All is not well in Provo

I'm very interested to see what coaching changes are made in the off-season. I think Bronco is going to have to fight pretty hard if he wants to keep Brandon Doman as the OC. That's if Bronco wants to fight it . . . .



I'm also anxious to see the Management Guru address team divisiveness that everyone thought would be cured once Jake Heaps left. It appears Mr. Nelson is a polarizing figure no matter who shares his team colors.



I was deeply saddened by the results of the game. On the bright side, it may have been the straw that broke several camel backs.



As always, I remain loyal to and cheer for whomever is on our team.



GO COUGS!

I think Doman is going to be gone because he is losing the players. Not even Bronco can save him if that continues to happen.



Holmoe will see to it that some heads roll.

I doubt that Bronco will be dictated to. At this point in his career, either Holmoe leaves him alone and lets him run the team his way, or he leaves. He is not Lavell Edwards who was never going anywhere until he was done coaching. I doubt he will stay at BYU longer than 5 more years anyway. Pressure from above cuts that time substantially.

I think we only see 1 coaching change, and that will be Oline coach. Could be two, but only if Coach Reynolds decide to retire. I think Doman gets 1 more year to show what he can do while not having Riley Nelson as his QB. Doman called a decent game Saturday, was more aggressive, but is still severely imited by his error prone QB.



As to Riley, he has been a divisive figure for 3 years running. But even with the locker room issues of the past, his biggest problem has been his play on the field this year. He has been poor. Saturday was a step up for 3.25 quarters, but then old Riley showed up to seal the deal. The one who this summer said he had to "agree to disagree" with Coach Doman on how he should play. Which tell me that RIley was an uncaochable QB, to the detriment of himself and his team.



For the season, RIley has 6 TD passses, 8 Ints, has fumbled a whopping 12 times, 6 of which have been lost. PER is 115. And in the three losses, he turned the ball over 10 times himself (2 vs. Utah, 5 vs. BSU, 3 vs. OSU), not to mention the many fumbles we were able to pounce on in the Utah and OSU games.



The D did not help him Saturday, but he has not elevated his team to wins in big games, either.

Riley Nelson has played his way off of the field. I don't know how, as a coach, you can leave him on the field and still maintain the respect of your entire team. Nothing frustrates players more than the idea that coach has favorites and he plays them.



But let's be honest. Bronco has his favorites and he plays them.



Riley is not a new phenomena, look at the Doman problem we have right now. Why do we have that problem? Because Doman is one of "Bronco's Boys". Riley is just another one of the club.

I see running Bronco out of town a lot like running Anae out of town. I've read several people wanting him back which was something i predicted when we ran our 35 ppg coach out the door.



There are no perfect coaches.



And Bronco is still a very good coach among a very, very small pool of eligible BYU head coaching candidates. BYU will suffer for at least a few years with Bronco gone.

For the record. I don't like Bronco much but I don't want him fired. Doman I could do without.

fifthqb wrote:
Riley Nelson has played his way off of the field. I don't know how, as a coach, you can leave him on the field and still maintain the respect of your entire team. Nothing frustrates players more than the idea that coach has favorites and he plays them.



But let's be honest. Bronco has his favorites and he plays them.



Riley is not a new phenomena, look at the Doman problem we have right now. Why do we have that problem? Because Doman is one of "Bronco's Boys". Riley is just another one of the club.

Agreed. Riley has played in seven halves this season. He has met the PER standard in just three of them - and none in his last four. And if you go back the half before those four, he was just two points above the standard.



Heaps failed to meet the standard in five straight halves before he was replaced. He only met it in two of his first ten. It's time to make a move.

I was pretty upset about the game on Saturday. I felt like we hung with them well for three quarters. Our offense played ok, our defense looked like BYU defenses of old. Then, in the 4th everything fell apart. At the end of the game i was disappointed in the Defense. Nelson was what i was expecting him to be.



That being said, it appears that not all is well in Provo might be real. I was reading on the other board and it appears that there are some rumblings going on. Who knows what is truth or rumor out there, but something needs to happen. A senior laden team that has laid eggs like this...come on!!



http://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=9404392

Spiff, keeping it real.



Personally, I blame Bronco. Bucks stops with him, and he allowed some issues to taint his program. And the effect was that the cult of Riley choked out our young underperforming QB, and created a QB mess to take hold that will hit its 4th year in 2013, when our inexpereinced QB Hill will start for us.



Heaps needed to sit last year, but he also needed to be handled better. From comments I have heard from two years now, Doman does not handle his QBs well, either. HE never really spoke with Heaps after his benching (per Heaps), and Lark has said similar things this year as well. Was told he would start vs. Utah, did not, same with BSU, then demoted to 3rd string, all without any type of coaching conversations.



The QB siutation has been a huge coaching failure since Hall graduated. Will enter its 4th yer in 2013, even though it is Hill's job to lose. Still would prefer to run out a junior in Heaps, and have had Hill RS this year, played Lark, but we handle our QBs awfully poorly.

Cougarpoke wrote:
I was pretty upset about the game on Saturday. I felt like we hung with them well for three quarters. Our offense played ok, our defense looked like BYU defenses of old. Then, in the 4th everything fell apart. At the end of the game i was disappointed in the Defense. Nelson was what i was expecting him to be.



That being said, it appears that not all is well in Provo might be real. I was reading on the other board and it appears that there are some rumblings going on. Who knows what is truth or rumor out there, but something needs to happen. A senior laden team that has laid eggs like this...come on!!



http://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=9404392

Sorry, I clicked on your link but all I saw was gibberish with lines connecting to more gibberish.

Lawboy wrote:
Spiff, keeping it real.



Personally, I blame Bronco. Bucks stops with him, and he allowed some issues to taint his program. And the effect was that the cult of Riley choked out our young underperforming QB, and created a QB mess to take hold that will hit its 4th year in 2013, when our inexpereinced QB Hill will start for us.



Heaps needed to sit last year, but he also needed to be handled better. From comments I have heard from two years now, Doman does not handle his QBs well, either. HE never really spoke with Heaps after his benching (per Heaps), and Lark has said similar things this year as well. Was told he would start vs. Utah, did not, same with BSU, then demoted to 3rd string, all without any type of coaching conversations.



The QB siutation has been a huge coaching failure since Hall graduated. Will enter its 4th yer in 2013, even though it is Hill's job to lose. Still would prefer to run out a junior in Heaps, and have had Hill RS this year, played Lark, but we handle our QBs awfully poorly.

in hindsight i find it hard that anybody can disagree with anything you said.

What's going to be really interesting is if BYU loses the next two games, then gets upset by, say San Jose, and fails to become bowl eligible. I don't think this will happen. But with a senior QB, great receivers, and pretty good defense (most games), BYU should be looking better than they do. We could have easily lost to USU, and suddenly no game is a guaranteed win for this team.

We'll lose to ND, win GT, and lose to San Jose. At some point along that stretch, probably in the ND game, Riley will go down with another injury.



The coaches certainly have messed things up. Starting with Bronco and his man-crush on Riley and trust in Doman. I hope Bronco has learned from his mistakes.



Sadly, I think Doman keeps his job. Doman will blame a poor OL and an injured/limited QB on the shortcomings of the offense. Doman will get one more year. If he was smart, though, he'd look for a new job during the offseason because I seriously doubt he'll be able to produce much better next season. Cards are stacked against him. Any failures on his part at this point will trump any measure of success. I'd get out of Provo if I was Doman. Always easier to find a job when you have a job.

Gunk wrote:
We'll lose to ND, win GT, and lose to San Jose. At some point along that stretch, probably in the ND game, Riley will go down with another injury.



The coaches certainly have messed things up. Starting with Bronco and his man-crush on Riley and trust in Doman. I hope Bronco has learned from his mistakes.



Sadly, I think Doman keeps his job. Doman will blame a poor OL and an injured/limited QB on the shortcomings of the offense. Doman will get one more year. If he was smart, though, he'd look for a new job during the offseason because I seriously doubt he'll be able to produce much better next season. Cards are stacked against him. Any failures on his part at this point will trump any measure of success. I'd get out of Provo if I was Doman. Always easier to find a job when you have a job.

We're not going to lose to San Jose State. C'mon.

fifthqb wrote:
Riley Nelson has played his way off of the field. I don't know how, as a coach, you can leave him on the field and still maintain the respect of your entire team. Nothing frustrates players more than the idea that coach has favorites and he plays them.



But let's be honest. Bronco has his favorites and he plays them.



Riley is not a new phenomena, look at the Doman problem we have right now. Why do we have that problem? Because Doman is one of "Bronco's Boys". Riley is just another one of the club.

My informant - starter on offense - says



Players still love Riley - would go to war for him.

Some are miffed at and do not like Bronco - what happened to Taysom Hill being the context in which that came out.

Unfortunately - I did not get a chance to ask how the offense feels about Doman or whether there is divisiveness starting between offense and defense - no problems there were even hinted at - but I could not ask at that moment and situation.



The team really likes Taysom and James as well. They would all support any of the three.



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

golong wrote:
What's going to be really interesting is if BYU loses the next two games, then gets upset by, say San Jose, and fails to become bowl eligible. I don't think this will happen. But with a senior QB, great receivers, and pretty good defense (most games), BYU should be looking better than they do. We could have easily lost to USU, and suddenly no game is a guaranteed win for this team.

Idaho and NMSU should provide all that is needed for Bowl eligibility unless 6-6 including Weber State no longer qualifies.



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

SpiffCoug wrote:

Riley Nelson has played his way off of the field. I don't know how, as a coach, you can leave him on the field and still maintain the respect of your entire team. Nothing frustrates players more than the idea that coach has favorites and he plays them.



But let's be honest. Bronco has his favorites and he plays them.



Riley is not a new phenomena, look at the Doman problem we have right now. Why do we have that problem? Because Doman is one of "Bronco's Boys". Riley is just another one of the club.

Agreed. Riley has played in seven halves this season. He has met the PER standard in just three of them - and none in his last four. And if you go back the half before those four, he was just two points above the standard.



Heaps failed to meet the standard in five straight halves before he was replaced. He only met it in two of his first ten. It's time to make a move.

How Riley played most of the 4th quarter was irrelevant. The game was hopelessly out of reach - and Riley will not quit so he tries to make something out of nothing and a lost game becomes a worse score. Riley's PER if Bronco had surrendered and put in Lark and had Lark run the clock - 3 and punt is a much more intetesting stat.



BYU expects the defense to hold opponents below 24 and the offense to score 24. The offense delivered and would have delivered more if not playing from so far behind that OSU just pinned back their ears and came on every down.



BTW, I have mixed feelings about Doman, bit I saw some new wrinkles Saturday and the Shuffle Pass play borrowed from the Utes QB - Lee Grosscup - was very effective.



The BYU defense is very poor at creating turnovers. They got none Saturday and gave up big plays all afternoon.



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

Anyone who thinks Bronco and BYU is or would fire Doman must be taking hits off the running Utes "peace" pipe. First off he is only in his second year. Then theres the bigger issue of him being a bishop. Never ever never is BYU going to publicly fire a man who is an active bishop. It just not going to happen so stop talking or even thinking about it.



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

KingCoug wrote:

We'll lose to ND, win GT, and lose to San Jose. At some point along that stretch, probably in the ND game, Riley will go down with another injury.



The coaches certainly have messed things up. Starting with Bronco and his man-crush on Riley and trust in Doman. I hope Bronco has learned from his mistakes.



Sadly, I think Doman keeps his job. Doman will blame a poor OL and an injured/limited QB on the shortcomings of the offense. Doman will get one more year. If he was smart, though, he'd look for a new job during the offseason because I seriously doubt he'll be able to produce much better next season. Cards are stacked against him. Any failures on his part at this point will trump any measure of success. I'd get out of Provo if I was Doman. Always easier to find a job when you have a job.

We're not going to lose to San Jose State. C'mon.

SJSU hung 27 points on USU, that's 3 TDs more than we were able to muster against USU. Yes, it was Hill's first complete game. But do you think Riley will be healthy come the end of November? We've got no kicking game and 3 TDs seems to be our threshold.



Plus, it's at SJSU. We'll be the "big-time" program coming to SJSU. They'll be up for it after we humiliated them last season and pull out all the stops against us. We'll be limping along and it will be "just another game" to us.



SJSU wins.