Surprises

[Cougs_Rule]

The last two AZscos came on outside LB blitzes and I think one of them was an error by Bernard. Sitake alluded to that when asked about his great game,
But surprises?
Bernard was quite good. And will get better.
Kaufusi shows great signs considering he hasn't played DE for what, five years? He has the motor.
Other than some bad kicking by Almond-- clearly the freshman is a surprise...although coaches alluded during camp that the best kicker wasn't in camp--Yatsee! First collegiate kick under that pressure???? Wow!! We have the meat!!
Otherwise, Special teams was really pretty good. Johnny L has IT.
Oline did better than anticiaoted. Sure would be great to their two back. Johnson and Wilcox. Let's see vs tough Dline next week.
I was surprised how much Jamal was used. He won't be able to take that pounding every week. But that was the game plan. Let's hope the O opens up.

[snoscythe]

For the first game by a first-time college coach/coordinator running a new offense, I was pretty impressed at how efficient the offense was at moving the ball. The receivers had some drops (Nick Kurtz continues to showcase his T-rex arms on deep balls), and Jamaal had some big runs called back for stupid penalties, but if the offense can clean those things up and sustain drives, it could be a hard O to stop. It might not be Baylor-sexy, but it will score plenty enough to win games.

[BoiseBYU]

Two more: I was surprised at how well BYU fans represented. And I was surprised at how well the TE plays worked.

[bamf3000]

I was surprised at how bad Taysom was at waving off defenders. He looked to immediately stare down his intended receiver, which will cause issues with better teams going forward.

[birdie702]

I was surprised we had a TO left in the 4th quarter. Nothing against Bronco but he would've burned all of them in the 3rd quarter. Lol

[SpiffCoug]

I was surprised we had a TO left in the 4th quarter. Nothing against Bronco but he would've burned all of them in the 3rd quarter. Lol

I know. I was actually quite upset earlier when Taysom took that delay of game penalty. I thought he should have taken a timeout since it was clear the offense wasn't set, the snap wasn't ready and the play wasn't going to get off in time.

Good thing we took the five yards there.

[BroncoBot]

Bernard as LB, pretty solid first outing.
pressure on Solomon. He wasn't very comfortable at any point.
Run defense could definitely be a little better.
Missed PAT? Hopefully Oldroyd (sp?) steps up and can dominate there.
Taysom did NOT look as fast. But his decision making was solid and I agree with Sno, he was throwing darts all night. Had Pearson not dropped/went OOB on the sideline and I can't remember who dropped the fastball over the middle, he would have had an even better evening.

Overall, it went very well. I was nervous all game that arizona was going to rip off a big play and take the lead Would have been nice to find the endzone more often. Offense moved the ball very well. Made for a great game. Definitely something to build on.

[Screamineagle]

Bernard as LB, pretty solid first outing.
pressure on Solomon. He wasn't very comfortable at any point.
Run defense could definitely be a little better.
Missed PAT? Hopefully Oldroyd (sp?) steps up and can dominate there.
Taysom did NOT look as fast. But his decision making was solid and I agree with Sno, he was throwing darts all night. Had Pearson not dropped/went OOB on the sideline and I can't remember who dropped the fastball over the middle, he would have had an even better evening.

Overall, it went very well. I was nervous all game that arizona was going to rip off a big play and take the lead Would have been nice to find the endzone more often. Offense moved the ball very well. Made for a great game. Definitely something to build on.

And dont forget the two nice Jamal Williams runs that were called back.

[BOID]

I didn't think that Taysom was that slow. I do concede that he was taking care not to explode forward off from his right foot. He stumbled once while boot-legging left for a first down (but he did reach the marker). AZ's DB's were pretty fast in their coverage of Hill, as though they were spying him out for those end scrambles.

I doubt that Hill's full effort is that much slower. I think he is just being careful. As the season progresses, we will see more speed from him.

[BOID]

I think the biggest surprise was that the defenses from both teams were better than expected. I had a hunch this would be the case for BYU's D, but did not expect BSU's former coordinator to turn things around so quickly for AZ.

I think this Cougar O would have scored at least 42 points on AZ's 2015 defense.