I Said This Would Happen

I said all summer and all last week that we would lose to Utah, BSU, ND and GT. I'm a little more up in the air about USU and OSU than I was before. They scare me a little. The issue is, and I stand by what I have said, is that our offensive is never prepared for the big games. We lose, or it takes a miracle to win, when we are the better team. When we play Utah we are a mental disaster on offense. Our o-line is terrible, and the bad snaps and terrible QB play for most of the game are what I expected.



1. Riley is not, nor ever will be, a great QB. He is a good QB who can't handle the pressure. He proved that last year, did again yesterday, and will again on Thursday, and at ND and at GT.



2. Our o-line is a disaster. As long as Weber is here, that will never change. We look scared and out of sync. The snap to Riley that went into the EZ and saved because of the face mask, was the same as last year. Except for the lack of gymnastics.



3. Our RB's are avg. The future is Williams.



4. We lost to a team that lost their starting QB, and is playing a QB that is not good, didn't have their star RB or their two best safeties, and has a 25 yr old, first time OC. Marinate on that for bit. Embarrassing.



5. We are a 7 pt dog to BSU on Thursday. We will lose by at least that much.



6. Once we are bowl eligible, put in Hill and Williams. Give them the experience they need for next year.



Sigh. We suck on offense and an 8-4 record means we suck. We just might be 6-6 this year.

Agreed. Good to have another ally!

I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



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You said we would lose all 4 of our tough road games. We have not done that yet. I said that utah was going to be our toughest game no matter what talent or how good any other opponent looked and so far I was right. We lost our toughest game, now lets see how the team responds to that loss, if they lose on thursday to BSU, you will have been 50% right so far.

Gunk wrote:
I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



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I think we want to develop Hill, not throw him to the wolves. We should give him about 5-10 snaps a game. Not the whole game, and not 1.

hawkwing wrote:

I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



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I think we want to develop Hill, not throw him to the wolves. We should give him about 5-10 snaps a game. Not the whole game, and not 1.

This. Hill is being brought along nicely. He is not ready to take the full reins at this time. Our OL is the worst since Bronco took over. Inexperience. Adding more inexperience is not the best answer.



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hawkwing wrote:

I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I think we want to develop Hill, not throw him to the wolves. We should give him about 5-10 snaps a game. Not the whole game, and not 1.

Which is what we had done the previous two games and didn't do against Utah.

Good thoughts.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Gunk wrote:
I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



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I think we want to develop Hill, not throw him to the wolves. We should give him about 5-10 snaps a game. Not the whole game, and not 1.

Which is what we had done the previous two games and didn't do against Utah.

Hill came in for a play. Got us a 1st down on a QB run.



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SpiffCoug wrote:

Gunk wrote:
I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I think we want to develop Hill, not throw him to the wolves. We should give him about 5-10 snaps a game. Not the whole game, and not 1.

Which is what we had done the previous two games and didn't do against Utah.

We could quibble about whether they did enough of it in The Rivalry Game - but I saw true freshmen in game critical situations. Huge investment. I expect you will see similar at BSU and then a lot more in Provo. It will average our and it will grow.



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Gunk wrote:

hawkwing wrote:

I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I think we want to develop Hill, not throw him to the wolves. We should give him about 5-10 snaps a game. Not the whole game, and not 1.

Which is what we had done the previous two games and didn't do against Utah.

Hill came in for a play. Got us a 1st down on a QB run.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Right, he saw 3 plays vs Washington St and 13 plays (plus a kneel down) vs Weber.

SpiffCoug wrote:

SpiffCoug wrote:

Gunk wrote:
I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I think we want to develop Hill, not throw him to the wolves. We should give him about 5-10 snaps a game. Not the whole game, and not 1.

Which is what we had done the previous two games and didn't do against Utah.

Hill came in for a play. Got us a 1st down on a QB run.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Right, he saw 3 plays vs Washington St and 13 plays (plus a kneel down) vs Weber.

He was also in on the option to Williams that went to a TD. 2 plays against Utah which resulted in a first down and a TD. Good experience for him. Would have liked to have seen more. I think he also lined up on a play where either a time out was called or there was a penalty.

hawkwing wrote:

I say put in Hill and Williams now.



Only reservation I have about putting in Hill now is given the state of our OL Hill might get injured.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I think we want to develop Hill, not throw him to the wolves. We should give him about 5-10 snaps a game. Not the whole game, and not 1.

I agree, as long as they are MEANINGFUL snaps running the real offense. Give him 1 drive a game while the outcome of the game isn't already certain.



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Ya, so what. I've been saying this for two years.

A few more performances like this and some of you might start accepting some of my theories and defending of heaps.

Heaps was yes, caught up in himself, snivvely, and green. Riley was gaining favor behind the scenes and Heaps was getting crucified thru poor Oline, thru poor relations with team members; a strategic upper classman with a lot of heart and the legs to escape woeful pass protection. Heaps focused in on one WR primarily, had a crap snap vs Utah that totally got in his head; etc, etc.

A lot of the same crap that exasperated Riley the other night. Difference is Riley is not looking over his shoulder at the backup qb who in this case had seniority and yes, grit and other RM's confidence. A team that did not quit on a Nelson but did on a young qb thrown to the wolves.

Im glad Riley pulled it together. But he was close to giving up.

Throwing Hill to the wolves now would not be good-- even though I would normaly be shouting for this. But Riley needs a breather vs harder teams. He's carrying more than he should have to. Bring in Hill as needed not just blue zone trickeration.



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Riley's body language was terrible in the 3rd quarter. Bronco should have recognized it and given Lark a series until Riley could get his head on straight. You don't replace him for the whole game if you think he just needs a chance to pull himself together. But you do give him a breather. I am coming to realize that Bronco is not great at recognizing when the offense needs to make adjustments during the game. Defensively, I have zero complaints about Bronco's abilities. This defense rocks!

Cougarfan87 wrote:
Riley's body language was terrible in the 3rd quarter. Bronco should have recognized it and given Lark a series until Riley could get his head on straight. You don't replace him for the whole game if you think he just needs a chance to pull himself together. But you do give him a breather. I am coming to realize that Bronco is not great at recognizing when the offense needs to make adjustments during the game. Defensively, I have zero complaints about Bronco's abilities. This defense rocks!

Yet, amazingly, Riley was able to pull himself together. The offense was able to make adjustments during the game. And all this was done without giving Riley "a breather."



Riley showed he was quite capable of getting his head on straight. He righted the ship and nearly brought BYU all the way back.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Riley's body language was terrible in the 3rd quarter. Bronco should have recognized it and given Lark a series until Riley could get his head on straight. You don't replace him for the whole game if you think he just needs a chance to pull himself together. But you do give him a breather. I am coming to realize that Bronco is not great at recognizing when the offense needs to make adjustments during the game. Defensively, I have zero complaints about Bronco's abilities. This defense rocks!

Yet, amazingly, Riley was able to pull himself together. The offense was able to make adjustments during the game. And all this was done without giving Riley "a breather."



Riley showed he was quite capable of getting his head on straight. He righted the ship and nearly brought BYU all the way back.

He didn't pull himself together until it was the fourth quarter. Nelson's third quarter consisted of a punt, interception (at which point he should have been pulled), fumble for a touchdown (not really his fault), and a punt. Perhaps if given a breather earlier, we pull it together and actually put some points on the board in the third quarter. The offense made adjustments because Utah moved into a more conservative defense because they were up 24 to 7 going into the fourth. Too little too late. Only stupid Utah penalties from its defense and fans gave us a chance to win at the end.

I don't think it was Riley who didn't have his head on straight in the 3rd quarter.

He threw the INT. The series after that, he got four first downs, converting three third downs along the way. On that series he was 2-4 of 26 yards, and had a 5-yard run.



The play preceding the fumble was a false start. The first play AFTER the fumble was a false start. There was an incomplete pass to Fiel and then ANOTHER false start. Riley was incomplete to Alisa on 2nd & 20 and Riley on 3rd & 20. It was a 3 & out, but the OL put the offense in some very poor down and distances.



The next drive was a TD drive, which was scored in the fourth, but started in the third and had three plays in the third. The first play of the fourth was a 2nd and 1.



Regardless, BYU couldn't make enough plays. They couldn't play through their mistakes. But I don't think a breather would have helped one iota.



As to scoring points in the third, we were well on our way before the bad snap. We were in the midst of an 11-play 48-yard drive.

The bottom line is the Oline and special teams lost the game. Play calling could be improved but the negativity over all things offense is just way over the top in my opinion. BYU fans need to give credit to a very good utah defense that is designed to take away the opposing offenses strength and has done that successfully every year since 94 when kwhit took it over. BYU was averaging 50 points per game in 2001 and had to score 2 late touchdowns to beat a bad utah team, I think we got 24 in that game, utah held us to half our average. You guys act like utah wasn't even in the stadium.

frdbtr wrote:
The bottom line is the Oline and special teams lost the game. Play calling could be improved but the negativity over all things offense is just way over the top in my opinion. BYU fans need to give credit to a very good utah defense that is designed to take away the opposing offenses strength and has done that successfully every year since 94 when kwhit took it over. BYU was averaging 50 points per game in 2001 and had to score 2 late touchdowns to beat a bad utah team, I think we got 24 in that game, utah held us to half our average. You guys act like utah wasn't even in the stadium.

They were not only in the stadium but most importantly in our heads. Their D can't be credited for all the false starts, poor snaps and fumbles. If we can't handle the crowd noise and their D calling out snap counts, we are mental disasters. Simple.



Yes, Utah's D is very good, but in no way should they be credited for all the idiotic problems our O-Line had.