Is Baylor Romney the best QB on the roster?

With all due respect to Jaren Hall who looked really good in the USU game and in the USF game before going down with injury, but Romney spreads the ball all over the place and gets it out really fast. He reminds me of back in 93 when we went through 2 QB's to land on Ryan Hancock who was obviously the best QB on the roster. I think if all things were equal, I would go with Hall if I had to pick between him or Romney but he is obviously injury prone, like his dad, and Romney runs the offense just as good. I think both Hall and Romney have looked better than Wilson this year, IMO and I think we should pick one of them and stay with that for the rest of the year. Unfortunately for Hall, if he just experienced his second concussion in a couple of weeks, he is done for the year.

I was ready to start Romney over Hall after last weeks game. Romney should definitely be starting next week due to the injury situation. Some people have started to put a “game manager” label on Romney, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes much more than that. I like each of the top three quarterbacks, and wish them well.

I hope his foot gets better.

I don't think it's a fair comparison. Wilson played against stiffer P5 schools and if not for the defense laying an egg in the 4th quarter against Toledo he would have been 3-2. Did anyone see what San Jose did last night to Boise States defense? Don't get me wrong all 3 QB's have had their moments this year and right now I'm really big on Romney but it's just not an apples to apples comparison.



BTW 1993 was an amazing year watchin not just 3 qbs play but remember Hancock got injured in the Utah game and Steve Youngs younger brother came in and started in the Hawaii Bowl. And didn't that team finish 8-4 that year? And 8-4 is the best this team can finish this year. I hope we are not playing our 4th string QB in the Hawaii Bowl this time.

I'm very high on Romney as well. I think he's the best deep passer we have, he throws quick and throws well. The quick set and release that he has is tough on defenses. He has proven he can run the ball well. I think calling him a "game manager" is an insult that he does not deserve; he played very well against BSU and very well against USU.



I am not a fan of Wilson. He's done pretty well, and if BYU wants to push a run first, throw when you can offense, maybe he's better than Romney. I am biased against some of this coaching staff's tendencies/biases and I think some of those underlying biases are working in favor of "zach-a-pono" and "hall". I hope I'm wrong.



Either way, Romney has come out and demonstrated that he is good and can carry this team to victories ... and both BSU and USU were TEAM victories.

It's like watching my 2014 Buckeyes that won the Nat'l Championship with their 3rd string QB. There has seemed to be no drop off in ability sliding from 1 down to now #3 for the 2nd game. What is more amazing is as Wilson and Hall continue to be unable to play, we still have Critchlow as a backup and he's started games and won them. I don't know that we've ever had this level of depth at QB at BYU EVER.

Wilson made poor decision after poor decision. Comparing the decision capabilities of each QB is an apples to apples comparison. Throwing accuracy is also an apples to apples comparison. Romney, so far, has shown he excels in both those areas compared to Wilson.



Hall made better decisions as well.



IMO, Wilson is, at best, our second best QB.



At the very least, Romney needs to be put on scholarship and the QB position open for battle.

Gunk wrote:

Wilson made poor decision after poor decision. Comparing the decision capabilities of each QB is an apples to apples comparison. Throwing accuracy is also an apples to apples comparison. Romney, so far, has shown he excels in both those areas compared to Wilson.



Hall made better decisions as well.



IMO, Wilson is, at best, our second best QB.



At the very least, Romney needs to be put on scholarship and the QB position open for battle.

I agree about the poor decisions. We were excusing a lot of things due to Wilson being young, probably too many things.

I think Hall and Romney have both performed better than Wilson. Wilson held the ball too long and didn't throw the ball away when he should have under pressure. When he did throw, he threw late and made our receiver make tougher catches. Romney throws the ball on time and our receivers get running yards after the catch because of it. Hall is really good, throws the ball on time, but will pull it and run early without going through his reads which is typical of someone with his athletic ability (Taysom was the same way early in his career). Saying that Wilson struggled against better defenses is not fair because that BSU defense is as good as any defense that Wilson played against regardless of what SJSU did to it.

It's an unfair comparison because of the level of competition, but I feel like Hall may be the best QB on the roster. However, I'm not sure he'll play again after 2 concussions just a few weeks a part. He may want to protect his baseball chances where he could possibly go pro.

I am fine for Wilson to sit until he decides to be a team player and throw the ball out of bounds instead of running backwards 11 yards and taking a sack instead of an incompletion. He has the greatest talent of the four, but he hurts his team too much with his decision making.



Romney is a fun story, but I think Hall is better by a good margin.



I would go:

1- Hall

2- Romney

3- Wilson OR Critchlow

It's hard to have Hall as the "best" QB on the roster in that he has not actually played a complete game yet, and I don't see that happening this year. To me, Wilson looked just as good as Romney has, but against against better competition. I have lots of problems with this coaching staff, but I don't disagree with their ranking of the QB's.

I'd be totally fine with Romney the rest of the way. But whoever is lining up behind center has got to learn to slide. Every. Single. Time. The injuries just aren't worth it.

Jaren Hall reminds me of Russell Wilson. Baylor Romney plays with remarkable poise and execution. Zach is talented but needs to improve decision making. I have bagged on Aaron Roderick over time, but I must say to have three QBs playing at this level is a credit to the young men and their coach.

I disagree that Wilson played against tougher competition. Romney beat a BSU team that is every bit as good as any team Wilson played. I think the SJSU game was the anomaly, not the norm. Those guys were in hangover mode from BYU destroying their season. Romney was that guy. That defense was legit and he lit it up for 3 quarters. Their offense was as good an offense as we have seen in a long time (they were averaging 37 ponts per game) and we slowed them down for a couple of quarters. With a better defensive game plan and better QB play we are at least 6-2 right now and maybe we could have stolen the ute or WA game. Has anyone noticed how vulnerable Washington is this year and we rolled over for them.

Very cool to see BYU come in at #1 and #10.



Notice that Liberty's Stephen Calvert is #2.

frdbtr wrote:

I disagree that Wilson played against tougher competition. Romney beat a BSU team that is every bit as good as any team Wilson played. I think the SJSU game was the anomaly, not the norm. Those guys were in hangover mode from BYU destroying their season. Romney was that guy. That defense was legit and he lit it up for 3 quarters. Their offense was as good an offense as we have seen in a long time (they were averaging 37 ponts per game) and we slowed them down for a couple of quarters.

Hmmmm...I don't see it. Romney had 221 passing yards against Boise. Boise has allowed 234/passing yards per game. I note that not only did Boise's defense give up 438 yards to SJSU right after playing us, but the week before playing us, they gave up 325 yards and 4 TDs to Hawaii. I also see that Boise gave up 327 yards and 3TDs to Florida State (4-5).



Don't get me wrong. Romney has put together solid back-to-back games and helped lead the team to excellent victories. He should get credit.



But, you have to give Wilson his credit. He exceeded his opponent's averages in every game he played this season:



208 yards v. Utah (average 190 against)

223 yards v. Tennessee (average 213 against)

280 yards v. USC (average 240 against)

277 yards v. Washington (average 256 against)

315 yards v. Toledo (average 271 against)



Wilson went on the road to beat Tennessee in front of 92K fans. That was probably the loudest game I have ever attended. Michigan came close - they were louder at times, but not as consistent. He then helped us earn the biggest home win in years over USC....the only team to beat Utah this season.

frdbtr wrote:
With a better defensive game plan and better QB play we are at least 6-2 right now and maybe we could have stolen the ute or WA game. Has anyone noticed how vulnerable Washington is this year and we rolled over for them.

I agree that we could be 6-2 if we had better game plans against Toledo and USF and could hold on to a lead.



Washington is another story. They outclassed us in about very facet of the game. More than Utah. UW has been somewhat vulnerable, but they've just had back-to-back small-margin losses to top-10 teams. BYU had zero chance to steal that one away.

So Romney gets penalized for scoring quick td's on short fields? Why don't you compare the average PER that Boise Gives up compared to Romney's 154? That would probably be a more fair comparison. also how many points does Boise normally give up vs the 28 that BYU got?



How about I do it for you



Utah Average 107.25 Wilson got a 104.46

Tennessee Average 122.52 Wilson got a 139.29

USC Average 135.16 Wilson got a 145.34

Washington Average 125.64 Wilson got a 120.40

Toledo Average 139.76 Wilson got a 134.85

USF Average 129.76 Hall got a 133.62 Romney got a 121.32

Boise State Average 125.64 Romney got a 154.48

Utah State Average 132.76 Hall got a 187.35 Romney got a 191.53



So if you look at this stat, Romney is the only QB on the roster that with a weeks preparation has blown away a defenses average Passing efficiency defense. Both Boise State and Utah state's defenses significantly perform better at disrupting qb's. Oh and by the way Romney is the first BYU QB, I have seen under Sitake that has read a defense saw a blitz coming and threw into the blitz to beat it. Utah state didn't blitz him again after that. I don't have a dog in this race. If Wilson starts this week, I will be 100% supportive of him but IMO of the 3 QB's Romney, overall, has performed the best. Just think of what he could do if he were the featured guy for more than a week.

Have to say, if I am the coach and have to decide who my starting QB is at this point, assuming all are healthy, I would go with Romney.



Great reads. Quick throws. Puts the ball right where it needs to be and, so far, is making all the right decisions. He isn't trying to do too much.



With Wilson, I always felt like he was trying to do too much. Kind of like Riley Nelson but more athletic.