Last week at Air Force the coaches turned the second half of a losing effort over to Riley Nelson, to see if he alone could lead the Cougars back to victory, the result? 0 points scored on offense. This week it was Heaps turn to take over the second half of the Florida State game. The result? 0 points. After finishing the the entire off-season, deadlocked, why we expect anything different after another set of completely equal opportunities during the season?
For those of you who think that Jake Heaps faced a tougher defense, think again, the Air Force Falcons just held the Oklahoma Sooners, yeah that same team that killed the Florida St. Seminoles, to just 27 points, including shutting them out in the 4th quarter.
The funny thing about this whole controversy is that when the BYU Cougars rotate the quarterbacks by possession, the offense has scored 47 points in 8 quarters of football. In the other 4 where BYU goes with just one...0 points scored. The worst part is that when handed the reins completely, both quarterbacks actually played worse. Nelson stopped gaining yards on the run and Heaps became a completely inaccurate passer. So why are we all psyched up to have the coaching staff settle on just one guy? Maybe the competition was a good thing...or maybe not anymore, that's what the fans want right? A decision to be made?
Those who know me, know that I wanted Heaps to red-shirt right from the get go in order to let a young team develop and let him come in after getting his feet wet, and have 4 straight years to play with a more experienced team. Now that Heaps has lost the opportunity I have been forced to change my tune. It is apparent that we can't get the ball to our most potent threat on offense, MacKay Jaobson, and after teams realize one QB lacks arm strength, and the other lacks touch and accuracy, they pack the box and take away our only other playmaker, JJ DiLuigi.
So our coaches and fans have choice now. Play to win some more games this year, or prepare for next season. If you choose to say, hey, we got this. Then I say, and history says, something about the two quarterback system throws teams off...stick with it. If you fall into the camp that says we will continue to field an inept offense, we may as well use the next nine games as practice for him to get ready for next year. Then you have to go with the youngster.
So the big question is why has Coach Mendenhall not made a decision yet? I had a revelation at breakfast this morning in Tallhassee when a complete stranger, Steve from Georgia (who so kindly invited me to eat with he and his sons as I was alone) asked me the same question. Coach Mendenhall is big on delegating and letting people learn through their own experience and sometimes mistakes. I personally feel that Coach Mendenhall doesn't want to make the decision because he wants his quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator (both men who would like to be head coaches someday) to take accountability for making a HUGE decision in the early part of their careers. He doesn't want to dictate to them what he thinks should be happen. They have to man up and make the call.
That being said, I think that the call has been made and that we will see Heaps the rest of the year and maybe bring Riley in with a Tim Tebow (freshman year) type roll.