Lark vs Riley

Now we can begin to debate Lark vs Riley. Lark has zip on his passes, can make a variety of throws, does the little things well - short outs, come backs, deep balls, distributes the ball, can throw on the run/roll out, etc. I like his pocket presence and command of the field as do the ESPN announcers. Like to see him start in poinsettia bowl.



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OHHH and don't forget the biggest stat... ZERO INTS

stgeorgefan wrote:
OHHH and don't forget the biggest stat... ZERO INTS

Yeah ... 6 TD's - 0 Int's .... gotta love that!



He certainly made a great case for a start in the Poinsetta Bowl!

But I believe Bronco and Doman are already set on Riley. :angry:

"James Lark's 384 passing yards are the most by a BYU QB making his first start" So regardless of the opponent it was a great preformance

stgeorgefan wrote:
"James Lark's 384 passing yards are the most by a BYU QB making his first start" So regardless of the opponent it was a great preformance

Lark should have gotten a shot in 2010 when Heaps was struggling. I was calling for a look see to measure him and was of course ridiculed for thinking differently than the majority. Then if he played well in 2010, opportunities would have been there in 2011. And if he played well, would have started the Utah game.



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It's not Lark vs. Riley. It's the BYU Starting QB vs the QB standard (135 PER).



Lark far exceeded the standard today (172.11). Riley only met it in three of nine games this year.



Lark took full advantage of the opportunity he was given today. As well he should.

byucougar1 wrote:
Now we can begin to debate Lark vs Riley. Lark has zip on his passes, can make a variety of throws, does the little things well - short outs, come backs, deep balls, distributes the ball, can throw on the run/roll out, etc. I like his pocket presence and command of the field as do the ESPN announcers. Like to see him start in poinsettia bowl.



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Yeeeeeeeep! But he's not Bronco's favorite so don't expect anything other than RN playing like RN for 3 quarters and then Cody Hoffman rescuing his butt a la Tulsa.

stgeorgefan wrote:
OHHH and don't forget the biggest stat... ZERO INTS

But you forgot to apply the Blue Is Better "should-have-been-intercepted" stat...

Well, clearly Lark hates Apo and has a man-crush on Hoffman. He only threw to Apo's feet when he wasn't looking to throw everything else to Hoffman.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Well, clearly Lark hates Apo and has a man-crush on Hoffman. He only threw to Apo's feet when he wasn't looking to throw everything else to Hoffman.

LOL! +1. It is apparent to me that the reason Hoff gets so many balls thrown to him is because he runs great routes and gets really open. None of the other guys do that. Apo needs to work on his route running. Just trying to out run your defender isn't always going to work.

Oh, and catching pretty much everything thrown to you helps as well.

Did anyone notice how everyone was involved in catching the ball - 8 different receivers and throws completed that we haven't seen in a while. I believe that if a WR runs good routes they will get the ball. Like the way he used fake screen dump pass to Apo to see up long TD throw to Hoffman. Apo also threw a nice block to seal off tackler so Cody could hurdle hapless defender for TD. I believe Lark has the tools and performance to start next game. However, Brinco states Riley will start if healthy.



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Lark looked like a BYU QB today. It's a crying shame he didn't get a chance earlier.



Further evidence that no QB should ever play at BYU without red shirting a year, as I've always said.

Guess I am confused - if a QB doesn't practice well, but shows leadership, does that get them the start? Not sure Riley every practiced well but clearly was a strong leader. Wonder if Lark just was more quiet and acquiesced to Riley.



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byucougar1 wrote:
Guess I am confused - if a QB doesn't practice well, but shows leadership, does that get them the start? Not sure Riley every practiced well but clearly was a strong leader. Wonder if Lark just was more quiet and acquiesced to Riley.



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Riley practiced well, he consistently out performed Lark in fall practices that we had stats for, though there was one or two days Lark did better.



Lark just may be one of those kids who doesn't show well in practice but turns it on in the game.

Schmoe wrote:

OHHH and don't forget the biggest stat... ZERO INTS

But you forgot to apply the Blue Is Better "should-have-been-intercepted" stat...

THIS. LOL



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frdbtr wrote:

Well, clearly Lark hates Apo and has a man-crush on Hoffman. He only threw to Apo's feet when he wasn't looking to throw everything else to Hoffman.

LOL! +1. It is apparent to me that the reason Hoff gets so many balls thrown to him is because he runs great routes and gets really open. None of the other guys do that. Apo needs to work on his route running. Just trying to out run your defender isn't always going to work.

LOL + another 1. And if you are just going to outrun your defender, you need to be faster than your defender.



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Why oh why do we need this BS thread. Why not just celebrate Lark's great day. But no - you had to make me do this and rain a little reality on Lark's bright sunny day.



NMSU has no defense. They took what little but of defense they had and threw it entirely to stopping the run and threw their pass defense to the wolves. That strategy worked for a quarter or so and missed field goal and EP and BYU D that came out flat helped them make a brief fight of it - like Stout in Rancheritos - but then Lark started to get the hang of things as the game slowed down for him. It might have taken a little longer for the game to slow down for him @Utah or @BSU.



I had to listen to this one on Internet radio, but early on he was not seeing or missed open receivers for TDs. But he got way better in the 2nd half. Had a near pick 6 too. This was not ND or even WSU or GT. Not quite Hawaii. Idaho maybe - but defending the run and ignoring the pass. Nevertheless, I am really happy for Lark.



The reason lots of receivers got involved is because everybody was open.



Let's not beat this to death. Let Lark enjoy his day without beating the coaches and Riley Nelson so hard that someone like me finally takes the bait and adds balance to the discussion.



Lark had a great game. Leave it at that.



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I enjoyed this game immensely. I knew we would win. I did not expect Lark to "go off" and throw 384 yds. Although late - it was very satisfying to see Lark at the helm, and the Coug offense firing on all cylinders. It was like watching a "throw back" BYU team.



If I were Bronco & Brandon, I would not make a QB decision without taking a hard 2nd look at both Nelson & Lark while prepping for the Poinsettia Bowl. I like both QB's. But, a strong case can be made for a James Lark start. Yes, it was only 1 game against a very average team. But, Lark is healthy, consistent, and effective.