington.