(Written by kencraw)

That’s not a criticism, that’s an actual question. Never in my years of following Tedford has his decision making process been so unpredictable to me. I FULLY expected Longshore to start this week. The order in which the two tooks snaps in practice was very similar to how they took snaps before Longshore’s other starts, at least early in the week.

So what is Tedford thinking? I think the right answer is that nobody knows… and he likes it that way.

So here are my thoughts as to the possible reasons why Riley started on Saturday:

• UCLA defensive line: At the weekly press-conference Tedford talked about picking the QB based on the “game plan”. Well, what if the “game plan” includes recognizing that UCLA is going to try and bring a lot of rushing heat via their studly interior defensive linemen? Well, if you’re worried about that, you’re much more likely to pick your more mobile quarterback, someone who’s more likely to still make a play even after getting heat.
• Home games are easier for inexperienced QB’s: Perhaps the reason that Longshore got the start versus Arizona was because he wanted a QB who had a lot of experience for a road game. Now that the team was back home in their comfort zone, Tedford felt more comfortable playing the younger Riley. The problem with this theory is that Longshore started the Colorado State game, which was a home game.
• Riley was replaced to get some ‘perspective’: This theory is that Riley has been the starter all along in principle but Tedford decided that Riley needed to take a step back before he got to scatter-brained with the pressures of starting every week. Instead, you take him aside and say “OK, we’re gong to give you a couple weeks off to work on your fundamentals and get back in the groove.” This theory doesn’t feel right, but perhaps, if you combine it with the road game theory and change this one slightly to say it retroactively, that Riley DID improve after getting a week to re-group, that Tedford thought, I want to get this guy back under center, but I want to do it at home.
• Unspoken injuries: There’s a lot of possibilities here. Perhaps Riley had an injury that the coaching staff didn’t communicate. Perhaps it’s quite the opposite and it is Longshore who’s nagging back injury or leg injuries that weren’t communicated but have been suspected that was the reason for the decision.

So which is it? Only Tedford knows. Perhaps it is something entirely different. All I know is that this is not the same Tedford who stuck with his QB for all of 2007 even as he was hurting very badly. As I said up front, nobody knows what he’s thinking and I think that’s the way he likes it.