Is Riley a legend in the making?

[jonnylingo]

Is that the best you can do? Sorenson kicked a 42 yarder and a 44 yarder in that game. Just say we don't know for a fact that we score? Riley had us in the red zone and turned it over more than once. he could have won us that game despite the special teams crap.

we ran and passed for more yards than tcu. riley should have won us that game. he came up short. he played well minus his huge turnovers. he had two interceptions and a fumble. The most important part you are not addressing is that two of those turnovers CAME IN THE RED ZONE. that was a perfect opportunity for riley to win that came. had he punched it in instead of turning it over we would have had 14 points. if he splits them we get 10 points.

You are not being honest if you are disputing the fact that despite the special teams blunders, riley played well enough to win us that game. he had us in position to win. he blew it with stupid turnovers.

I don't care, I am just saying he could have had a signature win. he was in the red zone twice. just needed to not screw up and get the ball in the endzone. i am not disputing that had special teams not spotted tcu the ball inside the 50 more than once that we still would have have won. that is obvious. we outplayed tcu minus those turnovers. all i am saying is that riley wins that game if he doesn't turn the ball over three time. that killed us just as much as the special teams turnovers.

I am aware of Riley's turnovers, and I admit that during the game it irritated me that he didn't just take the sack and come back to play another down. My point is, that we can't just drop all the blame for the loss on the guy that had us with a chance to win AFTER spotting TCU 28 points on special teams.

No your point was that all the blame should be on the special teams. My point was that all the blame should not be on the special teams because despite the special teams, riley had a very good shot at getting that signature win nonetheless if you take away his three turnovers. three turnovers is ALOT, especially when two are in the red zone.

riley will get better. he is playing smarter and learning. his arm kind of sucks but that is okay because he buys time with his feet and keeps defenses honest. I have been surprised at how much better he has gotten. He really has improved a lot this year and I assume that next year he will be smarter and eliminate some of his turnovers. He will also get better and better at reading defenses. Another benefit of Riley as qb is that he is very intelligent.

What I said in my point was what I was thinking when i wrote it. I guess you know how I think better then I do since you just told me what I was thinking in your post. I do blame special teams 100% for the loss. You were saying that Riley Nelson is responsible for the loss with his 3 turnovers, that is why I said that was my point above. Riley's 3 turnovers resulted in 3 points scored by TCU, the special teams turnovers resulted in 28 points scored by TCU. I am not a math wiz by any stretch of the imagination but that seems pretty clear to me. I don't care if we had 10 turnovers in the Red zone, if they don't result in points by the other team they only hurt us by taking away a possesion. You can't prescribe a point value to them because there is no way of knowing if we would have converted a TD, or a FG or got stopped or missed the FG. Anything you might say about whether we would have scored is complete conjecture, I however have showed with numbers how TCU scored on all of the special teams mistakes. So I guess if you can't see the logic in that, then we will have to agree to disagree.

To confirm: You are arguing that Riley turning the ball over three times had nothing to do with the TCU loss. Just wanted to make sure that is what you are saying because it is pretty hard to infer anything else when you state special teams is "100 percent" responsible for the loss. That is a very hard position to defend. You are right, we will just have to agree to disagree on that one.

My position is that both were to blame and that special teams was not 100 percent responsible but maybe 50 percent if we have to put percentage on it. My point was that Riley contributed to the loss with his three turnovers, two of which were very costly in that they were in the red zone. That is no different than giving the ball up in your own red zone to the other team, which our special teams did. Either way you are giving easy points or giving up easy points and either way the other teams still needs to get it in the endzone.

My point was that Riley can't blame special teams only (your position) for not having a signature win, but must partially blame himself (my position) because it was in his control to get the win, in fact, he was in a very very good position (in the red zone twice) to do so. (largely due to his decent play)

Riley will decrease turnovers like that and it will help us win in the future. I am feeling good about him being quarterback going into next year. Hope he stays healthy which I think he will do better as well as he is learning he is not a fullback and the teams depends on him being healthy.

[KYCoug]

Regardless who cost us the game against TCU. Back to the subject...Riley's performance was hardly "legendary"

[Cougarbib]

I think Riley's Junior year will end up comparing reasonably well with Steve Young's junior year. A little awkward - because Steve Young played the entire season and Riley was a back-up initially and injured later. So we do not have the basis for a full-year comparison.

1981 Steve lost to UNLV as a soph in our homecoming game and beat SDSU iirc all in relief of an injured Jim McMahon.

1982 Steve Young went 8-4 as a Jr with wins over UNLV, UTEP, New Mexico, Hawaii in Provo, CSU, Wyoming, SDSU, and Utah. He lost to Georgia 17-14, Air Force 38-39 in the first ever LES game, Utah State, and Ohio State 47-17 in the Bowl Game.

Riley did not start as a Soph. He did not win much at USU as a freshman. But he had two junior years. He beat UW, but lost to Air Force in a blowout and got injured vs FSU in 2010. Then a year later, he beat USU, SJSU, OSU, and ISU, before getting injured vs Idaho and missing NMSU. He lost to TCU in a reasonably close contest and beat Hawaii on the road.

Nelson as a Jr. 6-2 or 7-3 if you count the games he got injured in. Young 8-4 or 9-5 if you count his soph starts.

So let's revisit after he either beats or loses to Tulsa in the Bowl Game.

UW and Tulsa are better than anyone Young beat as a Junior or Sophomore. USU is as good as any. Both of them beat WAC fodder. Both of them lost to really good teams.

It is too early to tell what we have in the making with Riley - but we have more in the making than most expected we would have and more than some, even now, want to give credit.

[Cougs_Rule]

In Riley's mind? No. He already is.
In some posters minds? Same answer. NO, he already is; As evidenced by nothing being his fault, namely the loss to TCU. Funny how Heaps was to blame for everything and Riley is to blame for nothing. Black and white thinking.
As for me, possibly.
Is John Beck a legend? Max Hall? Bosco, Young and McMahan for sure are legends.The table is set for Riley to join the Elite if he wins the bowl game and has a 10-2 or even a 9-3 season next year. But he has to get a few signature wins, otherwise he is just the quarterback who beat out the "failure/failed" qb. Hardly legendary.
He's got the moxy to pull it off. And I hope he does.
But Im not ready to put him even on the Beck, Hall, Sark list.

[SpiffCoug]

Yeah, a bit early to pencil his name on the legends list. But he certainly is on the watch list. Of course, I hope all our players are legends in the making.

[hawkwing]

Yeah, a bit early to pencil his name on the legends list. But he certainly is on the watch list. Of course, I hope all our players are legends in the making.

I would hope that after the end of last year and this season BYU fans have learned their lessons about prematurely assigning greatness to a QB who has only beaten teams BYU should beat anyway.

[Dcr36]

Yeah, a bit early to pencil his name on the legends list. But he certainly is on the watch list. Of course, I hope all our players are legends in the making.

I would hope that after the end of last year and this season BYU fans have learned their lessons about prematurely assigning greatness to a QB who has only beaten teams BYU should beat anyway.

+100

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[IowaCougar]

This thread is getting a little ridiculous. Why the snarky comments and personal attacks on Riley? The question was whether people thought he had the potential to be one of the "legends". Personally, I really enjoy watching him play, and yes, he reminds me of Steve Young. So, I think there is potential there for him to have a great year next year and enter that category. There are never any guarantees - he could end up injured and we could have Lark be the savior of the program.

It was disappointing that he couldn't win against TCU, but he was maybe forcing things a little too much because he was playing from behind the whole game because of the special teams blunders.

Can we get behind the Cougar quarterback, and enjoy the ride? I'm really looking forward to attending the Armed Forces Bowl, but win or lose, I'll proudly show my colors.

I have a hard time accepting the "fanhood" of those who seem to want to tear down the BYU players. It almost seems like they are rooting for their failure.

[scott715]

How many games had he played before the TCU game? A few half games last year, a few at USU pre mission and a couple this year. Next year he will be an experienced QB and will make better decisions under pressure. I expect him to light up Tulsa.

[SpiffCoug]

How many games had he played before the TCU game? A few half games last year, a few at USU pre mission and a couple this year. Next year he will be an experienced QB and will make better decisions under pressure. I expect him to light up Tulsa.

For the first time in his career, Riley is getting starter's reps and starter's attention from the coaches. He is definitely getting better. I'm going to have a hard time being any less excited about our QB possibilities next year than I was coming into this year.

I will fully go on record now, that Riley can be every bit as good as we thought our former QB was going to be this year. The style and path might be different, but the level of production and results will be very similar.