The Irony of Riley's Injuries

Before the season, most of us prognosticated that BYU would win 7-8 games if Riley Nelson was injured during the season. 10-11 wins if he stayed healthy.



Well, Riley is injured.What I, and likely many of us, did not contemplate was a situation where Riley was hurt but still playing. Based on the evidence so far, it looks like the 7-8 win prediction might be right on. Whether Nelson is playing or not, we will have a tough time on the road against Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. I still have confidence that we can play well at home and handle Hawaii, USU, and Oregon State. With or without Riley. However, the USU and Oregon State games will be much tougher games than anticipated in the pre-season. But still very winnable in front of the home crowd.



I now predict an 8-4 regular season and a bowl victory over SDSU or Nevada. With 9 wins, BYU will finish the season just outside the top 25.



The sad thing is that we will never know what could have been if Riley had been healthy against Utah and Boise State....OR, if a healthy Lark and Hill had played the entire games against Utah and Boise State.

Purely my opinion, but the way the TEAM played against both Utah and Boise State leads me to believe that BYU would have won easily with either 1) a healthy Nelson QB, or 2) less stubbornness on the part of the coaches about playing Nelson despite his injuries. A healthy Lark or a healthy Hill would have been able to win both of those games.

Yes, Riley makes a potent koolaid!! Has been in the past and continues to in the present.



"Love potion #9" is what he calls it, I think.



He might want to consider politics over medicine.

When the thing you expect to happen happens, that's not irony. Riley's hurt and we're looking at 7-8 wins unless the offense makes a miraculous turn around



Also, since both the Utah and Boise games hinged on inches and one or two plays, I have to believe that either a healthy Riley or having Hill play more would've made enough of a difference for us to win both.

The irony is, Riley got hurt when he didn't need to. He had WAY too many designed runs called for him. If he takes off running, because the pocket breaks down, that is something entirely different.



Brandon Doman knew he had a somewhat fragile, albeit tough, quarterback. And instead of calling for more running plays to talented backs like Alisa and Williams he chose to expose this quarterback to additional hits.



The irony is Riley didn't need to get hurt as quickly as he did. The additional irony is, Doman is still calling these plays for the new QB.

IS anyone surprised that Riley is hurt and can't/shouldn't play?



He hasn't made it through a full season at quarterback in this decade. Really, playing him over the competition, and not having a backup ready for the inevitable is just one of many terrible coaching decisions vis a vis the quarterbacks position.