2017 NFL Draft Stock Report: Week 11 All About ACC Quarterbacks

Stock Down: Mitch Trubisky

The ACC schedule began with an intrastate showdown between North Carolina and Duke. The Tar Heels entered the contest tied atop the ACC Coastal behind the play of Mitch Trubisky, one of the most efficient passers in college football. Duke on the other hand, was winless in conference play and would have been eliminated from bowl contention with a loss. Despite what was seemingly an easy win for North Carolina, the Blue Devils came out on top.

The Tar Heels didn’t play a terrible game, but Mitch Trubisky made a couple of uncharacteristically poor decisions which cost his team the victory. Entering the game, Trubisky hadn’t thrown an interception this season in a game not played in a hurricane.

Against Duke, he threw two costly picks. The first came on a pass batted down at the line of scrimmage, the second late in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.

The final interception came on a pass with just over one minute remaining in the game and North Carolina down by one. The Tar Heels were backed up in their own territory, but had two timeouts left.

On first down Trubisky had plenty of time to throw the ball, but stayed in the pocket too long and was forced to heave the ball downfield where only a Duke defender was within 10 yards of the pass. As you can see in the play below, Trubisky easily could have thrown the ball away or run for positive yardage to keep the drive alive.

For someone with only one year of starting experience, Trubisky can’t afford these types of performances against middle-of-the-road pass defenses. He should have no problem getting his 2017 NFL Draft stock back on track against The Citadel before finishing the regular season against North Carolina State.