The Official Riley Nelson is a Badass Thread

[Goatnapper'96]

I would like to hear from you or anyone why our road schedule is brutal. Are any of those teams ranked pre-season in the top 25? With a senior QB and all the returning players we have, shouldn't we be better than Utah or have they just passed us up that much?

Compared to the home schedule, the road schedule is a nice competitive one, but brutal? I am open to being convinced though.

I don't think any of them will be real good, i.e. 9 regular season wins with their schedules, and I think at least one of them will flop to the 6-6 or 5-7 range. All 4 are beatable by this BYU team, IMO. But I don't expect BYU to beat more than 2 just because we aren't that good. I am not one of those who thinks BYU should be that good.

[kccougar]

I also just realized that BSU has a bye week the Sat before while BYU has the short week coming off the Utah game.

[byu71]

I am not one of those who thinks BYU should be that good.

I am with you on that. I don't know if it is for the same reasons. I am one of those who think if the philosophy stays the same, there will be a dominant program in the state 5 years from now and it won't be BYU.

Apparently Kyle picked up on that when interviewing for the job at BYU and decided to stay at Utah instead.

[Goatnapper'96]

I am with you on that. I don't know if it is for the same reasons. I am one of those who think if the philosophy stays the same, there will be a dominant program in the state 5 years from now and it won't be BYU.

Apparently Kyle picked up on that when interviewing for the job at BYU and decided to stay at Utah instead.

You might be right.

[Moliere]

I would like to hear from you or anyone why our road schedule is brutal. Are any of those teams ranked pre-season in the top 25? With a senior QB and all the returning players we have, shouldn't we be better than Utah or have they just passed us up that much?

Compared to the home schedule, the road schedule is a nice competitive one, but brutal? I am open to being convinced though.

Okay, it's not really brutal, but it's significantly more difficult than last year. BSU, GT, ND and Utah are not cupcakes. Last year TCU was good but Texas was down and Ole Miss stunk.

Utah looks like the toughest game if they have Wynn, JWIII, and Christopher around, plus their D is always good.

[byu71]

Okay, it's not really brutal, but it's significantly more difficult than last year. BSU, GT, ND and Utah are not cupcakes. Last year TCU was good but Texas was down and Ole Miss stunk.

Utah looks like the toughest game if they have Wynn, JWIII, and Christopher around, plus their D is always good.

It is a good solid road schedule. If we win them all I will be very impressed.

[Portland Ute]

With a senior QB and all the returning players we have, shouldn't we be better than Utah or have they just passed us up that much?

:headscratch:



I'm curious as to why you think Utah is going to be all that much worse than last year. Utah also has a QB that is a year older and should be healthier than last year. RB Utah returns a PAC12 second teamer. The receivers of any value are all back. The defense returns a Freshman all-american at safety along with Blechen. The D line looks to be stronger than last season. Mo Lee is back at corner. The only real question is how will the new guys do at LB.

Do you see Utah dropping off much from last year?

[kccougar]

:headscratch:



I'm curious as to why you think Utah is going to be all that much worse than last year. Utah also has a QB that is a year older and should be healthier than last year. RB Utah returns a PAC12 second teamer. The receivers of any value are all back. The defense returns a Freshman all-american at safety along with Blechen. The D line looks to be stronger than last season. Mo Lee is back at corner. The only real question is how will the new guys do at LB.

Do you see Utah dropping off much from last year?

I think the loss of Norm Chow will really hurt. Other than, I'm just waiting for Thursday to find out (or the following week in the case of the Utes).

[byu71]

:headscratch:



I'm curious as to why you think Utah is going to be all that much worse than last year. Utah also has a QB that is a year older and should be healthier than last year. RB Utah returns a PAC12 second teamer. The receivers of any value are all back. The defense returns a Freshman all-american at safety along with Blechen. The D line looks to be stronger than last season. Mo Lee is back at corner. The only real question is how will the new guys do at LB.

Do you see Utah dropping off much from last year?

I don't follow Utah that closely so I didn't think about all of that. I just trust a lot of posters who have said Utah is not ahead of us as a program. So after getting trounced last year after losing the year before, I figure there is no way Utah should beat BYU 3 years in a row.

[Mr. Fabulous]

Long-time reader, first-time poster.

On Riley Nelson: dude makes some dumb throws, tries to keep the play going when he should throw the ball away and risks getting injured this year. That being said, he grinds out wins and is able to rally the team. USU and Tulsa were not great teams, but we could have easily lost those games last year and we pulled them out. I think he could have pulled off the TCU game if the special teams hadn't totally cracked.

On Utah:Last year's game was a combination of catastrophic breakdown and bad luck. The game was very close at halftime, even with all of the turnovers and bad play by Jake Heaps. I'm not saying we should have one, but that it was an anomaly and should have been closer. Everyone agrees this year's game should be close and the two are evenly matched. I like BYU's chances, I think Riley grinds out a win and finds a way to pull it off in the last minute or in OT. Also, I think Utah was able to do a lot last year with a pretty mediocre offense because of Norm Chow's play calling. With a new OC, they will probably be a little more confused.

[Eddie]

...
On Utah:Last year's game was a combination of catastrophic breakdown and bad luck. The game was very close at halftime, even with all of the turnovers and bad play by Jake Heaps. I'm not saying we should have one, but that it was an anomaly and should have been closer. Everyone agrees this year's game should be close and the two are evenly matched. I like BYU's chances, I think Riley grinds out a win and finds a way to pull it off in the last minute or in OT. Also, I think Utah was able to do a lot last year with a pretty mediocre offense because of Norm Chow's play calling. With a new OC, they will probably be a little more confused.

I hear from a LOT of Utah fans that Utah is obviously just that much better than BYU, pointing to that game as evidence. Most of the local radio guys are picking Utah to win without even thinking twice about if it will be difficult or not.*

Strangely enough, I haven't heard of any of these folks predicting a Utah loss at Colorado. I don't get it?

* This morning a caller was speaking with David James and asked if he really picked the Y to beat the U during a TV segment last night. He was incredulous that DJ would even think the Y could compete with the U. So I suppose I have to give DJ credit for not following the rest of the radio talking heads. Of course, he also said that he reserves the right to change that prediction depending on how each team plays over the next two weeks.

But to bring this post full circle and into alignment with the thread title - DJ explained that historically Y teams with senior QB's don't lose. He really views the rivalry game as a tossup, and as the Y is the team with the senior QB and the U is not (and since he had to pick one or the other) he picked the Y.

It was funny listening to the caller - who sounded completely serious in asking DJ if he made that pick just to be different since others were picking the U, or if the producer had made him make that pick, etc., or if he really thought that the Y might win. Good times.

[Seldom Seen Smith]

I hear from a LOT of Utah fans that Utah is obviously just that much better than BYU, pointing to that game as evidence. Most of the local radio guys are picking Utah to win without even thinking twice about if it will be difficult or not.*

Strangely enough, I haven't heard of any of these folks predicting a Utah loss at Colorado. I don't get it?

* This morning a caller was speaking with David James and asked if he really picked the Y to beat the U during a TV segment last night. He was incredulous that DJ would even think the Y could compete with the U. So I suppose I have to give DJ credit for not following the rest of the radio talking heads. Of course, he also said that he reserves the right to change that prediction depending on how each team plays over the next two weeks.

But to bring this post full circle and into alignment with the thread title - DJ explained that historically Y teams with senior QB's don't lose. He really views the rivalry game as a tossup, and as the Y is the team with the senior QB and the U is not (and since he had to pick one or the other) he picked the Y.

It was funny listening to the caller - who sounded completely serious in asking DJ if he made that pick just to be different since others were picking the U, or if the producer had made him make that pick, etc., or if he really thought that the Y might win. Good times.

I agree, Utah fans do seem quite confident but nothing compared to the confidence BYU fans had last year going into the game. I don't know that I've seen that level of confidence going into a game since the 80s.

[Pelado]

I agree, Utah fans do seem quite confident but nothing compared to the confidence BYU fans had last year going into the game. I don't know that I've seen that level of confidence going into a game since the 80s.

Appropriate moniker given the post count.

[Eddie]

I agree, Utah fans do seem quite confident but nothing compared to the confidence BYU fans had last year going into the game. I don't know that I've seen that level of confidence going into a game since the 80s.

Can't disagree.

If I've learned anything from the last few years of these games, it is that neither fan base should be too confident. (And Y fans, least of all).

I haven't done any actual research on the subject, but for some reason it just seems like recently if/when BYU if favored, they squeak by or may lose in an "upset". If Utah is favored, they win - sometimes big.

[MarkGrace]

I was not confident going into the Utah game last year. We didn't look good enough in the first two to be confident.