The Heaps Reclamation Project

[TripletDaddy]

Wow. I come off the slopes to this? What a downer.

This whole thing is just really sad. Not that a highly touted recruit didn't pan out--nothing new about that--but all the extra crap that has come around. I think Heaps is making a mistake, but he knows the situation better than anyone and it sounds like he's getting pretty solid advice on this. Lame to impugn his character at all.

Good luck to him. I hope he gets his head together and succeeds wherever he ends up.

Did you go to brianhead? I heard the snow there is really good right now. how was it today? and was it freezing?

[jay santos]

and you're delusional, so where does that leave us?

There were three games they both got significant time in: USU, Idaho State, and Idaho.

In those games:

Heaps: PER 121
Nelson: PER 210

If you don't trust PER and want to use Mark Grace's "eye test" stat for those games instead:
Heaps: mostly shitty
Nelson: pretty damn good

Nelson was also flying around picking up rushing yards and generally opening everything up for the rest of the offense.

[Viking]

Bullshit. I was there the team battled back and took the lead. That game was a clusterfetch in which every facet of the BYU team contributed to the outcome. Jake might have set a tempo but with a bomb to Apo he set a new one until Eason wiffed on a very easy pass to knock down and then Falslev wanted to play hot potato with a kickoff and then Jake reasserted the original tempo.

I clearly think Riley was the better qb this year but I am skeptical that even the real BYU #9 could have avoided the BYU from shaving themselves in delicate places and gently begging the Utes to do the do gently.

No, it's not bullshit. The team "battled" back, kicked a FG, scored a TD (a 32-yd TD is not a "bomb", even by our lowly standards) and went into the locker room down 14-10? Then got their asses handed to them thereafter?

I agree it was a total team loss, but one thing was consistent: 3 out of 4 quarters of total fucking Jake Heaps disaster.

[ERCougar]

Did you go to brianhead? I heard the snow there is really good right now. how was it today? and was it freezing?

Both. Bitter cold, but fantastic snow. And untouched. I couldn't believe how much virgin powder I got all day long.

[Moliere]

Ill tell you what, if Jake is related to me I will leave this board for good. If he isnt, you leave for good. Fair deal?

Geez man, I would tell you to go get a slumpbuster but I am afraid that is all you ever get.

You probably forgot that Viking is already two months into a one year self-imposed suspension.

[Coach McGuirk]

There were three games they both got significant time in: USU, Idaho State, and Idaho.

In those games:

Heaps: PER 121
Nelson: PER 210

If you don't trust PER and want to use Mark Grace's "eye test" stat for those games instead:
Heaps: mostly shitty
Nelson: pretty damn good

Nelson was also flying around picking up rushing yards and generally opening everything up for the rest of the offense.

lol

[originalsocal]

There were three games they both got significant time in: USU, Idaho State, and Idaho.

In those games:

Heaps: PER 121
Nelson: PER 210

If you don't trust PER and want to use Mark Grace's "eye test" stat for those games instead:
Heaps: mostly shitty
Nelson: pretty damn good

Nelson was also flying around picking up rushing yards and generally opening everything up for the rest of the offense.

This perhaps (or definitely) is why the team gravitated to Nelson. He is our little engine who could. He just plays the game and doesn't worry about how good it looks.

[Indy Coug]

There were three games they both got significant time in: USU, Idaho State, and Idaho.

In those games:

Heaps: PER 121
Nelson: PER 210

If you don't trust PER and want to use Mark Grace's "eye test" stat for those games instead:
Heaps: mostly shitty
Nelson: pretty damn good

Nelson was also flying around picking up rushing yards and generally opening everything up for the rest of the offense.

It really requires no effort to demonstrate that Nelson outperformed Heaps this season, but this particular comparison is patently ridiculous, at least as far as the Idaho/Idaho State portion of it is concerned.

[originalsocal]

Obviously TCU's defense wasn't as good as the previous 3. However, it was still the best offensive performance since 2007, and about on par with the 2007 performance, and I think the TCU defense was much better this year than it was in 2007. What you state has no bearing on my point. The turnovers hurt against TCU but I am not convinced Heaps gets BYU into the positions to turn the ball over.

This is where I disagree on the TCU game. Nelson has one bad play that probably cost us the game, BUT I am totally convinced that Heaps would not have gotten us into that position. Captain Check-down would have reared his ugly head and we would have seen a repeat of the previous two seasons. Nelson bought time and made 3rd down plays. Against that D, history shows that Heaps would have folded like a cheap suit. IMHO.

[NorthwestUteFan]

I disagree about the Utah game. Jake set the tempo with the most embarrassing play in Cougar history against Utah. It was like the team collectively sighed and said, "we're f---cked" and the game was over.

Perhaps. But when Riley came in I could see a spark in the entire team. I said, 'Uh oh, we could still lose this if they leave this Riley kid in the game'. He seemed to be on fire and everybody responded.

Seeing him motor after VJ Fehoko after being DRILLED from the blind side by Reilly, being knocked to the ground again, but still keep fighting, and almost make a tackle as Fehoko ran into the end zone proved to me that the kid is a fighter. I became a fan right there.

IIRC, in the end he finished 3-6 for 38 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTS, -2 yds rushing, and two fumbles. I am not sure he alone would have made a difference in the game. Utah simply had their number on defense, and on offense had simply worn out the Cougars' defense.

[Indy Coug]

This is where I disagree on the TCU game. Nelson has one bad play that probably cost us the game, BUT I am totally convinced that Heaps would not have gotten us into that position. Captain Check-down would have reared his ugly head and we would have seen a repeat of the previous two seasons. Nelson bought time and made 3rd down plays. Against that D, history shows that Heaps would have folded like a cheap suit. IMHO.

Nelson made more than one bad play that cost us, but the special teams cost us the game. Nelson had his lowest efficiency passing game vs TCU by far, it was almost Heaps-esque (111.6 vs Heaps' season mark of 111.0).

[jay santos]

It really requires no effort to demonstrate that Nelson outperformed Heaps this season, but this particular comparison is patently ridiculous, at least as far as the Idaho/Idaho State portion of it is concerned.

I kind of agree. The point I'm trying to make is that in all three games they played against the same competition, Nelson looked better.

OK, then you do it for me. Coach, I'm going to let Indy handle this one.

[Goatnapper'96]

This is where I disagree on the TCU game. Nelson has one bad play that probably cost us the game, BUT I am totally convinced that Heaps would not have gotten us into that position. Captain Check-down would have reared his ugly head and we would have seen a repeat of the previous two seasons. Nelson bought time and made 3rd down plays. Against that D, history shows that Heaps would have folded like a cheap suit. IMHO.

I think we agree. Perhaps I worded my post poorly but my point was that I don't believe that Heaps would have moved the ball between the 20's or even put the ball into the endzone at the end after TCU quit. BYU would have had 150-200 yards less of offense and only 10 points.

[Tone Loc]

Nelson made more than one bad play that cost us, but the special teams cost us the game. Nelson had his lowest efficiency passing game vs TCU by far, it was almost Heaps-esque (111.6 vs Heaps' season mark of 111.0).

Correct me if I am wrong, but the backwards bounce pass-fumble didnt count against his PER. Kind of a big deal though.

[Flystripper]

The Texas one is difficult. I am skeptical Nelson could have had the first half Jake had, but I also believe that Nelson's scrambling and playmaking ability would have resulted in more consistency throughout the game and I think one of the reasons BYU lost was because the lack of offensive consistency got the defense fatigued in half 2. I also wonder if Nelson had played more in prime time against those teams he might have fared better against TCU?

Elohim themselves could not have saved the BYU against Utah.

I see it as Nelson having a decent first half, but not as good as Jake's. At halftime the Texas D adjusts. I think that the adjustments would be different but just as effective.