As good as this Defense has been this year,.....

The O-Line has been the polar opposite! Terrible! No protection, no holes. They should be prosecuted for assault, or at least allowing assault to occur on every other play. The only reason that we competed in any game this year was because we had an athletic QB at the helm, that while running for his life, occasionally created opportunities for himself and his team. While getting punched in the mouth on every other play, got up one more time. All the while many of us wanted him to stay down, hoping that the grass was greener with a better passer running the offense. No offense to Lark, but if he would have replaced RN against U, BSU, USU or ND he would have been broken. He confirmed that to me last night, and in my opinion vindicated RN in the process.



I'm glad RN is done here at BYU. I can't remember a more polarizing figure.



Next year is going to be a blood bath! Unless the coaches are saving an o-line that can protect, and open holes, it will be a long, gloomy season.



Maybe Taysom Hill can heal, and get those legs back. He's going to need them.

After Lark's performance last game I defended the coaches' decision to play Nelson (it made sense to me that without hindsight that the coaches would fear how well he'd do behind our oline against good defenses) and I was shot down by multiple posters, as they said the NMST game proved that wasn't true. I feel a little vindicated now seeing how much trouble SDSU gave Lark. And they weren't even close to some of the defenses we've faced this season.



It's easy (and fun!) to bag on the coaches for the quarterback problems the last couple years, but Weber's failure has a pretty far-reaching effect. I'd still give Doman another year so we can see what he's actually capable of instead of this stunted offense that is limited by the fact that the qb is running for his life nearly every play and the running backs have to find holes that don't exist. I do blame Bronco for not seeing how much our o-line has underperformed since Weber got here and making a change sooner. And I still think that Lark is better than an injured Riley, but I don't fault the coaches for having some trepidation on that front, o-line considered.

Probably true but I am disappointed that we don't get to see the team or Lark play any more games.

Sammich wrote:
After Lark's performance last game I defended the coaches' decision to play Nelson (it made sense to me that without hindsight that the coaches would fear how well he'd do behind our oline against good defenses) and I was shot down by multiple posters, as they said the NMST game proved that wasn't true. I feel a little vindicated now seeing how much trouble SDSU gave Lark. And they weren't even close to some of the defenses we've faced this season.



It's easy (and fun!) to bag on the coaches for the quarterback problems the last couple years, but Weber's failure has a pretty far-reaching effect. I'd still give Doman another year so we can see what he's actually capable of instead of this stunted offense that is limited by the fact that the qb is running for his life nearly every play and the running backs have to find holes that don't exist. I do blame Bronco for not seeing how much our o-line has underperformed since Weber got here and making a change sooner. And I still think that Lark is better than an injured Riley, but I don't fault the coaches for having some trepidation on that front, o-line considered.

I agree. I do think Lark is better than injured Riley. Injured Riley wasn't the problem against Utah, however; it was the offensive line. I actually think Riley was easily the right QB for that game. The Utah defense was in the backfield all game long. And it wasn't Riley who hiked the ball passed his own feet that allowed Utah to not only kill our drive just outside the red zone but lead to a Utah defensive TD! It's amazing that Riley led BYU to 21 points and a game-tying opportunity. But for the Snapfu, BYU wins that game 21-17.



Lark or Hill (for the whole game) would have made THE difference at Boise St. Injured Riley on a short week with no practice was terrible. No excuses there.



Riley was also the right guy for the Notre Dame game. I know he missed a wide open Hoffman, but he was running for his life all night long. I don't think Lark wins that game for us. Riley-led BYU was actually the first team to score two touchdowns against Notre Dame's top defense. BYU's offense did better against Notre Dame than Stanford, Oklahoma, Michigan, Michigan State, and USC!



Riley was also the right guy for the SJSU game. Don't forget that our defense gave up 20 points in the first half. And don't forget how our oline made SJSU's defense look SECesque. We also went for 4th and goal from the 6-yard line with 5 minutes left to play. Kick a field goal and we are only down by three on that last drive. And Riley got us down to the 21-yard line with a minute and a half left to play, despite 2 false start penalties. We had momentum - if our RB makes a block to prevent a great SJSU blitz, and BYU was poised to win 21-20.



Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Riley Nelson was not a great quarterback. But he was not the reason BYU had 5 losses in 2012. He was the reason BYU had chances to win against Utah, Notre Dame, and SJSU.

I'm in agreement. The OL is the culprit in this season not being exceptional. I believe Lark throws a ball a whole lot better than Riley (except when Riley is making a pick-six--I have to believe he leads the nation in that pass) and I was so pleased that the coaching staff quickly repented and put Lark back on the field.



How pleasing it is to know that the Riley issue is now dead and only part of our history. Great, great guy, without a doubt, and let's just leave it right there and move onward.

Only problem with the argument that Riley got us in a position to win a number of games this season is that he single handedly lost us several games through turnovers the past two seasons. His biggest fault is that he couldn't secure the ball. Last night I saw Lark take a couple of blind-sided hits that when they happened my first thought was, "Riley would have fumbled that". I've just gotten used to it. I could live with everything else about Riley Nelson if he had just protected the all better this year. (biggest support of this --- BSU game. We win without one or the other of his interceptions)

I echo YNot's sentiments exactly. I have never liked the way RN plays the QB position. That being said, I constantly feel like I have to defend him to many on this site who seem like they are blinded to objective facts by their own hate of RN.



RN's athleticism helped the Cougars in ways that are regularly overlooked, and kept us in games that we wouldn't have competed in otherwise.



I am the most competitive person that I know, and hate losing more than anyone that I know. It's easy to look back and say coulda, woulda, shoulda. In all honesty, the only game that I feel RN should have gotten the hook sooner than he did was Boise State. Even in hind sight I can't see the justification for letting him start the second half.

When your o-line can't give the QB time, you need to mis-direct and create confusion. You need play action. WR screens and QB draws are a waste of downs. Doman knows better.



1. O-line play

2. Play calling

3. QB play



Which of these things influence the others?