The difference in this year's team

[Cougs_Rule]

Oh and let's not leave out that small little variable of--HOPEFULLY Riley is not a collossal idiot and realizes a hurt Riley does not help this team at all.

[mizzoucoug]

Honestly, if you were an O-lineman or a WR last year did you really have any confidence in scared-little-girl Heaps after the 2nd game of the season? Probably not. You probably played hard and wished him the best, but inside didn't have the faith he could get it done.

If Heaps wasn't busy cowering he was busy chucking the ball 10 feet above receivers or down at their ankles and then blaming his poor throwing on a lack of a running game. Three and out was Heaps mantra.

I don't recall exactly, but I think it took Nelson all of 6 quarters of football to score more touchdowns than Heaps had done all season last year. That's infectious. Players want to play. WRs want to catch the ball. O-linemen want to feel their efforts are yielding results not turnovers and positive field position to opponents.

Heaps sucks. The only think he was good at was sticking to the talking points his PR firm prepared. It's been backed up statistically, so why we continue to debate this, I don't know.

+100

Heaps was a priss and a cocky primadonna who still has accomplished nothing in college. The team is much better off with a leader and someone who wants to win at all costs ala Max Hall.

[byucougar1]

If we don't take advantage of one of the best WR tandem's in the West (Hoffman, Apo, and Falslev), something is wrong with our offensive scheme. The O will be even more difficult to defend if Juice, Alissa, and our TE become a factor in catching the ball as well. Balance and unpredictability coupled with execution could take us to another level. We certainly have the field general in Riley to inspire them to play with heart - just need to stop committing stupid mistakes/turnovers.

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[Larrycoug]

I just wonder if Riley is a team leader or a Riley to start leader? It seems last year the team got fractured to accomplish the latter.

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[hawkwing]

I just wonder if Riley is a team leader or a Riley to start leader? It seems last year the team got fractured to accomplish the latter.

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I have it on good authority that Riley is a team leader and a team player. The team never fractured, because there were never any members of the team that were pulling for any QB just pulling to win.

[Larrycoug]

So then no "cliques" or "colonies"? This is the first I'm hearing of this. That is quite a contradiction from what's been written and discussed for a season. Ask your source why they've kept this such a secret...

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[hawkwing]

The so called cliques is nothing more than Heaps apologists trying to blame Riley Nelson for the switch.

I can tell you that from what I've heard there wasn't a single player on the team at halftime of the UCF game that wanted Heaps to play again that year, other than Heaps. And it had nothing to do with back room deals or whispers about this or that. It had to do with the fact that losing to bad teams is unacceptable at BYU.

[Lawboy]

The so called cliques is nothing more than Heaps apologists trying to blame Riley Nelson for the switch.

No offense Hawk, but I am not sure if you are totally full of it or are being mislead or being dishonest The switch was proven right, but the drama was there all the same. Personality issues were major. MAJOR.

Regardless, that is some revisionist history. Go look at comments from Media Day where players basically said that this off season there are no cliques, which basically means that they are acknowledging that last season there were. Because there were. Or call them disgruntled players or whatever, but the locker room had issues last year. And as I said, it was not just about Heaps-Nelson, although that was a large part of it. Other seniors caused some drama as well. Oline players, RBs and even some LB players(plural).

I have more than 1 source in the locker room on this one. The locker room was not united last year. There were issues.

[hawkwing]

Ask your source how united they were after the UCF game. I have it on good authority that there was a wholesale consensus on the QB issue by that time.

Maybe there were still some issues with LBs or Oline at that time, but the QB issue was clear cut, especially by that game.

[Mars]

The locker room had issues last year. And as I said, it was not just about Heaps-Nelson, although that was a large part of it. Other seniors caused some drama as well. Oline players, RBs and even some LB players (plural).

Ogletree is a name thrown out there a lot, for whatever reasons.