Passing game struggles. Is this over-reaching?

[Cougarfan87]

To be clear--I agree that the passing game never got going this year. What I disagree with is the implication that it was a Taysom issue. It was an offensive issue in general. Yes, Taysom could have been better, but the receiving corps (esp. tight ends and slot receivers) and Oline (even though the Oline exceeded my expectations) were a bigger issue.

Ty Detmer is transitioning BYU back to a pro-style offense so that BYU can recruit pro-level talent. There is a reason why 95% of schools don't try to run pro-style west coast offenses any more -- they are a lot more complex and require a lot more from every player on the team. We had a group of receivers who never really seemed to learn how to read zone vs. man coverage and were therefore running the wrong routes. That trickled down to the QB position where both QBs didn't have full trust in the receivers and would hold onto the ball to wait for the receivers to make their breaks to verify they were going where they thought they were, which meant that often by the time the receiver was verified to be open in the right route, the defense was in the backfield because our Oline is built for the zone-read, not the west coast pass protection. Every piece was a bit off.

With all of that. I firmly believe that Tanner Mangum holds the future of BYU football in his hands, just not for the reason most people might think. Ty Detmer's entire philosophy is built around feedback he received from NFL scouts -- under Robert Anae, BYU was not producing ANY pro-caliber athletes. They weren't prepared physically, mentally, nor did they have skills refined to that level. That is what the NFL scouts told Ty, and that is what Whittingham was telling recruits in their living rooms. Ty knows that to return BYU to greatness, they need to put emphasis on preparing every recruit for a possible future in the NFL. Tanner is the trial balloon for Ty's philosophy. If he can turn out a first two day draft prospect in Tanner Mangum, that would reverse a downward trend since John Beck (recruited by Crowton) left the program and would validate his philosophy of building for the NFL to win on the recruiting trail. As Tanner goes, so goes Ty and the future of BYU's offense.

Ding! Ding! Ding! That's my take on it as well. Ty is implementing a system for which the current personnel were not recruited, trained, or in some cases even well-suited. So, Ty did what he should have done. He ran a run heavy offense because he had the horses to do it. Even when all the recruits are in, trained, and know how to run the pro-style offense, I don't think you will see the high scoring games. The thing about a pro-style offense is that you don't typically blow other teams away, unless they are way overmatched, but you are also always in the game. So, I don't think we should judge Ty's offense on a lack of gaudy stats, but rather on wins and losses. As far as that goes, I don't think we lost any games this year that we could not have easily won with a few more executed plays by the players. I am optimistic about the future. We are in every game...which we have not always been.

[Cougs_Rule]

Good comments and analysis. I would agree with Sno, mostly. But Doesn't the pro style rely more heavily on pin point accuracy and execution? Route running was a problem but so was taysom''s accuracy. Up and above what would be a normal completion rate/per.
As for Tanner. His history at the elite and some good signs in 2015 give me hope but what gives me concern is that so many of his passes in 2015 were just jump/junk balls. We think he is accurate but is he? Bowl game gets a pass but he looked very mediocre. Understandable somewhat. Anyway, here's to a great 2017. If the Poly transfer RB pans out and the Oline can take a step forward; WR improve another notch, we should have a pretty solid O in Detmers 2nd year.