College Football Point/Counterpoint: Can Dayne Crist Be the Next Russell Wilson

One of the overlooked story lines of the 2011 season is just how effective Russell Wilson has been in his "free agent" year at Wisconsin.

It isn't that this is overlooked as much as it has been somewhat dampened by the fact that the rush of early-season success was thrown off track by two straight November losses.  While neither loss was Wilson's fault (the Michigan State loss was close, but his early struggles gave way to an impressive comeback to tie the game late) but they were enough to stop his Heisman campaign cold and ruin any chance Wisconsin had at crashing the BCS championship game. Once those two opportunities went out the window, the other major storylines of the season took over.

That these were realistic goals at one time speaks to how effective Wilson played this season.  In his first six games he threw only one interception compared to 14 touchdown passes while completing 74 percent of his passes.  Even in the loss to Michigan State, he completed two-thirds of his passes and threw two touchdown passes to go along with his two interceptions.

For the season Wilson finished with 2,879 yards and 31 touchdowns to just three interceptions. His completion percentage dipped from his early season start—just 73 percent for the season as a whole.  Wilson even added five touchdowns on the ground and a receiving touchdown.

It is no wonder then that Wisconsin has piqued the interest of another potential transfer quarterback. "Because of the success of Russell Wilson, I've been contacted by almost 10 players who want to talk about the opportunity to transfer in to the University of Wisconsin," said Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema when asked about potential transfers in the future.

One name that has come up is Notre Dame's own Dayne Crist, who has been granted a release from his scholarship and has the opportunity to enroll in a graduate problem at another university.  Crist has already visited Kansas—now home to former coach Charlie Weis—and plans on visiting Delaware before potentially visiting Wisconsin.  

Due to the Wilson transfer this year, Wisconsin still has no experience at quarterback next year, but the offense is otherwise promising.  Receiver Jared Abbrederis and tight end Jacob Pedersen will both return as juniors along with backup running back James White.  Three offensive line starters—all of whom received all-conference consideration—are set to return.  Finally, Montee Ball could still elect to come back to Madison for his senior season.

We don't know what Crist will ultimately decide—or if Wisconsin is interested in another transfer—but we can always speculate how Crist would fit in the Wisconsin offensive juggernaut.

Time for another round of Point/Counterpoint.

Point: Wisconsin's offense is talented enough and deep enough that Crist would succeed as quarterback for one year.

Under coordinator Paul Chryst, the Wisconsin offense has developed into a multi-faceted scoring machine.  The trio of Scott Tolzien, John Clay, and Nick Toon helped lead the Badger offense to over 200 yards per game rushing and passing and the 34th-ranked total offense (415 YPG) in the country in 2009.

The next year, with most of the starters returning, the offense jumped in production to 17th nationally at 450 YPG, and the per-game scoring average jumped 11 points to 43 PPG (fourth nationally).  Three different Wisconsin running backs rushed for 1,000 yards (Montee Ball was a few yards short, but there's no harm in rounding up a few yards when he led the team in rushing touchdowns) and Scott Tolzien was fourth in the nation in pass efficiency.

In 2011 with the addition of Russell Wilson, the Wisconsin offense was once again fourth in the nation in scoring (44 PPG) while the team's pass yards per game and pass efficiency rating increased.

With the number of returning starters due back in 2012 and Wisconsin's seemingly endless ability to churn out thousand-yard running backs and mammoth offensive linemen, it stands to reason that Dayne Crist would have one of the easiest gigs around.

For all of the elusiveness and play-stretching ability that Russell Wilson showed this year, it is important to remember that the previous starter was Scott Tolzien—the physical embodiment of a "game manager" (or more bluntly: an immobile white dude).  Crist has the physical tools to make all the throws that Wisconsin needs while having the benefit of over half a season of starting experience—more than the rest of Wisconsin's current depth chart.  His recruiting pedigree is high, and it is arguable that he has been held back these past two years by the sudden offensive shift that followed Charlie Weis' departure from South Bend in favor of Brian Kelly's spread offense.

Dayne Crist could fulfill his birthright in a cohesive pro-style offense that requires the quarterback hand the ball off, execute play action fakes and attack the defense vertically when it overreacts to the run. In eight games before his injury in the 2010 season, Crist threw for 2.033 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Given a full offseason to prepare and Wisconsin's offense surrounding him, it is easy to believe he could step in and provide a seamless transition.

Counterpoint: Dayne Crist hasn't shown that he can be a successful quarterback for a full season and will fail to keep the Badger offense producing at a high level.

Dayne Crist has so far delivered on only a modicum of the recruiting hype which he rode into South Bend on.  After biding his time behind Jimmy Clausen, Crist led Notre Dame to a 4-4 record with two of those losses coming against Michigan and Navy—neither was a particularly imposing foe in 2010.

While Crist threw for over 2,000 yards in that time he also completed just 59 percent of his passes and threw seven interceptions despite playing on an offense that included Michael Floyd, Cierre Wood and an experienced offensive line.  Once Crist was knocked out with an injury, Notre Dame finished the season with four straight wins.

In his time before playing for Wisconsin, Russell Wilson had two 3,000-yard passing seasons and had already been named first team All-ACC as a freshman when he threw for 1,955 yards and 17 touchdowns to just one interception.  While both quarterbacks have a similar career completion percentage, Wilson had a career TD/INT ratio of 70-26 before moving to Madison.

Most troubling perhaps is the fact that Crist couldn't even hold on to the starting job in South Bend this season.  For most of 2010 Crist seemed like the preferable option at quarterback.  In the one half he was knocked out in Week 2 vs. Michigan both his understudies performed poorly, and Crist nearly brought the Irish back in the second half for a win.  

This season, however, Crist was pulled quickly in the first game against South Florida and didn't see playing time until a month later in a beatdown of Purdue.  It wasn't as if Notre Dame was playing great football in between.  Dayne Crist has spent the duration of his career either buried on the bench as a backup or disappointing as a starter.  

Russell Wilson, on the other hand, had started for three years, threw nearly three times the amount of touchdown passes as interceptions and was named first team all-ACC as a freshman.

There is no such thing as a sure thing in football, but Wilson is a close as you can get.  Dayne Crist has too many questions surrounding his ability to win the starting job and produce as a starter for one to assume he can step into the starting Wisconsin quarterback position without a significant drop-off.

There are still no guarantees that Dayne Crist ends up in Madison.  He has shown interest in other schools, and Wisconsin doesn't yet seem to be courting him as strongly as it did Russell Wilson last summer.

One thing is certain, the rest of the offense will be in good shape if and when Crist steps into the lineup.  What he would be able to accomplish as the starter at quarterback is still quite unclear.