Nelson Bandwagon

[cougjunkie]

Apo has been virtually non-existent the last couple games and color me unimpressed with his speed as he tried to catch that DB on the pick six. Hell, they didn't get anything from any of the WRs today outside of Hoffman.

Apo had an easy TD if Riley doesn't underthrow him in the endzone. Also what do you expect Apo to do on the pick six? His momentum is taking him a completely different direction he is supposed to stop change direction, start again and run down a guy who was at a full sprint? Even if Apo is a 4.4 guy (which he is not) and that DB is 4.8 he doesn't catch him.

[jay santos]

Apo had an easy TD if Riley doesn't underthrow him in the endzone. Also what do you expect Apo to do on the pick six? His momentum is taking him a completely different direction he is supposed to stop change direction, start again and run down a guy who was at a full sprint? Even if Apo is a 4.4 guy (which he is not) and that DB is 4.8 he doesn't catch him.

Yeah that ball wasn't well thrown. But he threw some decent balls over 20 yards. And he hit Apo on a very nice mid range ball over the middle and Apo dropped it.

[cougjunkie]

Yeah that ball wasn't well thrown. But he threw some decent balls over 20 yards. And he hit Apo on a very nice mid range ball over the middle and Apo dropped it.

Are you talking about the low throw that Apo went down to get on 3rd and 16? Probably should have been caught but Apo was hit by the DB before the ball got there.

Honestly his best throw of the night was the post to Hoffman to start the second half. That was a well thrown ball.

[smokymountainrain]

Apo had an easy TD if Riley doesn't underthrow him in the endzone. Also what do you expect Apo to do on the pick six? His momentum is taking him a completely different direction he is supposed to stop change direction, start again and run down a guy who was at a full sprint? Even if Apo is a 4.4 guy (which he is not) and that DB is 4.8 he doesn't catch him.

He trailed the guy by 3-4 yards the entire play. Bottom line, he never made up ground. If anything the guy pulled away from him at the end. So no, he isn't supposed to catch him, but I thought he might be able to make up ground. Either way it's not that big a deal, I just haven't been impressed with Apo's speed and that play didn't change anything.

[cougjunkie]

Let me add that it is possible Apo is "non-existent" do to the routes he is asked to run. Deep outs and comeback routes generally to the far side of the field. Those are not throws that Riley can make. We saw that today. Riley did complete one of those to Apo during the 2 minute drill before the half he looked right to look off the DB and immediately came back left assuming Apo was where he needed to be. It floated out there nad only went for about 5 yards but at least he completed it.

[oxcoug]

How weird is the psychology for a kid in Riley's position to go from what probably looked like the end of his football playing days to striding toward what now looks like a year and a half as BYU's starter?

Has to be a pretty insane shift.

[jay santos]

Are you talking about the low throw that Apo went down to get on 3rd and 16? Probably should have been caught but Apo was hit by the DB before the ball got there.

Yes. Hard for me to tell how hard he got bumped in non HD TV, but yeah.

[smokymountainrain]

Let me add that it is possible Apo is "non-existent" do to the routes he is asked to run. Deep outs and comeback routes generally to the far side of the field. Those are not throws that Riley can make. We saw that today. Riley did complete one of those to Apo during the 2 minute drill before the half he looked right to look off the DB and immediately came back left assuming Apo was where he needed to be. It floated out there nad only went for about 5 yards but at least he completed it.

That's fair. In fact, i'd really like to see Nelson get it to Apo more often. I'm a bit worried he's going to start locking onto Hoff.

[SCcoug]

Not necessarily. If Riley continues to play well, Heaps can redshirt next year (which he would do if he transfers anyways) then have 2 years to start after Riley graduates. It would be no difference than if he transferred. The question is does he like Doman and BYU enough to stick around.

That would set up a nicely for a Heaps to Hill to Mangum transition

[tooblue]

He trailed the guy by 3-4 yards the entire play. Bottom line, he never made up ground. If anything the guy pulled away from him at the end. So no, he isn't supposed to catch him, but I thought he might be able to make up ground. Either way it's not that big a deal, I just haven't been impressed with Apo's speed and that play didn't change anything.

I'm still not on the bandwagon. A change needed to be made against USU but, afterwards staying with Nelson was the easy choice. It has paid off in the short term and will continue to pay off the rest of the season with our schedule ... well, actually I think the wheels my well come off against TCU. But, I'm very wary about placing my confidence in Nelson through to next season. Though I love it, the way he runs at some point he's going to get popped and have to leave the game.

All that being said, Nelson has played very well and I'm happy with the wins and willing to accept that he may prove me wrong. Go BYU beat Idaho State.

[jay santos]

That would set up a nicely for a Heaps to Hill to Mangum transition

How often have fans created this kind of 10 year QB strategic plan and seen it actually play out? Lets just worry about this year and maybe next.

[tooblue]

How often have fans created this kind of 10 year QB strategic plan and seen it actually play out? Lets just worry about this year and maybe next.

I agree. There are too many unknowns. For example we may see Heaps again this season if Thor goes down trying to run over a linebacker.

[Shaka]

Even Hans admitted Nelson played well. What I liked the most is that he exhibited noticeably improvement from last week. I'd love to see a zero turnover game next week or against TCU. (That's a big order vs TCU)

[Surfah]

Even Hans admitted Nelson played well. What I liked the most is that he exhibited noticeably improvement from last week. I'd love to see a zero turnover game next week or against TCU. (That's a big order vs TCU)

TCU will be a better test. I mean Mike Stoops got fired for losing to Oregon State last week. But Riley did have a pretty good game. I really do wish he weren't so reckless. He's not going to finish a season the way he plays. I'd rather see him slide or go out of bounds than take on Tank Carder.

[TripletDaddy]

I'm only counting 3 more games this season as barometer games...OSU, TCU, and Hawaii.

I couldn't care less how good Nelson or heaps looks against the crapfest on our home schedule for the rest of the year. It doesn't tell us much, as we should have learned last season.

Riley got the job done today, so I'm one third of the way towards feeling more comfortable for next season.