Notre Dame entered the offseason with yet another quarterback quandary, filled with a metric tonne (hey Larz!) of questions. Will Brandon Wimbush get over his yips in 2018? How long will his leash be? What would the offense look like with Ian Book as the full-time starter? What locker room repercussions would there be for any switch? How good can super-frosh Phil Jurkovec be, and how fast can he get there? Is he a realistic part of the 2018 landscape?
Uneven quarterback play in 2017 almost certainly cost the Irish a playoff berth. It’s not hard to imagine a couple of completions would have tipped the balance of the Georgia game. Similarly, only a slightly more precise performance against Stanford may have put the game out of reach early, before the disastrous fourth quarter snowball hit. Hard Rock Stadium, you say? I don’t believe we played there last year, I have no memory of it…
Fast forward to 2018; while there are significant questions across the offense, there’s a chance at the playoffs again and an excellent chance at a 10-win season if the quarterback play is just above average. The stakes are clearly very high here; perhaps as much of a three- or four-game swing rests on whether the position is a disaster or solid. Book played the game of his life in last season’s coda and put LSU to bed on one of the more memorable Irish bowl game moments. That gave him a ton of momentum in many fans’ eyes as the offseason began, even beyond the usual backup quarterback love. Is he the better option, though?
The Numbers
Brandon Wimbush’s 2017 passing numbers are, charitably, not pretty. He completed 136 of 275 passes for 1870 yds, with 16 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. On the ground, he carried 117 times 914 yards (sacks removed) with 14 touchdowns. He was sacked 24 times for a loss of 111 yards; he also had six fumbles and lost four. Ian Book, in meaningful action, completed 34 of 56 passes for 343 yards, with 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He carried 20 times for 121 yards and no touchdowns. He was sacked five times for a loss of 30 yards, and had one fumble and none lost. I’m defining “meaningful action” as the UNC, Miami, and LSU games, by the way; his other appearances were all in mop-up duty.
There’s obviously quite a volume difference there, and it may be that Book’s efficiency would increase if he had more volume. Nonetheless, digging into the rate stats creates some interesting comparisons.
| Stat | Wimbush | Book |
|---|---|---|
| Comp. Rate | 49.5% | 60.1% |
| Yards per Att. | 6.8 | 6.1 |
| Yards per Comp. | 13.8 | 10.0 |
| Att. per Pass TD | 17.2 | 18.7 |
| Plays per TO | 41.6 | 14.0 |
| Plays per Own TD | 13.9 | 27.0 |
“Plays per TO” is (attempts plus carries plus sacks) / (interceptions plus fumbles). “Plays per Own TD” is (attempts plus carries plus sacks) / (pass TDs plus rush TDs), a crude attempt to quantify each player’s overall effectiveness at personally getting the ball in the end zone. Which, you know, is sort of the point of the game…
Book’s advantage in completion rate implies that the offense is less likely to stall under him, which of course is a major mark in his favor. Wimbush’s 0.7 and 3.8 yard advantages in yards per attempt and yards per completion, respectively, are significant but not necessarily enough to tilt the comparison in his favor. The attempts per passing touchdown rates are a wash. Then we get to what I believe are the main reasons why the coaches haven’t given up on Wimbush yet, and why perhaps enthusiasm for Book should be tempered: Last year, Wimbush was about three times less likely to turn the ball over and about twice as likely to put it in the end zone.
The variance on his performance was extremely high, of course, and at the bottom end he was extremely damaging to the offense. Even so, the differences on those two items are remarkable, and the kinds of thing coaches notice. Book is a solid runner but obviously not in the same stratosphere as Wimbush. He also has a gunslinger’s confidence with average arm strength, which makes for some big completions – see LSU – and also some really, really bad turnovers – see, Miami and LSU.
Then we have last year’s red zone TD rate of 76.1%, which was good for eight nationally and the best of Kelly’s tenure by about ten percentage points. I can’t easily get splits on that, but a very large part of that success was due to Wimbush’s running ability and relative care with the football. That diminishes substantially with Book at the helm.
The Verdict
This is not a case for Wimbush as Untouchable QB1. His volatility was a major problem last year, likely costing the Irish the Georgia and Stanford games; similar volatility this year could be crippling. Nor is it a case for Book being unfit to be QB1; he clearly proved his mettle against LSU. Rather, the point is that the case for Book over Wimbush isn’t as open and shut as some Irish fans would have you believe. Book doesn’t have some of the problems Wimbush has, but he does have some of his own problems.
Wimbush’s ceiling is obviously far higher than Book’s, but it’s also far more uncertain. If Michigan State Wimbush shows up 12 times this fall, he’ll win the Heisman and Notre Dame will be in the playoffs. If Miami/Stanford Wimbush shows up, say, three times, his time as NDQB1 will likely be over. I don’t think Notre Dame is a playoff team with Book at the helm, but he’s also less likely to drive the bus into a ditch. That’s the decision the staff is faced with.
Oh, and Phil Jurkovec is a great kid with a very bright future, possibly coming as soon as 2019. But in no way is he part of a realistic answer this year.
This is the best explanation of why “Wimbush gives us the better chance to win” that I’ve seen on the interwebz. Book is eye-test better as a passer, as he just looks better at the things most people expect from a QB. But Wimbush is overall a better asset to the offense. That plays per turnover stat is really eye-opening. If anything, this tells me the best course of action is to do exactly like last year: Wimbush starts and plays the most, but if he starts to go in the tank during a game, you bring in Book as a changeup.
Agreed for sure. And this doesn’t even take into account running the football which is another big edge for Wimbush to drive the offense with his legs just as much as his arm.
I think it does take that into account–his rushing ability is what makes him significantly better in TO per per play (more runs = less passes to intercept) and in TD per play (his rushing TDs and the runs during series to move the chains). It doesn’t spell it out, but that’s the difference; this just quantifies it in a more tangible way than “well, Wimbush is the better runner…”
True. What I was talking about is probably yard/play for all touches, and less sacks I’m guessing that paints the picture even more clear that Wimbush isn’t turning the ball over and also giving more positive yards/play when he passes and/or runs.
Yds per play based on numbers above:
Wimbush: 6.43
Book: 5.36
Yep, dead on. For the full season Book was 5.92, with the bump mostly attributable to solid running performances in mop-up time.
/Ian Book checks into the game
//immediately throws a pick six
Really like the analysis and I think Wimbush should start.
One argument in Book’s favor would be that his mistakes are potentially more correctable than Wimbush’s. With more mental maturity and experience against D1 speed and coverages, Book would very likely reduce his interceptions and increase his TD rate. The “yips” are a more precarious problem, as some people are never able to figure them out and they can get worse over time.
I agree – I think that more playing time should (key word here) reduce Book’s interception rate. Wimbush’s case of the yips scares me (a lot) – and it seems that at the end of the year, defenses had him figured out (unless he can complete more passes now).
Personally I do agree with Kelly that I think it was a lot more Wimbush’s confidence and mentality making him play poorly at the end of the season and not what the other team was doing. Sure, opponents knew to pack the box and dare Wimbush to beat them with his arm rather than let a dominant line run all over them, but that was the case all season.
That said, can’t be confidence-building to see Wimbush seemingly making still basic mistakes and showing inabilities to be accurate now in summer camp. Ideally he would have long since gotten over whatever hurdles were ailing him.
I think the Saturday practice reports were overblown. Wimbush reportedly has looked good since the spring – not like Mariota all of a sudden or anything, but like he has truly improved – and then he had one bad practice, which happened to start with exceptionally bad drill work. He did OK in the team sessions, and then he came out yesterday and was tossing laser beams all over the place.
By no means are my concerns put to rest, and I think it’s very fair to be worried about Wimbush until we see him play not-train-wreck-y when the lights are on. But I also think the Saturday practice got blown out of proportion a bit, which has even been echoed by Tim O’Malley, who had the most critical reports of it initially.
Honestly, this is exactly what concerns me most. I really like Wimbush and want the guy to succeed in everything he does. Despite whatever BK said last year about mechanics, Wimbush’s problem has always been mental and what happens when the lights come on. That’s precisely what the yips are.
If he can come out in practice throwing laser beams and hitting people on the numbers/in stride most of the time, but falls apart when media is viewing and the camera is rolling, what is going to happen when he’s got 80,000 fans around him and he’s on national TV?
I think you’re reading too much into the media being there as the cause of his bad drill work. It could have been caused by anything. Maybe he got some bad news right before practice or he slept on his arm funny.
Right, it’s entirely possible that the bad day was nothing more than your run-of-the-mill bad day. As Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
I played college sports. I understand that bad days happen. But you know the saying about those who don’t study history.
At this point, it’s a pattern. Not really sure how to see it any other way.
I think we may as well start Wimbush and see how he does. But Book’s stats are based on a small sample size heavily skewed by the North Carolina game. This was Book’s first ever start and the game plan for that game was to not ask Book to do too much. Book threw two picks in an average or below average performance. In order to avoid apples to oranges comparisons I think you’d have to break things down play by play to see what plays Book executed better and what plays Wimbush executed better. That may be more predictive. I’m sure the coaches have done that.
True, but you could also say it’s a small sample size skewed by the LSU game. And even at that, the Boykin catch was a fantastic individual effort on a not-great throw – if you take that one out, Book’s YPA for the game drops from 8.6 to 6.1, which was his season-long number. On the other hand, even though it wasn’t a great throw it was at least close enough for Boykin to make a play on it, which is more than you can say for a lot of Wimbush’s throws.
All four picks he threw were pretty bad, and I would say three of them fit with concerns the coaches supposedly have about how willing he is to take risks. Against Miami he just didn’t see the guy, which is going to happen. The LSU pick and both UNC picks should never have been thrown – Finke was in tight double coverage on the sideline, and the other two were in the red zone with no window to throw into.
Book is more accurate than Wimbush and his ball placement is better, so he’s more effective on the short and intermediate stuff. He’s more consistent. He makes better decisions on the read option than Wimbush. Those are the pros. He’s nowhere near the runner, of course. He can’t really threaten anyone deep. And his decision making on throws is sometimes suspect. Those are the cons.
My point in all this isn’t that Book can’t play, but that I don’t see him as the savior of the team’s fortunes that the coaches are too dumb to take off the bench. He’s a high-floor, low-ceiling guy with a great makeup – in other words, the perfect backup QB/long relief man.
And his season long YPA (ignoring mop up time) drops to 5.24 without the Boykin play. That’s very very bad.
Which is why I don’t get why people call him the “Rich Man’s Tommy Rees.”
It seems like he’s just regular ol’ Tommy Rees to me. Probably solid enough to win us 8-9 games, not good enough to beat elite defenses.
Tommy Rees had *no* mobility – except his TD run against Michigan, which is still hilarious to think about.
Book has, based on my admittedly inexpert opinion, more footspeed. I also don’t think his arm strength / accuracy is any worse, though he is definitely also (like Rees) not a deep threat.
I can’t emphasize enough, btw, that perhaps the biggest problem with Wimbush is his variance. Believe it or not, if he was exactly a 50% passer in every game, that might well be enough for us to win 10 games this season. 55% would be better, of course, but with his running ability a 50% rate might take you farther than you’d think.
The catch is that, based on historical performance, you have no idea what to expect with him. You might get 70% from him (MSU), you might get good 50-ish% (UNC, NC State, Wake, Navy), you might get bad 50-ish% (Georgia, Miami), or you might get sub-40% (Stanford, LSU). The main difference between this year and last year, IMO, is that I expect the hook to be much quicker. I don’t see him muddling through September and October with the same issues as last year – if he doesn’t show improvement quickly, I think Book will take over.
In the Wimbush accuracy patterns that you cite from last year, except for MSU being an outlier, it looks like we saw good 50-ish% against bad defenses and bad 50% or lower against good / great defenses.
I guess that means we should expect a clunker accuracy performance from Wimbush against a good Michigan defense week 1. Or will the word “Michigan” cancel out that pattern and lead to another 70% outlier performance?
Heh, well, let’s hope.
Last year’s opponents in order of pass efficiency defense rank – I prefer advanced stats, but this is a little more appropriate given the topic – with Wimbush’s completion percentage:
BC – 3rd – 45.8%
LSU – 9th – 37.5%
Georgia – 15th – 50.0%
MSU – 17th – 70.0%
Miami – 23rd – 47.6%
Miami (OH) – 38th – 38.9%
Wake – 41st – 50.0%
USC – 45th – 47.4%
NC State – 55th – 52.6%
Temple – 63rd – 56.7%
Stanford – 83rd – 39.3%
Navy – 115th – 50.0%
He’s all over the map in terms of performance relative to strength of opponent; really his performances are split by time more than quality. In his first seven games, he completed 51.8% of his passes for 5.9 YPA with 10 TDs and 2 INTs. In his next five games he completed 45.7% of his passes for 8.2 YPA (skewed about 1.5 by the two long TDs against Stanford) with 6 TDs and 4 INTs. Yeah, the schedule was somewhat backloaded, but the front end featured three of the top four pass efficiency defenses we faced.
He had some problems from the get-go. As teams realized those problems weren’t temporary they keyed on them, he couldn’t adjust, that made him get inside his head more, etc. A solid start against Michigan is so, so important for him.
I’m down with canceling out the pattern!
I started getting a little excited about this season, thinking about what it could look like if Wimbush gets consistently into the 53%-58% range. And then, being a Notre Dame fan who can’t enjoy anything fun when it comes to football, immediately just assumed that if this happens, Clark Lea will turn out to be the worst D Coordinator in college football history and none of it will matter. Go Irish!
One other thing courtesy of O’Malley at 247 – I generally try not to share too much that’s behind a paywall, but this is a small nugget and it’s a good one, and anyway it’s publicly available stats so I’m giving Tim a shout-out for pointing it out.
Last year, Josh Adams led the team with 50 first downs on the ground. Wimbush was second with 47. Dexter, Jones, and McIntosh *combined* had 44.
These stats are somewhat meaningless unless we know the times each of these players carried the ball. Do you have this information?
Adams had 206 carries for 1483 yards and 9 TDs. Sacks excluded, Wimbush had 117 carries for 914 yards and 14 TDs. Williams, McIntosh, and Jones had 148 carries for 960 yards and 9 TDs.
So in terms of TDs and first downs, Wimbush was a far more effective runner than either Adams or the triumvirate.
The LSU game is one of the funniest expectation setting performances for ND fans I’ve ever seen. Take away Miles Boykin making a great play on a single jump ball throw (where the defenders ended up taking each other out), and I don’t think there’s anybody who would even be considering Book for QB1 or Boykin for WR1. That one play is incredibly 20% of Boykin’s career yardage and 10% of Book’s.
My preference is obvious, but go with Wimbush. Ride him all the way through the Northwestern game. If, at that point, it’s clear he’s got no chance of making ND a contender in 2018 or 2019, turn the reigns over to Jurkovec. He still gets to maintain his redshirt status (per the new NCAA rules), but he also gets incredibly valuable experience (if you’re worried about not throwing him to the wolves, have “QB competition” at that point where he gets Northwestern and Syracuse and Book gets FSU and USC).
I’ll disagree with you somewhat, on the idea that minus the Boykin play nobody would be clamoring for the Book Era. There were people wondering after the UNC game if Book should be given the starting job. The game in which he completed 54.8% of his passes at a 4.7 YPA clip, with two really bad picks.
The backup QB is the most popular guy on the team. Always.
I can’t wait for Book to get picked up for underage drinking and running from the cops. @@
If Jurkovec is starting by the end of this season, there is no reason to worry about a red-shirt. After 3+ years of starting, he will either go pro if he is good enough, or if not, we won’t be sad that he is out of eligibility.
Yeah, that’s a great point. Ok, turn it over to Jurkovec after the road game at VT if we’ve gone off the deep end by then.
That’s not always the case. There are times when someone is a very good college QB but will never make it in the pros. Think of Jason White (not necessarily the situation but the fact that he was Heisman winner (right?) But never had a chance in the NFL).
Now one may say: but if you are able to start as a freshmen you have the tools to go pro. Maybe. Maybe not. Does Jurkovec have the arm strength e.g.? Maybe he does and he will go pro. I’m just saying that it’s enough enough to say if a QB starts 3+ years he’s going pro.
Jason White only started 2 years. If Jurkovec were Golson’s size then maybe he stays a fifth year, but he is 6’5, which matters more than ability and readiness. See Josh Allen and Deshone Kizer, respectively. If anything about Jurkovec is holding him back from the NFL given his size, then ND fans will be glad to get rid of him.
People on this site worry way too much about redshirts in general. If someone can help the team win, you put them in now. Also, what are the chances BK will be coaching ND for PJ’s hypothetical 5th season?
The only way I see PJ staying for 5 seasons, is if Wimbush is the starter for at least this year and next.
To kind of riff off your Boykin point: another reason I would start Wimbush, besides Book being Tommy Rees 2.0, is that we don’t really know what we’ve got in the skill positions. No proven receivers. No proven RB. Potential at the TE in Kmet and Wright but also their own headcase in Mack. Book may be more accurate in short throws, but heck if we know anyone’s going to catch them. At least when Brandon tucks the ball and runs, that’s a legit threat. Yes, Book can move too (that’s what makes him better than TR) but he’s not a weapon on the ground we can turn to when all else fails.
This isn’t a ringing endorsement of Wimbush, but it’s where we’re at, I think.
That’s an excellent point you bring up, KG. As much as Wimbush can do, he can’t run the offense with no one to hand off or pass the ball to. To tack on to your point, the question I have for the offense this year is whether Wimbush can be an effective runner without a strong RB1 threat. I think that the reason he was able to be so successful running last year, in addition to his obvious skill, is that teams were planning around our great OL and fast RB, giving him room to run. Once opponents realized he wasn’t a threat on the short passes that men in motion were hinting at, they sold out on the run, and he didn’t have anywhere to go except on broken plays.
The one thing that worries me is just how good are our RB? I would feel much better about this Michigan game if Dexter was playing. I just don’t know about Jones.
To be honest, I don’t think it will be all that different in the first 4 games than the rest of the season (which may draw heat but hear me out). There’s always whispers: say Williams doesn’t pass block well. Doesn’t know the playbook. Not inclined to run between the tackles, etc. I don’t think they will lean on him that much even if available throughout the year. Maybe 5ish carries a game like we have seen the past three years. So, big scheme, not too much to miss for the reality of what the player is, compared to what we have built up in our minds. Once I started thinking like that, it became a lot easier to handle.
FWIW, BK said Jafar Armstrong is the closest thing to Theo Riddick that he’s had (I assume he meant since Theo Riddick). He’s getting high praise. Davis too, to a lesser extent. Jones isn’t a home run hitter but he is leaner than last year and seems serviceable/capable, etc.
I don’t think the backs will be that bad early on or all season, just unheralded. Not sure anyone was hype or knew what Josh Adams was pre-2015. Not saying any of these guys are that, but I’d guess if anywhere there’s a wildcard it’s RB, right? I could see jet sweeps to Armstrong, read options with Wimbush running counter to open sides, lots of stuff to keep them off their feet.
I like where your head is at, but “read options with Wimbush” require him improving A LOT on the “read” part.
I’m going to disagree on Wimbush’s running; I think he can put up huge numbers on the ground even if Jones is a mediocre RB and the passing game never comes together. He reminds me of a poor man’s Terrelle Pryor. Big, long strides, with the ability to run through guys or make them miss, with enough top end speed to break away.
I always used to say that Pryor would be the in the top 5 most impressive college players I’ve ever seen if he could just learn to throw over the middle (which he never did). Well, I think Wimbush could be Pryor if he could just learn to throw make those throws to the outside. With a player like that, you can do a ton of damage, even if he isn’t surrounded by the greatest athletes.
Ian Book hasn’t ever rushed for a game winning score against Michigan unlike some QBs.
https://youtu.be/9wxX0nNKn0w?t=2m15s
…yet.
Wimbush poor mechanics and all is still my guy. I think Kelly gives him a long leash because you can’t have your starting QB looking over his shoulder. I agree that Wimbush likely cost the Irish a playoff birth with his shaky play. Had we had Kizer we probably go 11-1 or undefeated. Still with Wimbush the offense put up 30 a game and he accounted for 30 touchdowns. He is simply to dynamic running the ball to not have him in there. Book is a good QB in stretches but I don’t think he is good enough to start for multiple games. He is turnover prone IMO. Phil will see the field thanks to this new rule but he isn’t ready. Its ride or die with BW.
This post and the info in the comments are really great. Nice work!
I think I might cry – that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. 🙂 Thanks man!
Well, and indeed they are, Brendan. An especially nice job of linking your beloved stats to comments that put them in a broader and informative context. After an away summer (France World Cup, son getting married) it’s good to be back reading all you guys.
Especially after I made the huge mistake of when on ndn (to look for other articles and news about the b-ball trip to the Bahamas), I opened up the Rock’s House thing. Just to take a look I said, maybe they are getting a newer brand of folks and are being properly interested in and even a little excited about the new season… like we ND fans should be? But first thing I saw were two long threads, one on what was the worst loss in the BK era, the other on whether anybody was at all excited about the season (nobody seemed to be).
So, THANK THE LORD for you guys and the super work you do!
There is some serious talent on this team. All Wimbush needsto do is pass well enough to keep defenses honest against the pass and they should win a lot of games. Will he pass well enough? I sure hope so.
I just read an article about the defensive talent. I think Sinclair wrote it. According to his research, ND has the 4th most 4 and 5 stars accumulated in college football. More than Clemson and Michigan even.
Wait, talent on the roster overall or just defense? Coleman, Gilman, Love, and Bonner are all 3-stars among the starters.
Elliott, Owusu-Koramoah, Genmark-Heath, Ogundeji, MTA, and Hinish are all 3-star backups. There are no 5-stars.
Unless I’m forgetting somebody I think Kraemer is the only composite 5-star on the roster, and he is a “low” (i.e., #26) 5-star.
Doing some Googling, it doesn’t look like Bud Elliot has put out his annual Blue Chip Ratio post. Last year we were #10, and I have a hard time believing we’ve jumped up 6 spots after losing the 2014 class, which had a higher Blue Chip Ratio than the 2018 class.
He only rated the defense. ND’s defense has the 4th most 4 and 5 start players in the country.
As far as offense, other than running back, ND generally recruits pretty well on offense.
I’m assuming this is the article:
https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/Article/Big-Picture-Has-Notre-Dame-recruited-a-playoff-defense-120663285/
He only looked at the 2018 & 2019 classes, the latter obviously hasn’t signed yet. From 10 other teams, Notre Dame is 5th out of 11th overall.
Yeah, that was the article. So he was looking at future defenses. I don’t know, these guys looked pretty good lady year. Even a small improvements in certain areas could move them up significantly.
Certainly those 2 classes have the defense on a different trajectory.
While I would be delighted to be seriously wrong, I’m not optimistic for this year’s outcome. My concern is the offense.
No serious playoff contender gets there without an exceptional or at least consistently good QB. I don’t think we have one of those. Wimbush has all the difficulties mentioned re his passing. As for his running, my recollection is that as the season wore on his running became much less effective. Defenses stopped respecting his passing and bottled him up much more often.
Unless we have a surprise at RB, I don’t see them taking pressure off him.
Our OLINE will be a step back from last year, receivers are unproven.
Unless we have a drop dead defense, as in 2012, that can carry the offense, my expectations are that the final record will disappoint those with high expectations.
Happy to be wrong, but not expecting to be. Michigan game should tell us a lot.
Interesting take. Thanks for putting this together for a good comparison. I get the popularity of the backup QB and all, but I really don’t like the comparisons for Book to Tommy Rees, and I don’t think they are accurate in the least. Book is a better passer and much better runner than Rees, but it seems like nobody in college could read a defense like Rees. I don’t think Book is some how light years in front of Wimbush in reading defenses like Rees was compared to his competition. The only superficial comparison is to claim he is not the most talented QB on the roster, but he gives us the best chance of winning (for those who think so). As a result, this doesn’t seem like a close call to me.
Our coaching staff absolutely has to be able to design running, option, sweep plays that keep a defense guessing enough to keep Wimbush’s legs as a factor in games. They have had an off season to realize what plays put Wimbush in a bad situation even if they shouldn’t for most QBs and how to work around that somewhat. Certainly there will still be times Wimbush has to make an “easy” touch pass that is hard for him, but my optimistic side says that between different play calling and a little improvement from Wimbush, we could still be in for a very fun year.
Great write up and glad to see everyone back.
Edit: Minor (ok, MAJOR) crisis on my hands here. I have a wedding to attend on September 1 (I know, I know. I’ve been crying about it since I found out). Anyone know how to watch the game on mobile? Does NBCSports live stream it on the app? I’m desperate, please send help…
Why not just record it and watch it in peace when you can enjoy it? I do that often anyway so I can skip through the commercials.
I’ve watched the NBC SPORTS all. It live streams it with a short delay,
I watched the 2012 Pitt game from the back of a conference room on an iPad, but had to stop to give my own presentation in the 3rd Q.