You're the BYU Offensive Coordinator: You Make the Call

[Indy Coug]

Draw up your gameplan for someone that doesn't have a helpless defense -- like Hawaii. Keep in mind that

1. Nelson is too injured to do the things he normally does well

2. Hill still doesn't know the offense and more importantly is working on reading D-1 defenses

3. Lark has been jerked around every which way and probably has zero confidence in himself and certainly in the coaches

So what do you do?

[Goatnapper'96]

Not much Brandon can do this year IMO but to go with Hill and keep it simple while Hill's ability to do things improves. If Riley gets healthy by the time BYU plays USU then go back to doing what you wanted to do with Riley. I agree with those who say use Hill when you can't use Riley and ride it to enough victories to go to a bowl game.

In essence BYU is stuck this year with this situation that the coaches have created. The offense has been mismanaged. I think BYU should still get to a bowl game and the reps and experience will be good for Taysom, but lets have no doubt that the coaching staff and as culpable for this cluster as bad luck is to blame.

[Moliere]

Run left, run right, run up the gut. Maybe throw in a draw play every once in a while just for fun. An option or two, but not to the short side of the field.

Then throw a deep bomb off a flea flicker.

I'd do all this with Hill as the QB.

[thesaint258]

2. Hill still doesn't know the offense and more importantly is working on reading D-1 defenses

I'm not sure that anyone knows the offense at this point.

[kccougar]

Run left, run right, run up the gut. Maybe throw in a draw play every once in a while just for fun. An option or two, but not to the short side of the field.

Then throw a deep bomb off a flea flicker.

I'd do all this with Hill as the QB.

Indy should probably add a Condition 4: Your offensive line is horrible.

[Indy Coug]

I'm not sure that anyone knows the offense at this point.

The offense was designed for a healthy Nelson. It was pretty clear what the offense was then. Once he got injured that all went out the window because he was even more limited than before, so the offense had to adapt to get blood out of the gimpy Nelson turnip.

Does anyone believe the offense shouldn't have adapted to try to cope with the current QB situation?

I don't believe anyone here believes that Hill, Lark, Munns or Kuresa should have started to begin the season, so what kind of offense should have been developed to start the season to maximize Nelson's productivity? Throw in the fact that our OL is wholly unreliable and our RBs are entirely unimpressive.

[All-American]

Draw up your gameplan for someone that doesn't have a helpless defense -- like Hawaii. Keep in mind that

1. Nelson is too injured to do the things he normally does well

2. Hill still doesn't know the offense and more importantly is working on reading D-1 defenses

3. Lark has been jerked around every which way and probably has zero confidence in himself and certainly in the coaches

So what do you do?

No matter who your quarterback is, you want your running game up and running. BYU's done no favors for its struggling quarterbacks by leaving them without a reliable ground threat. Alisa needs 100 yards this game, and he needs it running to the outside, off tackle, and up the middle.

If Riley is 100%, you play him. His ceiling is low, but when he plays at that ceiling, BYU is a good team. An average Riley Nelson performance against Utah or Boise State wins those games. If he is not 100%-- if a week's rest would allow him to play better against Utah State-- he sits.

I don't put Hill in just because he is the future. I put in whoever is most likely to win me games now. For me, that means you put in the quarterback with whom you can most effectively run the most plays in the playbook. I don't know enough about James Lark to say whether that is him or not. Lark looked pretty good throwing against Weber State, but Hill wasn't bad throwing, either. Hill certainly looks better running the ball, and with the emphasis on establishing the running game, that may be enough to tip the scales in Hill's favor, as far as Brandon Doman is concerned. Me, I think you do more favors for your running game by having a quarterback who can get the ball to his receivers-- but does Lark do that better than Hill?

The logical answer is very clearly to put in Ziggy at Q. Think Magic Johnson, 1980 NBA Finals. They won't know what hit them.

[All-American]

The offense was designed for a healthy Nelson. It was pretty clear what the offense was then. Once he got injured that all went out the window because he was even more limited than before, so the offense had to adapt to get blood out of the gimpy Nelson turnip.

Does anyone believe the offense shouldn't have adapted to try to cope with the current QB situation?

I don't believe anyone here believes that Hill, Lark, Munns or Kuresa should have started to begin the season, so what kind of offense should have been developed to start the season to maximize Nelson's productivity? Throw in the fact that our OL is wholly unreliable and our RBs are entirely unimpressive.

Fine, but it's not as though nobody knew Riley wasn't invulnerable. He's missed games every year due to injury since he was first named as a starter. I should certainly hope BYU had in mind the very real prospect of having to put in a backup.

[TripletDaddy]

Fine, but it's not as though nobody knew Riley wasn't invulnerable. He's missed games every year due to injury since he was first named as a starter. I should certainly hope BYU had in mind the very real prospect of having to put in a backup.

Also, any offense centered around Riley Nelson's style of play is doomed to fail because QBs can't subject themselves to that kind of pounding every game and expect to last more than part of a season, let alone an entire season. It is a dumb strategy and that is probably why most D1 QBs arent diving head first into a bunch of linebackers 10-12 times a game.

[Flystripper]

I would insert Lark so I would not be tempted to use the option and qb runs. I would then have a gameplan that was 55-60% run with Alisa and Williams. Assuming that the running game was working i would use play action to throw the ball down the field. Other than play action the passing game would consist of quick hitches and slants to the wrs and a healthy dose of Friel in the middle of the field. Hill could continue to come in situationally 4-5 times per game to run his little package of plays.

[jay santos]

Two issues.

1. How do we maximize the talent in the system today?

2. What did we do wrong to have nobody in the system that can run a passing offense?

It's hard to believe Lark can be that bad. Remember when Mortensen was the backup QB and he was believed to be completely awful, and then he transfered and played DII and then actually made an NFL roster? I think part of Doman's reluctance to use Lark might be the same issue with why he may be a crappy BYU OC, which is that he relies on a running QB too much.

As far as how do we maximize the talent in the system today, let's assume Lark is horrible and Hill is not ready to run the full offense. My question is why is he running the option? The option takes a great amount of practice time to become precise in your timing with the RB and making the pitch properly, and training the QB on when to run and when to pitch. Why is valuable practice time being taken up by this and not on actually practicing the BYU offense?

I just can't believe that the best way for our offense to score points is to give the ball to the QB and tell him to run right or left, and maybe pass it if someone's open.

[TripletDaddy]

What are the chances BYU picks up a Juco QB this offseason?

[All-American]

What are the chances BYU picks up a Juco QB this offseason?

About my chances of picking up Scarlett Johansson.

[Goatnapper'96]

What are the chances BYU picks up a Juco QB this offseason?

None. IMO. Hill is the future. I don't think the issue is the talent in the system, I think the issue is that the system is based on talent available and when people get injured enough it self destructs. It is funny because this is why Anae was fired. His system was a predicatable system that plugged people in and their wills/talents were bent to the system. We brought in Doman to be unpredictable and bend the system to the talents/will of the players. We are seeing Doman's approach at its worst. This is why for this year I think it best to play Taysom Hill and gut out enough victories to get to a bowl game. I think Taysom can be a pass first qb who then creates with his athleticism second, or on the rare play calls that force defenses to respect the qb draw etc, with a coach that is able to put that many moving pieces together in a coherent hole. I don't currently believe Brandon Doman is that coach.

[TripletDaddy]

About my chances of picking up Scarlett Johansson.

I see the honeymoon is over.