My point is simply that missing or making one throw is a ridiculously fickle standard. Yeah, Heaps misses throws that he should make. But really, if he makes the one throw to Jacobson, I'll be most of you people overlook just about all of his other mistakes. But since he misses that throw, suddenly he shows no improvement or growth at all and is a terrible qb.

I think the analysis of Heaps here is sorely lacking. Heaps is very capable of throwing downfield and being ridiculously accurate. He has those tools. I've seen it with my own eyes. The problem is that he suffers mightily from inconsistency. Given the time, he will grow his confidence and become more constant. I'm not sure if it will be a gradual process or if he has a moment in a game where it just clicks. But I am nowhere near giving up on him or relegating him to eternal mediocrity because of how he's played in 4 games as a sophomore.

Isola's point is this, when our run game is producing, it takes pressure off of Heaps to shoulder all the responsibility of leading the offense to score by passing. Also keeps the opposing D on the field and wears them out. If we establish a good running attack against USU, complimented by surgical passing completion by Heaps, we win. If not, time to give others a chance. The UCF freshmen Broyles did a wonderful job during his substitution for the injured Godfrey. In fact, strategically, I think UCF made a mistake not keeping him in the game. He is built like Lark and Munns and had great vision of the field and took the open spots that the defense gave him. That is where Jake is failing, capitalizing on what the defense offers and going to second and third receivers when primary one is covered or taken away.

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While I am not one of those on this board who wants to have Heaps love child, and I absolutely agree he has been struggling a ton this year, in his defense, at least this last game, I would have to look up the numbers for previous games, he has been put in very tough 3 down situations. Out of the 11 pass attempts the average was 3rd and 9, that is a tough situation for any QB to have good numbers.

While he could help himself stay out of those situations on 1st and 2nd downs by hitting the open receivers, or not throwing behind them or not throwing at their feet, and had more favorable 3rd down situations, I think his 3rd down per would go up, but until he actually gets in that situation we will never know.

While a lot of those 3rd and long situations were the result of poor runs, a significant portion were also due to missed throws on Heaps part. There were only a few passes that were broken up by the defense, most in-completions were poor throws by Heaps.

We and the coaches aren't doing Heaps or BYU any favors by coddling him. I wished we had UCF's redshirt freshman QB. He picked apart our defense, which was the superior defense. UCF made the mistake of not continuing with their 2nd string QB. If they kept him in, might have turned out differently for them. I hope our coaches don't make the same mistake.

My point is simply that missing or making one throw is a ridiculously fickle standard. Yeah, Heaps misses throws that he should make. But really, if he makes the one throw to Jacobson, I'll be most of you people overlook just about all of his other mistakes. But since he misses that throw, suddenly he shows no improvement or growth at all and is a terrible qb.

Yeah, because if he makes that one throw, suddenly his worst game of the season is somehow his best?? How much would that one completion improve his 74 PER for the game or his 41 PER on third downs? It might elevate him from sinker to floater, but his PER is still in the toilet.

While I am not one of those on this board who wants to have Heaps love child, and I absolutely agree he has been struggling a ton this year, in his defense, at least this last game, I would have to look up the numbers for previous games, he has been put in very tough 3 down situations. Out of the 11 pass attempts the average was 3rd and 9, that is a tough situation for any QB to have good numbers.

While he could help himself stay out of those situations on 1st and 2nd downs by hitting the open receivers, or not throwing behind them or not throwing at their feet, and had more favorable 3rd down situations, I think his 3rd down per would go up, but until he actually gets in that situation we will never know.

My point is simply that missing or making one throw is a ridiculously fickle standard. Yeah, Heaps misses throws that he should make. But really, if he makes the one throw to Jacobson, I'll be most of you people overlook just about all of his other mistakes. But since he misses that throw, suddenly he shows no improvement or growth at all and is a terrible qb.

Yeah, because if he makes that one throw, suddenly his worst game of the season is somehow his best?? How much would that one completion improve his 74 PER for the game or his 41 PER on third downs? It might elevate him from sinker to floater, but his PER is still in the toilet.

While I am not one of those on this board who wants to have Heaps love child, and I absolutely agree he has been struggling a ton this year, in his defense, at least this last game, I would have to look up the numbers for previous games, he has been put in very tough 3 down situations. Out of the 11 pass attempts the average was 3rd and 9, that is a tough situation for any QB to have good numbers.

While he could help himself stay out of those situations on 1st and 2nd downs by hitting the open receivers, or not throwing behind them or not throwing at their feet, and had more favorable 3rd down situations, I think his 3rd down per would go up, but until he actually gets in that situation we will never know.

My point is simply that missing or making one throw is a ridiculously fickle standard. Yeah, Heaps misses throws that he should make. But really, if he makes the one throw to Jacobson, I'll be most of you people overlook just about all of his other mistakes. But since he misses that throw, suddenly he shows no improvement or growth at all and is a terrible qb.

Yeah, because if he makes that one throw, suddenly his worst game of the season is somehow his best?? How much would that one completion improve his 74 PER for the game or his 41 PER on third downs? It might elevate him from sinker to floater, but his PER is still in the toilet.

Obbligatory disclaimer: I like Heaps, I think he is a good kid, and he will probably eventually be a good BYU QB.

But let's face it...he is not good now. I have posed this question before and have never gotten an answer. Name one game that we won because Heaps started instead of Lark.

I don't for a second believe that Heaps could be more than 4 TDs better than Lark, so you can toss out 4 of Jakes wins there. It leaves you with the Wyoming and the SDSU game from last year and the Ole Miss and UCF game from this year. Here are Heaps' stats from those games.

SDSU: 15/22 126 yards (5.7 avg) 0TD 1 INT
This game was won because we rushed for 271 yards and 3TDs, and we were +1 in turnovers. We also out gained them by 140 yards.

Wyoming: 10/18 81 yards (4.5 avg) 1 TD 1 INT
This game was won because we rushed for 217 yards and 2 TDs, and we were +2 in turnovers. We also out gained them by 125 yards.

Ole Miss: 24/38 225 yards (5.9 avg) 1 TD 1INT
This game was won by holding the Rebels to 208 yards and getting a TD on defense, and we were +1 in turnovers. We outgained them by 108 yards.

UCF: 16/34 133 yards (3.9 avg) 0 TD 1 INT
This game was won by rushing for 127 yards and 2 TDs, getting a kick return for a TD and we were +2 in turnovers. They outgained us by 139 yards.

These are the only games you can really make a case that playing Heaps over Lark won us the game, but I can't believe that Lark can't get us these numbers.

I understand that Heaps is a true sophomore and he is still "developing and improving" which would be fine if we didn't have a 4-star RM redshirt Junior AND a 4-star RM Redshirt Sophomore on the bench. How can we not give Lark and Munns a shot in a game while Heaps is producing (or not producing) like this?

It is one thing to have 4-star QBs rotting on the bench without hope of ever registering a start if you have a stud QB playing instead. A passer rating of 100.5 is not stud QB territory. Give those guys a game, a quarter or at least a series.

but his PER is still in the toilet.

My point is simply that missing or making one throw is a ridiculously fickle standard. Yeah, Heaps misses throws that he should make. But really, if he makes the one throw to Jacobson, I'll be most of you people overlook just about all of his other mistakes. But since he misses that throw, suddenly he shows no improvement or growth at all and is a terrible qb.

I think the analysis of Heaps here is sorely lacking. Heaps is very capable of throwing downfield and being ridiculously accurate. He has those tools. I've seen it with my own eyes. The problem is that he suffers mightily from inconsistency. Given the time, he will grow his confidence and become more constant. I'm not sure if it will be a gradual process or if he has a moment in a game where it just clicks. But I am nowhere near giving up on him or relegating him to eternal mediocrity because of how he's played in 4 games as a sophomore.