Why I hope Lark doesn't play again.

Because if he doesn't, he'll go down in BYU fan lore as the greatest that never was. He withered on the bench for years behind an oft injured and ineffective Riley Nelson. He was given just ONE shot and boy! what a shot he took! He was lights out the ONE time the lights were on him.



Could he have been great? Could he have been the next great QB at BYU to join the ranks of Detmer, Sark, Young and McMahon? Could Lark have been the QB fans talked about for decades?



We'll never know, but we can imagine! We'll always have "could he have been?" when talking about James Lark.



He lived his dream. He started for BYU. He was given ONE chance, ONE opportunity. And he didn't let it slip away. He took full advantage of the ONE time coaches put their trust in him.

Then it must follow that your hope will only lead to Bronco's further demise. Conversely, if he plays and plays poorly vs Sdsu, then Bronco will appear vindicated. If Riley plays and plays poorly, and refuses to put in Lark, and we lose, Bronco will take a hit for being too stubborn and intractable. THe best scenario Bronco can hope for is that Riley starts, plays well, and BYU wins. His "all in" wager on Riley probably will continue.

I hope that whomever they play against SDSU that he is healthy and plays good. I don't care who that is. If Riley can't go, I want Lark. If Riley starts, I want him to play well.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Because if he doesn't, he'll go down in BYU fan lore as the greatest that never was. He withered on the bench for years behind an oft injured and ineffective Riley Nelson. He was given just ONE shot and boy! what a shot he took! He was lights out the ONE time the lights were on him.

And one day he could hang out and play ball with Blaine Fowler, Ryan Hancock, and Tom Young on some football field cleared from an Iowa cornfield.

Mingjai wrote:

Because if he doesn't, he'll go down in BYU fan lore as the greatest that never was. He withered on the bench for years behind an oft injured and ineffective Riley Nelson. He was given just ONE shot and boy! what a shot he took! He was lights out the ONE time the lights were on him.

And one day he could hang out and play ball with Blaine Fowler, Ryan Hancock, and Tom Young on some football field cleared from an Iowa cornfield.

If you build it...

.....ease his pain.....



Ya. Painfully appropriate and fitting.

Don't tell Bronco about it, he'll want to invite Riley.

SpiffCoug wrote:

SpiffCoug wrote:
Because if he doesn't, he'll go down in BYU fan lore as the greatest that never was. He withered on the bench for years behind an oft injured and ineffective Riley Nelson. He was given just ONE shot and boy! what a shot he took! He was lights out the ONE time the lights were on him.

And one day he could hang out and play ball with Blaine Fowler, Ryan Hancock, and Tom Young on some football field cleared from an Iowa cornfield.

If you build it...

Will southern Minnesota work instead? I have some corn farming connections there...

I heard Riley has a disloacted rib and broken bones in his back. Again. So I honestly think there is a really good chance that Lark starts the bowl games. It is clear that a healthy Lark is better than a hurt Riley. Hurt Riley is limited and turnover prone. healthy Lark is not. And even if he makes fewer big plays, his ability to take are of hteball would likely win us the game.



I want Lark.

Mingjai wrote:

Because if he doesn't, he'll go down in BYU fan lore as the greatest that never was. He withered on the bench for years behind an oft injured and ineffective Riley Nelson. He was given just ONE shot and boy! what a shot he took! He was lights out the ONE time the lights were on him.

And one day he could hang out and play ball with Blaine Fowler, Ryan Hancock, and Tom Young on some football field cleared from an Iowa cornfield.

Umm... Tom Young had a chance to start, it was against Fresno state his Junior year. His line was: 0 completions, 3 attempts and 2 interceptions for a PER of -133.33. Gladly he was not given another shot and we got Sark

Lawboy wrote:
I heard Riley has a disloacted rib and broken bones in his back. Again. So I honestly think there is a really good chance that Lark starts the bowl games. It is clear that a healthy Lark is better than a hurt Riley. Hurt Riley is limited and turnover prone. healthy Lark is not. And even if he makes fewer big plays, his ability to take are of hteball would likely win us the game.



I want Lark.

If this is true, Riley shouldn't see the field even if he feels healthy. He has a future to think about and being a cripple is not a future I would want to live with no matter how "tough" I am. I hope the team Dr's take that into account when they clear him to play or not. Someone obviously didn't have that in mind when they cleared him for the utah and BSU games.

Jason Beck had a pretty good game in his shining moment.



Starter job went right back to John after that.

Point of clarification, Tom Young didn't start that game against Fresno St. He did come in and take a few reps after the starter (Clements?) was awful. Then BYU put the hurt John Walsh back in, and he went for almost 500 yards (albeit in a loss) in just over a half.



Either way, we only have to endure the thought of Riley Nelson for another 60 minutes of game time. He has ruined 3 years of BYU football.

stuckinbig10country wrote:



Either way, we only have to endure the thought of Riley Nelson for another 60 minutes of game time. He has ruined 3 years of BYU football.

I agree with this. Unfortunately too many fans associate the nelson years with the Bronco years. I think it's time to move on from the Nelson years. bronco is still an elite coach in my book.

ABYUFAN wrote:

SpiffCoug wrote:
Because if he doesn't, he'll go down in BYU fan lore as the greatest that never was. He withered on the bench for years behind an oft injured and ineffective Riley Nelson. He was given just ONE shot and boy! what a shot he took! He was lights out the ONE time the lights were on him.

And one day he could hang out and play ball with Blaine Fowler, Ryan Hancock, and Tom Young on some football field cleared from an Iowa cornfield.

Umm... Tom Young had a chance to start, it was against Fresno state his Junior year. His line was: 0 completions, 3 attempts and 2 interceptions for a PER of -133.33. Gladly he was not given another shot and we got Sark

In his other start, he was MVP of the bowl game (though his stats weren't really good) as 4th string QB. I just remember him having a cult following with many saying he would have developed better with more reps. It's all part of the legend...



I believe that Fresno St game was in 1993 (Trent Dilfer anyone?), and Walsh started all of 1994, so Young graduated before Sarkisian even arrived on campus.

CougarClaw wrote:

Either way, we only have to endure the thought of Riley Nelson for another 60 minutes of game time. He has ruined 3 years of BYU football.

I agree with this. Unfortunately too many fans associate the nelson years with the Bronco years. I think it's time to move on from the Nelson years. bronco is still an elite coach in my book.

The past 3 years of mismanaging the offense are enough for me to knock him down a notch to good-to-excellent and definitely not elite. Elite for me is limited to Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and maybe Les Miles, Bob Stoops, and Mack Brown among current college coaches. Chris Peterson and Chip Kelly are next in line. I put Bronco with guys like Mike Riley who are consistently good but can't quite seem to win the big one.



Wait, is Bronco becoming BYU's Lloyd Carr?

ABYUFAN wrote:

SpiffCoug wrote:
Because if he doesn't, he'll go down in BYU fan lore as the greatest that never was. He withered on the bench for years behind an oft injured and ineffective Riley Nelson. He was given just ONE shot and boy! what a shot he took! He was lights out the ONE time the lights were on him.

And one day he could hang out and play ball with Blaine Fowler, Ryan Hancock, and Tom Young on some football field cleared from an Iowa cornfield.

Umm... Tom Young had a chance to start, it was against Fresno state his Junior year. His line was: 0 completions, 3 attempts and 2 interceptions for a PER of -133.33. Gladly he was not given another shot and we got Sark

The year that we had 5 sophomore QBs and Tom Young was 5th string, I thought he started the Bowl game and got MVP in a close loss. Then he fizzled later. Even Mike Young go a shot or two.



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stuckinbig10country wrote:
Point of clarification, Tom Young didn't start that game against Fresno St. He did come in and take a few reps after the starter (Clements?) was awful. Then BYU put the hurt John Walsh back in, and he went for almost 500 yards (albeit in a loss) in just over a half.



Either way, we only have to endure the thought of Riley Nelson for another 60 minutes of game time. He has ruined 3 years of BYU football.

To be fair, Riley really only ruined one year. He was essentially a non-factor in 2010 - getting injured in game 3. He saved the 2011 season. But yes, he was a big factor - perhaps biggest - in the disappointment that is 2012.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Point of clarification, Tom Young didn't start that game against Fresno St. He did come in and take a few reps after the starter (Clements?) was awful. Then BYU put the hurt John Walsh back in, and he went for almost 500 yards (albeit in a loss) in just over a half.



Either way, we only have to endure the thought of Riley Nelson for another 60 minutes of game time. He has ruined 3 years of BYU football.

To be fair, Riley really only ruined one year. He was essentially a non-factor in 2010 - getting injured in game 3. He saved the 2011 season. But yes, he was a big factor - perhaps biggest - in the disappointment that is 2012.

To be fair - many fans have no interest in being fair.



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Lawboy wrote:
I heard Riley has a disloacted rib and broken bones in his back. Again. So I honestly think there is a really good chance that Lark starts the bowl games. It is clear that a healthy Lark is better than a hurt Riley. Hurt Riley is limited and turnover prone. healthy Lark is not. And even if he makes fewer big plays, his ability to take are of hteball would likely win us the game.



I want Lark.

When I started reading your post, I got to "I honestly think there is a good chance..." and swore it was going to continue on "that RILEY starts the bowl game."



Why is that messed up?

Mingjai wrote:

stuckinbig10country wrote:



Either way, we only have to endure the thought of Riley Nelson for another 60 minutes of game time. He has ruined 3 years of BYU football.

I agree with this. Unfortunately too many fans associate the nelson years with the Bronco years. I think it's time to move on from the Nelson years. bronco is still an elite coach in my book.

The past 3 years of mismanaging the offense are enough for me to knock him down a notch to good-to-excellent and definitely not elite. Elite for me is limited to Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and maybe Les Miles, Bob Stoops, and Mack Brown among current college coaches. Chris Peterson and Chip Kelly are next in line. I put Bronco with guys like Mike Riley who are consistently good but can't quite seem to win the big one.



Wait, is Bronco becoming BYU's Lloyd Carr?

You had me until you said Mack Brown who has been overrated for YEARS.