2012 BYU Football Season

[Omaha 680]

@Georgia Tech Loss
Weber state Win
@Utah Loss
@Boise State Loss
Hawaii Win
Washington State Loss
Utah State Win
Oregon State Win
@Notre Dame Loss
@New Mexico State Win
@San Jose State Win
Idaho Win

7-5 Welcome to mediocrity

You're 2-1 so far. Just like BYU!

[Coach McGuirk]

You're 2-1 so far. Just like BYU!

Hell, I think I will be wrong and could be 9-3!

[Green Monstah]

Riley has vertebrae issues I'm sure not brought on by his insistence on running into 300 pound lineman because we know he only gets hurt hanging around in the pocket.

Is he out or just going to play through drugged up like Utah?

Those are his vertebrae? Ouch.

[TripletDaddy]

how in the world did that x-ray get out onto the web but for someone intentionally wanting it out there?

[Blueintheface]

how in the world did that x-ray get out onto the web but for someone intentionally wanting it out there?

That this question wasn't asked hours ago is baffling to me. It was what I thought of immediately.

[Green Monstah]

That this question wasn't asked hours ago is baffling to me. It was what I thought of immediately.

That's the reason I assumed it couldn't be Riley's and asked what he was getting at.

That's just horrible.

[Blueintheface]

That's the reason I assumed it couldn't be Riley's and asked what he was getting at.

That's just horrible.

It is. I just hope some doctor out there didn't just violate his hypocritical oath.

[falafel]

It is. I just hope some doctor out there didn't just violate his hypocritical oath.

The image is hosted at injuryupdate.com.au. Why would an austrailian website have some random x-ray from a BYU player?

Is there any actual evidence this is Riley's?

[doctorcoug]

I know a chiropractor that can fix that.

via a galaxy s3 far far away

[hostile]

I know a chiropractor that can fix that.

via a galaxy s3 far far away

Since there is really nothing to fix you are probably right.

[hostile]

The image is hosted at injuryupdate.com.au. Why would an austrailian website have some random x-ray from a BYU player?

Is there any actual evidence this is Riley's?

Actually there are remote radiology groups in Australia that contract to read X-rays for hospitals in the US.

[doctorcoug]

Since there is really nothing to fix you are probably right.

Oh, but there is, you just don't understand postural x-rays like they do.

via a galaxy s3 far far away

[hostile]

Oh, but there is, you just don't understand postural x-rays like they do.

via a galaxy s3 far far away

Hah. That's for sure.

If those really are his radiographs that's pretty impressive. While it is a stable injury, fractured transverse processes hurt, a lot.

[USUC]

Since Sunday at 1:12 am (CDT), I've obviously been thinking a lot about the state of BYU football. Really, I missed out on the glory years (my first full game I watched was the Cotton Bowl. I was visiting my mom in Maine and a bunch of the LDS guys I grew up with gathered around a 27 inch screen and watched the game. Great way to get hooked to BYU football, btw), so I don't necessarily think of BYU as "former National Champion BYU" or pine for the LaVell era.

Gratuitous Bronco Lovefest

Ironically (I believe that I am using this correctly*), I am appreciating Bronco, and his leadership, more and more. Juxtapose the defense under Jaime Hill and Bronco Mendenhall. BM extracts max effort and talent from his guys. I love that about him. He seems to have their respect and they give it all up for him on the field.

*Ironic because I have a consistent track record of being critical of BM, and my distaste for him increased each season. Thus, I would expect that my dislike of BM would continue to increase year by year, which has not come to pass. I'll await the official DDD/D-hole ruling.

What's the Issue?

Looking at BM's abilities as a defensive coordinator is impressive. Clearly there have been issues on the offensive side of the ball in big games. The only big game victory off the top of my head is OU, and that team clearly wasn't as good as we thought it was. TCU pounded the crap out of us each year; Utah is in our heads.

We have an inferior starting QB (strictly from the perspective of pure ability). He has a bad arm, makes bad decisions, and although he's touted as a runner, this season he doesn't seem to be all that fast. What does he bring? Mike Leach nailed it--Leadership. The boys play for Riley. He goes balls to the wall every snap, every game.

You can't fault Riley, BM, or Doman for wanting this type of player taking snaps as a Senior. It makes me wonder, however--is Nelson's ability to lead simply filling a leadership void? Maybe.

I am obviously not an "insider", and I have to watch things play out from afar, but I can't help but think that Riley is such an important leader on offense because we lack the propert coaching leadership on the offensive side of the ball. Don't get me wrong: this isn't a call for Coach Doman's job. In fact, I think we're stuck with Doman through thick and thin. He's been part of this program for 16 or 17 years directly (longer if you count his time at football camps, etc.). He is a great recruiter from all accounts. He seems like a great individual. But, is he a leader? I missed his playing days (mission), so he may have been a Riley-type on-field leader, I can't say. But even if he was, that doesn't necessarily translate to the sideline/pressbox.

Doman is accused (maybe wrongfully) of playing favorites. The kid who went on to play for Tulsa allegedly got into a fistfight with Doman, in part b/c Doman was a committed "Max Hall" guy. Maybe the kid was a fault (Bower?), but what kind of coach lets it get to that point? What kind of leader let's the situation reach that point?

In a similar vein, Jake Heaps transferred in part because Doman "gave up on him," or so the stories go. Whether this is true or not, Heaps' on-field performance was mediocre at best (except against inferior competition). Heaps seemed to have all the necessary talent, but for whatever reason, that didn't translate to consistent on-field excellence. ** Whatever your take on Heaps and his transfer, one thing seems clear: there was a coaching failure. Whether the failure was developing Heaps talent or putting a scheme together that was consistent with his capabilities, coaching lies at the center of the Heaps debacle. In short, there is a lack of leadership/ability on the part of the offensive coaches. The gap is partially filled with Riley, but three Riley Nelson's can't remedy a lack of leadership from the offenseive coaching staff.

**Personally, I think the QBs in Heaps recruiting class were weak, so our expectations for him were sky-high, and he was just the best of a mediocre group of QBs, but that's not relevant.

The Solution?

It's clearly not to fire Doman. Perhaps it's just patience on our part. We may just have to wait for the starst to allign. I don't think we can simply fire Doman for multiple reasons. Robert Anae took the fall, and I bet we all wish we could have him back. Furthermore, who would we replace him with? Dupaix (no thanks), Cahoon (can't even get Apo to do his job).

In a perfect world, we could get Doman back on the sideline and relinquish play-calling to someone else without ruffling his feathers. Impossible, I know.

But until we get offensive coaches who narrow the leadership gap between Nelson and the coaching, I don't think we're anything more than a perrenial 8-9 win team.

According to Gunther today the difference between Utah and BYU is speed. That's it. Utah has faster players and that's the difference. Not Xs and Os, not coaching, just speed.

[doctorcoug]

Hah. That's for sure.

If those really are his radiographs that's pretty impressive. While it is a stable injury, fractured transverse processes hurt, a lot.

I've never seen a patient with TO fractures so I don't know how much they hurt. do you see many?

via a galaxy s3 far far away