Comments about ‘BYU football: James Lark, Cody Hoffman shine as Cougars wallop New Mexico State’

This game against a weak opponent showed us a few things:
1. Lark is not as bad as the coaches (Bronco) seem to think he is (as evidenced by their reluctance to let him play).
2. Lark is a better passer. However, I don't think you can draw the conclusion that he is a better overall QB or better at leading the team to victory than a healthy Nelson without seeing how Lark does against equally tough opponents that Nelson has faced. Sorry. The coaches have not given Lark that opportunity so you really can't make that conclusion.
3. The O-line is still pretty weak.
4. The weakest link of the defense all year has been the secondary, especially against the deep ball.

I would like to see Lark start against SDSU to see how he fares against a much tougher opponent. But sadly, it ain't gonna happen.

CalJac

Well defended statement. However, I did not fail to see what I failed to say. Give Lark 2.3 seconds instead of 4 seconds and the fundamentals start to fall apart.

fender

Your scenario is too simple and thus flawed. Take both sprinters and enter them into the hurdles, dynamic changes. When one qb has better passing skills and one has better scrambling skills, and scrambling is what is required of your passing qb...

The problem lies in the fact that when, beyond scrambling, necessitated by problems on the offensive line, the offensive strategy involves intentionally running the qb 10 times a game, on top of the scrambles, your gonna use up qbs like tissue.

Building an offense around Riley's abilities was a mistake, but I don't think it is a capital crime.

YGrad

Your scenario is too complicated and thus flawed. What any OC wants out of a QB is first and foremost the ability to throw the football (Football 101). Lark showed the ability to scramble when the pocket broke down and in fact is a faster athlete than Nelson. Beyond that I have no idea what it is you're trying to argue here and not sure you do either.

fender

Therein lies the difference of opinion. Apparenly THIS offensive coordinator did NOT want first and foremost the better passer. Whether that originated with Bronco (Riley was his man) and he just designed the offense that, theoretically, best suited Riley, or whether he went back to the offense that he himself ran, is a topic for debate.

But you my friend have taken a complex situation, analyzed one aspect of it, through one game, and not a representative one at that, and have declared scientific fact. You may or may not have arrived at the right conclusion but your argument was and is flawed.

If I have failed to communicate clearly, then let me attempt again. I want, have wanted and continue to want, a pass early / pass often offense. I don't always get what I want. But it was too easy to predict that Lark, and the rest of the team, would shine against an inferior opponent. I feel that unabashed Bronco / Doman / Riley bashing is inappropriate for fans of this particular university, and supporting it on such a narrow and imbalanced sample is disingenuous at best.

Sorry if I have failed to make that clear.