Huge changes have happened in just the first 2 weeks that present a rare opportunity for BYU this early in its BIG 12 life.
The premise: BYU can compete for and win the BIG12 title THIS YEAR. The odds have greatly increased.
Bold action required: Start Bohanan against Wyoming and going forward.
My business development background says a small window has opened up for this to happen.
First, the big 12 this last weekend shows that there are a number of good teams, but no great teams. Utah MAY be the closest to great. BYU can beat any of those teams. The home schedule is favorable to beat the better teams -KSU, KU, OSU. Biggest challenge is ISU and UCF away and UTAH but in rivalry anything can happen. I thought the upper tier BIG12 teams would be much better, but they are not, theyāre just above average. BYU can be above average IF they get their offense fixed. Injuries are always the uncontrollable derailer. One big assumption is the defense will continue to be steller.
Second, I now give BYU 20% chance of winning the Big12, up from a preseason 1%.
Playing Retzlaff will diminish the new odds of winning the Big12 back down to 2-3%.
He has had 10 months to get rid of the yips/be in control etc and has not succeeded. Beck didnāt solve it. He looked every part of a āwill win you games, will lose you gameā with what he does. His brain disconnects under pressure and he reverts to how he has always played. Itās like me and playing second base. I could play shortstop and outfield but that second base throw I would get ecxited, rush and throw it wildly.
If the competition in Fall camp was that close down to the end, and the nod went to Retzlaff because there were less turnovers, then all that less turnovers advantage went away with his play in the SMU game. 3 TOs and multitude of bad throws. He plain just gets rattled and brain disconnects. Compare to Bohanons resume.
Retzlaff looks like a great guy and teammate, but the gritty label (Riley Nelson 2.0) is looking more and more certain.
Is Bohanan a certainty to win games and win the title? Of course not. It just greatly increases the chances. If this were a business - wait, it IS a business, with millions of additional income at stake if you win - Holmoe, Sitake even ARod has to make this move.
The odds to win the Big 12 may not be this high for BYU for the next 8-10 years.
In real business world this would be a no brainer.
If the move is not made, we may be looking at head coach Hill in a year or two. Itās that big a deal.
Iām with you giving Bohanan the start against Whyoming in Whyoming.
The thing is, we donāt know how Bohanan will respond at this point. We canāt get ahead of ourselves. But, itās a game that if he doesnāt play well, Retzlaff can always go into the game.
Itās so important to start Bohanan against Wyoming. Retzlaff had his warmup game against So Ill. Bohanan needs his before KSTATE. Which could be critical game of the year in terms of will they compete for the title or settle for the āletās get into a bowl gameā
Donāt blow this Kalanie! May be the most important decision of your career at BYU.
As Iāve said before, canāt get past the āTale of the Tapeā 6 - 3 235lbs, runs like a deer.
My litmus test is if Bohanan can succeed, teams will HAVE TO game plan around him. His running is that good - top 5 nationally. Do you think any teams will game plan around Retzlaffs strengths? They will game plan around his weakness - pressure, pressure pressure to force mistakes.
Based on the depth chart released today, Retzlaff is still QB1. He now has 10 career fumbles in 5 games. 10 fumbles in 5 games is mind boggling. The fumble vs SMU was 100% carelessness-he was a runner, in traffic, and could have tucked the ball high and tight OR wrapped it with both hands but chose to do neither.
Those two picks on Saturday were AWFUL. No words can describe or excuse the stupidity of the first pick or the carelessness of the second pick.
Retzlaff seems like a great kid who can throw a really nice ball but just loses his mind during the game. ANY concern for ball security went out the window on all 3 of those TOs.
HEREāS THE SCARY PART: 1) we had 3 AWFUL TOs, and 2) our entire offense SUCKED for the entire gameāand it wasnāt against Georgia. It was against an OK G5 team that hasnāt beaten a P4 team IN YEARS. If that wasnāt enough for ARod to play Bohanon, it can only mean one thing: ARod and Kalani think Bohanon is TERRIBLE. If either KS or ARod thought Bohanon was any good at all, they would have played him. So we have a TO prone QB and no backup. Great job ARod.
I have to vent about the coaching DEBACLE that occurred late in the 2nd quarter. BYU has 3rd and 1 foot on the SMU 27. Instead of simply lining up under center and running a sneak for the first down, our entire offense runs around like the Keystone Cops for the entire play clock trying to get in position, we go from shotgun, and run a very awkward option for nothing. Seemed like half our guys didnāt even know the play. Then SMU bails us out by calling TO. Good, I think, we can just kick and go up 10-6. BUT NO! Instead we go from the gun AGAIN and run a slow developing read option counter? I WAS LAUGHING OUT LOUD AT THE TIME.
Fortunately WYO appears to be terrible this year, so BYU SHOULD have an easy W. But I wouldnāt bet anything on this team except to overperform on D (because this is Jay Hillās team and everyone knows it).
Agree 100%
Coaches must think Bohanam is terrible as you say OR they have this BYU Achilles heel of overabundance of āfaithā in the player thing going on. Been doing it for decades - canāt pull the trigger on benching the guy that is way underperforming. āA manās gotta know his limitationsā. In this case the player doesnāt see it so the coach has GOT to see it and make the call. Paid millions a year to make those calls.
I can guess they are saying ā weāll give him one more chanceā. Like in business if you hire an bad employee itās a reflection on YOUR judgement. They want Nelson 2.0 to succeed so bad their judgement is impaired. Heās had 10 months to correct his issues and looks like hasnāt changed anything. Or bohananis terrible - despite his resume and his running is off the charts. Either way itās bad coaching.
So disappointed wonāt start Bohanan vs Wyoming. He needs a warmup game for Kstate. Again this is a golden opportunity to win the league. Paid to win big and fill the coffers
Well, I have also called for Bohanan to get a shot. The Whyoming game is the perfect game to try it and see what happens. Whyoming isnāt SMU or K-State. But, if he can go a game without a turnover, that would be encouraging.
Agree. The problem will be if Retzlaff plays a good game it doesnāt mean heās on his way and do well against good competition. He has not had a great game against a good team.
I donāt think he can be good against a jump in opposing talent.
If he starts against Kstate then high chance Kstate wins
I know I know, getting way ahead of myself
I saw Tulane give KState all they could handle. The QB for Tulane was a freshman playing in his second game from San Luis Obispo. Wasnāt recruited by anyone hardly, like Idaho and Tulane. He was very good. He played well, poised, calm and in control. He made one or two mistakes but they werenāt game killers. That is what BYU needs right now, someone who is poised, calm and in control. I havenāt seen that from Retzlaff yet. He is wreckless, off target frequently and gets jittery. I think he can do better but how long will he get the chance to?
Even though BYU beat SMU I was not impressed by anything but the defense. BYU was fortunate to win the game. I agree with PMac premise as this is a critical juncture for BYU. The Big 12 doesnāt look as strong as it was touted to be so there is opportunity for BYU. They have to seize the moment and do something they may think is risky but could have great results.
Thank you Dr. Doolittleā¦Is there nothing you can know?
If you look back at my posts earlier, I was saying that we will be better this year because of experience and talent. The question Iāve been asking is whether the Big12 has gotten better? I said I didnāt see anything that suggested the whole conference is better. If we can overcome āGrittyā from the QB and have the QB that will just be good and consistent without a bunch of bad turnovers.
is he a better QB then Retzlaff. yes he showed that with Baylor.
Could he be a player that can elevate the team to new heights. I think so. Heās a captain for the team and he isnāt a starter. that says a lot about what kind of leader he is
why isnāt he playing? because Roderick is a horrible OC. Roderick much like Retzlaff falls apart under pressure. His job is on the line and couldnāt make a decision on the two QBs and chose the worst one out of the two.
will Roderick play him? Maybe but most likely only after it is to late.
the problem with all of this is that Roderick is still the same bad OC. poor play calling, doesnāt inspire the team to have heart or fire to win. So in the end can Bohanon elevate the office past Roderick, ignore him like Doman and Hall did with their OC and call his own plays. I donāt know if he can, but if he can then we will have a truly awesome year on our hands.
Matich brought up a great point in his comments on BYUTV SN.
He said Retzlaff is always to make that ābigā play when there is no play to be made.
His decision making and ball control needs to improve and our coachable.
Question in my mind is āIs ARod really that good of coaching the QBs to make the adjustmentsā?
Nice to know Matich agrees with me (well, with all of us actually)
Retzlaff has not changed from jcc( I can make this pass) and probably since HS.
Has to adjust for the huge jump in talent level. So far, just canāt change. Again, āa manās got to know his limitationsā. He doesnāt
Retzlaff is the only one that can make the adjustments. Heās on the field. The coach(es) are working with him but he has to be able to transfer practice and game film to the field. Thatās all him. Collie made a good comment that while he has to be able to make the adjustments, he canāt be put into a situation where he hesitates on throws he can make. The pressure is really on now. He knows there is a cry for a new QB. Whyoming will be a good test. I still want to see Bohanan get some snaps in a real game.
Appreciate this. Quite well written. I disagree with the conclusion. Retzlaff is not right out of high school. Heās had a ton of time including 5 games against P4 teams. You can see some skill in throwing but he makes way way too many mistakes. I really not sure he can learn to get rid of the panic yips. Again, heās not just out of HS
Is he worth the risk and āletslose some games this year so we can win more next yearā?
My whole premise in prior posts is the big12 is average and this is a golden opportunity to do something amazing to win all.
Still say play Bohanan. Based on the looking to the future mentality, just play your guy from Utah state now. We can win this thing!! Buts odds are way low with Retulaff and hoping he learns something he hasnāt shown he can learn
