Despite Heaps, BYU wins (was: Despite win, bench Heaps)

[SpiffCoug]

Heaps must play better this week or he should be benched. If his PER is not close to 136 he needs to sit. Eventually even a star QB should lose their starting job due to poor performance. He's treading dangerously close to that line.

One of the main excuses we've heard this year was the lack of a run game. Well BYU had their best rushing game of the year and Heaps had his worst passing game of the year (lowest PER, no TDs, lowest yards). So maybe it's not the RBs who are causing Jake to play so poorly. Maybe Jake is just missing way too many throws for any quarterback who wants to be a starter at BYU.

[BroncoBot]

I think that's an excellent point Isola. I wish I had an answer. I know that the coaches have put their trust in Heaps for some reason but feel bad for those guys on the bench who I feel would have a hard time NOT having as much success as Heaps. Time will tell I suppose. Just glad BYU got a win yesterday. It was a big step in the right direction as far as team attitude and focus is concerned. The negative side is the offense only scored touchdowns when they had 23 and 37 yards in front of them and most of the work was done by the RBs which is good and bad. But at some point we'll probably lose another close game because we have no air attack.

[snoscythe]

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.

[Isola]

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.

I have a theory about gambling. I am opposed to gambling and I would hope that if my kids ever have a layover in Vegas and decide to blow a couple bucks on slots I would hope they lose each and every time. If you never once win a dime, it won't be long before you decide it just isn't for you. But winning a couple payouts doesn't change anything except your perception. The house will still always win.

That is how I feel about your point. I agree that if Heaps makes that one throw this thread would at least not be this long, but it wouldn't make Heaps a finished product. That one completion would have made him 17/34 for less than 200 yards, 1 TD and 1INT. Still not good. The win would have been by two scores, but that is not the stat line we are looking for out of our QB.

That was basically our problem from last year. He played adequate against bad competition, but since we won, we were happy, but it doesn't change the fact that his PER in 2010 was 116.2 and it has dropped to 100.5 this year, and he has yet to throw for 300 yards in 14 starts.

Winning against subpar opposition and making one flashy throw only distracts you from the fact that he has not played well, really ever.

[SpiffCoug]

but his PER is still in the toilet.

And has been in 10 of his 14 starts. Heaps has all of four games with a PER above 136.

[byucougar1]

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.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[storminmormon]

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.

You beat me to it. By every statistical measure and every category, Heaps is below average (actually that is putting it mildly--he's actually one of the lowest rated QBs in D-1). This is true not just for a string of games, but for more than a season. Of the 3 highly touted QBs (who have all been in the program longer) that are sitting the bench, there has to be one that is at least above average. These guys have worked as hard or harder than Heaps and deserve a shot.

[blue42]

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.

[cougman]

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.

That's a fair point, but at some point we need to drop the mentality of "What can we (BYU team) do to help Jake succeed?" and demand the mentality of "What can Jake do to help us (BYU Team) succeed?" To answer the latter: He could come up big on 3rd on long more often than not.

[Gunk]

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.

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.