Revenge of the Haoles - BYU vs. Hawaii 2011

[jay santos]

Just watching the replay (tank girl and O'oe ) did Reilly through the ball at the 2nd streaker? It sure looks like it.

Yes. The wife thought it would be funny if the guy caught the ball and ran around the field with it.

[jay santos]

Why do all Hawaii people stick out their tongue when they're shown on camera?

[Green Monstah]

Watched the game in the wee hours of the morning on DVR. A few thoughts:

Riley brought his A game. That TD pass to Hoffman on the CB blitz was sick. Was it just me or did Riley's passes look crisper with a little more zip on them?

Apo has some power in his legs. A few times (including a TD RECEPTION) he was dragging DBs along. Something about that dudes body language makes me wonder if he's not going to. E playing somewhere else. I still wish he could catch the ball with his hands, but if he stays, he and Hoffman are going to be a sick duo for the next two years.

Matt Reynolds looked soft yesterday. I doubt very highly that he will play muvh in the NFL.

It was saddening to see how Mckay Jacobsen has been supplanted by Falslev. I like JD, and he clearly deserves the snaps, but it feels like MJ squandered a lot of talent.

The Hawaii cheerleaders look like a force. A few potential LBs in there.

[Surfah]

I'm not sure what's going on...

Are we ranked #32 in the computer rankings (which control for SOS)? Is Nelson's PER in the top 10 in the country? Is Nelson 4-1 as a starter and 1-0 as a reliever? Is his only loss a pretty close road game with a team who is likely going to be playing a BCS bowl? Is he coming back next year with all the rest of the surrounding offensive talent? Did we just hand Hawaii their worst loss of the season in a game where they were fighting for bowl qualification? Did we sufficiently recover from a seemingly hopeless situation where our QB was almost last in the nation in PER, was scoring more TD's for the other team than ours, and was about to lose to UTAH STATE?

or is it...

We suck. Our QB sucks. Our future has been destroyed. I don't care what our record is, I orgasm watching Heaps throw the football regardless of the results.

I am just trying to be realistic. I compared Nelson's play to Brock Zylstra's game against NAU. Hawaii is terrible. The teams that Nelson has faced have been terrible (TCU aside but they're not very special). Look what Jake did against the two teams after Riley got hurt He averaged 160 QB rating. Someone did an analysis of our QBs before this Hawaii game and determined that even Lark would beat this Hawaii team.

As to next year, I don't see Riley's arm getting better or any of his decision making improving (it still hasn't evidenced by some of the lucky ass throws he made today). So I think next year mirror's this year. QB controversy. We lose to all of the bowl eligible teams teams on our schedule and beat everyone else.

That said, Riley had a great game today. I am amazed he didn't have a turnover throwing the ball almost 40 times.

[Moliere]

Can't blame it on Nelson for the most part, the coaches deciding to ruin Lark's BYU career by lying to him and taking Nelson off his mission is the main thing after originally recruiting Lark over Nelson. I knew it was bad news the day I saw the Nelson transfer news. I liked watching Nelson at USU, knew he'd be nothing but trouble for the program when he transferred, and that was before I even knew who Heaps was..

Nothing but trouble? He saved the season. Heaps was horrific for the Utah, Central Florida and USU games. Nelson came in and pulled out a win against USU and at least steadied the ship enough for us to win the games we should win.

[Surfah]

Nothing but trouble? He saved the season. Heaps was horrific for the Utah, Central Florida and USU games. Nelson came in and pulled out a win against USU and at least steadied the ship enough for us to win the games we should win.

What season did Riley save? The opportunity to be 9-3 versus 8-4? No matter who played QB we were going to be bowl eligible and going to the AFB.

[Pheidippides]

What season did Riley save? The opportunity to be 9-3 versus 8-4? No matter who played QB we were going to be bowl eligible and going to the AFB.

Who cares who the QB is then? I kinda don't. Right now being the starting QB at BYU is like being the primo bingo caller at the senior citizens center in Kona, Idaho. Nobody cares because the entire thing is irrelevant.

[smokymountainrain]

What season did Riley save? The opportunity to be 9-3 versus 8-4? No matter who played QB we were going to be bowl eligible and going to the AFB.

What is your point in this argument? Do you think the coaches should have played Heaps this year because 9-3 is no better than 8-4?

Is there a football coach in America who won't play the guy he clearly feels is better? You point to Heaps 160 rating against bad teams as evidence that he would have been as good as Nelson, but Nelson's rating against bad teams is close to 170 (perhaps negligible, but still better than Heaps), plus he is a legit run threat. No matter how you slice it, Nelson is a slightly more effective passer and a MUCH better runner making him the better QB by a fairly big margin. Again, maybe that doesn't make much difference in a meaningless season, but a coach is always going to play the better player. Coaches don't think in terms of "but 9-3 is the same as 8-4, so it doesn't matter."

[RC Vikings]

Who cares who the QB is then? I kinda don't. Right now being the starting QB at BYU is like being the primo bingo caller at the senior citizens center in Kona, Idaho. Nobody cares because the entire thing is irrelevant.

Niku it's Kuna, Idaho. Other than no ocean, no palm trees, the lack of a warm ocean breeze, only a lilly white population and no beach in sight it's a lot like Kona.

[Non Sequitur]

Too bad it's not dumber than running Heaps off for Nelson, which is what Bronco is doing by not having a qb competition in spring.

I'm guessing you were also upset when Crowton ran off Ben Olsen. Heaps is a bad quarterback. He is not accurate. Has no touch. Makes bad decisions. Locks onto receivers. Zero mobility. Is not a leader. But he does have a strong arm.

Why is losing him such a bad thing?

[Viking]

I wish we could have seen Riley vs. Utah. Riley vs. Texas.

[DU Ute]

I wish we could have seen Riley vs. Utah. Riley vs. Texas.

You did see Riley vs. Utah. IIRC, Utah's defense outscored BYU's offense while he was in the game.

[Pheidippides]

Niku it's Kuna, Idaho. Other than no ocean, no palm trees, the lack of a warm ocean breeze, only a lilly white population and no beach in sight it's a lot like Kona.

Wow. It's so irrelevant I couldn't even remember the name correctly.

[Shaka]

I wish we could have seen Riley vs. Utah. Riley vs. Texas.

This.

I don't think we beat Utah (although I think the game would have been far more respectable) but with Riley I think there's a good shot we beat Texas.

Surfah, You need to learn how to win. You're starting to become Hsaru light which is strange because you're a much better guy and poster than that ingrate.

To address your point Riley has aspects of his game that he can improve. People said the same thing about him last year yet this year he's better. He has yet to start what would comprise a full season of games. It's very unfair to say improvement isn't possible.

[Shaka]

I'm guessing you were also upset when Crowton ran off Ben Olsen. Heaps is a bad quarterback. He is not accurate. Has no touch. Makes bad decisions. Locks onto receivers. Zero mobility. Is not a leader. But he does have a strong arm.

Why is losing him such a bad thing?

I don't think this is fair. Jake has cleaned up some aspects of his game since he was benched. He's no where near what his potential is but he seems to be making progress. Regarding his current situation I think Jake is, at least in public, saying and doing the right things. His teammates are saying good things about him so I think that reflects well on what he's doing in practice.