Stuck in the nexus

The bolded part above is my primary point.  DA could have been a much better quarterback, and it was galling that he did not put the time in to be better than he turned out.  I agree 100% with you.  Let's focus on that agreement.

Now, having agreed on my original primary point, I will discuss the rest of your post:

You are saying that DJU is not trying on the field.  I think I saw him trying to force square pegs in round holes too often. 

I honestly think that Smitty's passing offense is very mediocre.  There is the old adage that I like:

If someone is mean to you, it is probably because they are a jerk.  However, if everyone is mean to you, it is probably because you are a jerk.  Between Smitty and the quarterbacks over the last four years, I tend to think that Smitty was the jerk.  I.e. the quarterbacks did not fail Smitty; Smitty failed the quarterbacks.

After we had a host of good quarterbacks blow through Corvallis and all appear underwhelming, I have come to conclusion that something is fundamentally wrong with Smitty's passing game.  The routes were wrong or the players were just not coached up.  (Or the routes were randomly rolled out, regardless of how stupid it would be to run those routes given the down, distance, game situation, and field position.)  I watched that 2023 game against Wazzu and was very confused about play-calling.  I watched that 2021 game against Wazzu and was very confused about play-calling.  And I watched that 2020 game against Wazzu and was very confused about play-calling.

I do not personally think that DJU failed Oregon State.  I think that Smitty failed Oregon State.  And that, unfortunately, DJU was caught in the crossfire.

I personally do not believe that any quarterback's best will ever be seen in Smitty's offense.  And that, therefore, it is premature IMHO to judge DJU based on what we saw last year, because there are far better offensive minds out there than Smitty.

And in the end, it is my personal opinion that, if DJU tries, he can still be better than DA.  However, whether he will or not remains to be seen.