The Big 2 and the Big 12


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BYU goes for a third straight win Saturday night when San Jose State visits Provo, but with no disrespect for the Spartans, the game is third on the list of current concerns for Cougars fans.

BYU's quarterback quandary and the Big 12's plans as they relate to BYU are 1-2 on the "hot list," in either order, and hardly an hour goes by that I am not asked my opinion on one matter or the other.

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Here is what I think--

On Jake Heaps v. Riley Nelson:

First of all, there is the obvious premise that it is one versus another. I wrote last week in this very space that one of the challenges of a football team is to create unity where divisions naturally exist.

Starting quarterback is an inherently divisive position, more so than any other role on the team, at least unless the gap between starter and backup is so wide as to make moot any discussion of competition (see Peyton Manning and every other Indianapolis Colts QB over the last decade).

2010 presented part one of the Heaps v. Nelson battle, a contest so unusual that at the end of it, two winners were declared. BYU only got two and a half games into the season before the two-quarterback plan was scuttled by Nelson's season-ending injury. Heaps ascension to the throne was as much default as it was deserved, but his lofty prep portfolio practically enured that once he got the starting job, he would not relinquish it. A 2010 season during which he set every BYU freshman QB record and which he ended with a flourish had hopes high that he would pick up where he left off in 2011.

Meantime, Nelson was recovering from surgery, and QBs further down the depth chart were essentially reading the writing on the wall when it came to their chances for significant playing time. The die was cast, the script written and the table set for the sophomore season of Jake Heaps--an unquestionable talent and potential star-in-the-making.

Whether or not that dramatic rendering accurately represents the scenario or whether its elements created an air of presumed or projected entitlement, Heaps had little to prove when it came to securing his starting status for this season. Indeed, in camp, neither he nor any other quarterbacks were given a particularly excessive number of live reps--implication being the coaches if not the fans already knew what they needed to know about their guys under center.

It turns out that none of us correctly anticipated how the season would begin on offense, with Heaps' game-to-game performances seeming to deaden with each passing week. Passes he dropped into the arms of waiting receivers with regularity in the latter part of 2010 were now being whistled over heads, at shoe-tops, and yards in front of intended targets. Whereas last season the receivers' unreliable hands were the early cause of stubby statistics, Heaps' accuracy issues were now focused on his arm and his head.

It is true that Heaps would suffer in comparison to predecessor Max Hall, who was the personification of toughness and relished the opportunity to get in someone's face or wield the dagger. Fair or not, Heaps' mincing response to an an interception that turned into a "pick six" at Ole Miss became symbolic of something perceived to be missing in his football DNA--something Hall had in great supply, and you might even say, something Nelson possesses, as part of his "football player-slash-quarterback" makeup (according to head coach Bronco Mendenhall).

Only those in the BYU locker room or in the quarterback meeting room have the best glimpse into what has been going on inside Heaps' head, but it's clear that something is a little off. Last Friday night's benching may or may not be what it takes to get him back on mental even ground, but such an event will certainly serve as a humbling agent.

The question now is: will it be an agent of change? Will the coaches decide that Riley Nelson's game-winning heroics are an indicator of his indispensability, or rather simply that his "change of pace" skills were just the shot in the arm just what the team needed on that given night, against a given opponent? After all, it could be argued, there were reasons Heaps was selected as the starter to being with, and in the big picture, those reasons may amount to a greater collection of assets.

BYU players clearly reacted in a positive fashion to Nelson's insertion late in the USU game, but they were reacting to the results he helped create as much as his persona--the "gamer" that all the guys respect. They weren't running around or diving or jumping to the line because they were happy to see Riley Nelson the person on the field; they were doing those things because the offense was now humming under his leadership. The players don't automatically react glumly when Heaps appears in the huddle; they trudge off when passes have gone awry or plays have failed to work.

Results matter. The QB who gets the most consistent results should play more. There will be some who believe that #1 player will be Jake Heaps, allowing for a change of course if the execution fails to match the anticipation. There will be those who support Riley Nelson as the primary option, while conceding that his strengths may not always extend to certain areas of the game plan, at which time Heaps becomes the more attractive option.

As for what BYU will do this week, I could see it going both ways. I could envision Mendenhall and offensive coordinator Brandon Doman giving Nelson the ball from the get-go v. SJSU, to reward his work, get the offense rolling, and keep the defense on its heels.

I could see the coaches reverting to Heaps, projecting that a more generous defense than the ones BYU has been facing will give Heaps the best chance for early success and a shot of confidence--for him, the team and the fans.

I believe San Jose State offers hope that both players could succeed in utilizing their respective skills, in a way that neither exacerbates a tenuous situation nor sets in stone a future path. Peace and prosperity could be achieved either way. Either Heaps regains his starting role and some of his mojo, or he sits and learns, contributes when called upon, and realizes that everyone earns his playing time between the lines.

Indeed, the only way this Saturday's game becomes a losing proposition is if either a) BYU loses the game, of course, or b) fans take sides in a way that reflects poorly the institution's support base.

I rarely make requests of fans, but this week, I feel compelled to ask that when Jake Heaps makes his first appearance, whether it's in the first series, second series, or second quarter, don't boo him, should any feel compelled to do so (and they may not; I am simply going off the vibe I got last week at LES).

Similarly, the cheers for Riley Nelson should not echo a choice of one over another, but rather respect for the player he is and has battled hard to be.

There remains another element that is often overlooked, even by the players themselves, and that is the combined notion of patience and tenure. Some of BYU's greatest-ever QBs had to bide their time--indeed, it was jut the way it was, for years.

Gifford Nielsen had only two years as BYU's leading passer, so too Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Robbie Bosco. Brandon Doman got one year in the sun. No BYU quarterback has ever led BYU in passing for four straight seasons. If it is ever going to happen, Jake Heaps will likely be the guy to do it, which shows you just how unusual his situation is--and perhaps, how unrealistic the expectations were, on behalf of others and perhaps himself.

I hope that he and all observers are able to view this current block of time as just a small segment of a spectrum, the end of which is not even in sight. I am mildly frustrated at those who observe the current situation and immediately begin to wonder (either for effect, or genuinely) if it might cause the benched quarterback to transfer; the implication being that if Heaps is not "the man" from start to finish of every game of his career, that somehow his happiness must be found elsewhere.

Such speculation reflects as much on the observer as it does the subject. On part of the observer, it means those who worry about a transfer have been so influenced by the "me first and me now" mentality so prevalent in sports today that sophomore struggles are seen as career-altering.

If true about the subject, and if a player were to seriously consider a transfer at the first real hint of results-related adversity, then you've recruited the wrong guy. And I don't think BYU recruited the wrong guy.

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On the Big 12:

With every day seeming to bring a new batch of speculative time frame-based Tweets about the dawning of the Big 12's new age, we await anything concrete about the league's expansion plans and targets. All we know is that if the Big 12 either replaces another departing program (Missouri), or keeps its membership intact and adds other, or does both, practically everyone with an opinion on the matter believes BYU is firmly in the mix--which says a lot for BYU, since no one from its side has provided even a single morsel of publicly-consumable information relative to interest or process. Other schools seem to have their leakers and their mouthpieces and their podium pronouncements, but BYU has been silent. Yet, they are seen to be a desired, if not a hot, commodity.

A little more than a year ago, the Big 12 was not calling BYU's number. I understand that, since the league was trying its best to keep the league's members together and happy, without allowing expansion to confuse the message. As it turned out, it had a hard time accomplishing either task, as discord reigned until one its members opted for the SEC a year later, with another still posturing to this very day.

Nevertheless, the Big 12 is on the expansion threshold now, and now, BYU appears to be a most valuable asset. In the absence of a BCS offer last season, the school did what it had to do to remain viable: go independent in football and find a conference home for its other sports. It is doubtful that BYU envisioned having to alter its course so soon after forging its new path, but things are moving quickly in today's collegiate athletics environment, and a sort of "kill or be killed" mentality prevails. To that end, BYU will certainly prefer the former to the latter, if death is to mean a position on the outside looking in on super-conference membership and the potential extinction of the high-level independents.

I have no doubt that President Cecil O. Samuelson and his leadership team made deals with ESPN and the WCC with every intent of honoring them for the long term. While not ideal in terms of BCS access, there was comfort and stability in those arrangements, and some security in knowing schools like Notre Dame and service academies were in the same boat. Given the current climate, with academies now targeted by BCS leagues, and Notre Dame's future options and Big East security in question, comfort and stability without "superconference" BCS access represents potentially treacherous waters to navigate.

The wild-and-crazy and borderline hodge-podge nature of the new conference patchworks may not be exactly the environment in which BYU prefers to do business, but these are tumultuous times, and the school is in position to play a hand that may have been forced just a little ahead of schedule. That said, membership in the Big 12 now has to be viewed as a desired objective, assuming BYU's conditions are all met; the alternatives appear less appealing with every passing day.

BYU fans are ready for the big-time; BYU as an institution has been ready for years. A year after waiting by the phone, the big time, and the Big 12, appear to be calling.

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Greg Wrubell

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