The Riley Question

we got to go with swenney or madison next because Riley can never get us to the rose bowl god forbid the holidat bowl

Riley shouldn’t have this job secured for 2010.

He certainly improved from last year.

With the offensive line goes Riley. Yes he was shield your eyes horrible against Oregon and USC. That’s on him. But, if our offensive line doesn’t suck then we get more Maryland Riley than Utah Riley. To say that he shouldn’t be the starter is essentially giving no respect to the fact that it is much harder to do your job when 300 pound men are running at you unimpeded.

People don’t even want Beau Sweeney, they just want Not Riley.

My question would be is Riley better than Mansion or Sweeney, and more importantly, does he give us a better chance to win football games? “Progress” is not the issue here.

I agree! Which is why I am so happy that Tedford didn’t start him back in 2007 over that clearly hobbled Nate Longshore.

Wait, what’s the irrational anger du jour again? That Riley sucks now? God, I cannot keep up with you guys anymore. Rileys the Messiah, Riley sucks more cock than Lady Gaga at the Costume Union’s Christmas Party, Riley secretly is taking Cal down from the inside, Riley recently donated $40,000 to charity of Tyson Alualu’s choosing.

JUST MAKE UP YOUR MIND, PEOPLE! Is Riley the greatest thing since CalBear81 or is he the worst thing since CalBear81 (the first time)???

Longshore’s short-comings weren’t due to his lack of athleticism. In 2007 the guy injured his ankle. He played throughout the injury, but it was widely reported by the time the fourth quarter came around that the painkillers were wearing off and thus the injury affected him more, as well as Cal was just in very tight games in the fourth quarter. In 2008, Longshore injured his pectoral muscle and played throughout the year with that injury too. Longshore’s lack of extreme athleticism had nothing to do with his failings.

Likewise, Riley’s inathleticism has nothing to do with his failings either. Riley just is not as consistent as he should be. He also has shown to be a bit careless with the football (although he has actually shown marked improvement in that area over the course of the season). Riley’s problems seem to be mental. He just doesn’t have the mental acuity to have a high level of consistency. His arm strength is adequate for college football. His foot speed and quickness is adequate too. He is a bit short and that probably has affected his play and throws, but there’s nothing more that we can do about that. Aaron Rodgers was a bit on the shorter side too but he succeeded. Heck, even Drew Brees is short. More important than a QB’s height, is just his ability to play and make the throws. Riley hasn’t always shown the consistency to do that.

Nice post. This part caught my attention:

It’s frustrating to me, because we don’t know enough about Mansion or Sweeney to really pass any judgment on their relative merits.

As I’ve said before, there were at least 6 games where Mansion or Sweeney could have played a bit more. They didn’t, and now we still don’t know what they can do in a live game. This falls on the coaches.

The thing is, we don’t know the answer to “The Riley Question”. It is like getting a multiple choice test question, with option a) (which is confusing and it is unclear whether it is the answer), b) and c) (both of which are blank).

The right answer is somewhere in there. Are you going to go with the confusing one or randomly pick a blank one?

I doubt this analogy makes sense, but the point is that we don’t have enough information to call for anyone’s head. As much as it pains some people to admit, Tedford knows a lot more about football than we do. Let him make what he thinks is the best decision.

CalBears04, I was not trying to sto pyou from writing your thoughts. I appreciate your frustration. I, myself, am frustrated. Tell us how you feel about Riley! There are many reasonable criticisms of him, I know. But I just wanted to tell you that the “SHould we start this person or that person” convo is always so difficult to deal with bc of lack of info. THat was my sole point.

Carry on!

Yes, I agree it’s so easy to pin blame on the starting QB. People did this to Longshore in 2007. I tried so very hard, and was so very alone, on trying to get people to see that it was unfair. So many other things were going on with the 2007 team, just like this 2009 team. Football is a team game. It takes execution all over the field, even away from the ball, for a team to win. I’m glad you’ve decided to take the hard route and ponder other things than just the QB. One of the ultimate goals of the CGB crew is to promote intelligent discussion and avoid simple-minded “the QB is always at fault” thinking which persists among so many lay fans.

Pretty much this. I want our QB to be the guy with the best ability to win football games. I trust Tedford to identify that player. If that player is Sweeney, great. If it’s Riley, also great.

I will say this: If Riley struggles to begin next year, and the Memorial Crowd boos him, I’m going to have trouble restraining my urge to kill.

He’s not going to grow any bigger or faster, and it’s unlikely he’ll get a stronger arm — but then, Riley doesn’t really need to improve his physical tools. Some of the big improvement for college quarterbacks comes when they catch up to the speed of the college game; things slow down for them, and decisions become easier. However, I think Riley has passed this point, and I don’t expect him to improve there, either.

What Riley really needs to work on is accuracy, consistency, and decision-making. He’s shown flashes of both accuracy and good decision-making, but we haven’t seen much in the way of consistency from him. Decision-making often improves as a quarterback becomes comfortable in the offense, and while it generally happens sooner in a QBs development (if it’s going to happen), the yearly revamping of the offense may have slowed him down. Assuming Ludwig returns for year 2, I think we could see an uptick in that area. My real question is — can he become more accurate, and can he do so more consistently? Honestly, I just don’t know. I could conceive of it happening, sure, but is that an area where QBs generally progress from junior to senior year? Or is accuracy ingrained earlier in an athlete’s physical development, where the scatter-armed are doomed to stay that way? Someone would have to run some numbers for me, because I honestly don’t know.

Short answer, Riley could improve with another year, but I’m not counting on a big leap forward.

No. Duh. You aren’t very good at this irrationality thing.

Bring me Desean Jackson, Lavelle Hawkins, and Robert Jordan and I’ll find you an Aaron Rodgers on our roster.

Aaron Rodgers was the next Pat Barnes!

I blame when Twist upset the Crystal Football of Power.

I have also noticed that Riley seems to be better in two-minute drill situations. I believe the reason is because those plays make him feel rushed. When he feels rushed, he’s more decisive with the ball. He gets the ball out quickly, and if nobody is open then he runs. When he’s not rushed, that’s when he hangs on to the ball, and he gets sacked. I would be interested to see Cal utilize a faster paced offense designed to keep the defense on its heels, and Riley in a more hurried mode.

HolmoePhobe will throw a fit!