Moving On to BSU--Room for Improvement

[snoscythe]

This isn't meant to be a Debbie-downer thread or to take anything away from the Cougs' win. Instead, I'm just looking for an honest post-mortem of where BYU needs to work on getting better fast. Nebraska was a field goal kicker away from winning that game. Nebraska was one brain-fart away from winning that game (seriously--on a hail mary, how do you wrap up the receiver and pull him into the end zone with you?). BYU escaped, and I'll take it. Here's what I see needs attention or buttoning down for the next game:

1) Micah Hanneman. The guy looked like he simply was not ready for the college game. He got abused all game long, but got some measure of redemption in his interception of Armstrong's heave as he was going down. A lot of people will remember the pick and think he's swell, but he was lost out there, and Nebraska gobbled up a lot of yards just going after Hanneman down after down. The kid needs to show drastic improvement or find the bench. If he doesn't improve and he's the best we got, we are going to get torched by the pass all season long. Get ready for lots of average QBs to look like Heisman contenders all over again ala 2014. Hopefully with Nacua and Mike Davis back this is addressed in personnel changes.

2) Arm and body tackling. Looking squarely at you, Harvey Langi. This is one that you expect coming out of Fall camp where they don't do as much full-contact any more. The guys as a whole have got to wrap up better instead of grabbing jerseys (or towels) or just trying to bowl guys over. Langi missed a few TFLs that turned into gains, and one even turned into a touchdown.

3) Illegal formation penalties. Dr. Anae--if they flag a formation once, you need to rip those pages out of the playbook for the rest of the game until you can get back to a desk and figure out what's going wrong. You don't call that same formation twice more in the same game.

4) Run game. From what I saw, BYU came into that game planning to win on the passing game. There was little to no effort to establish a true run game. Part of me can't blame them--this was the stoutest middle defense we are going to face all season. Nebraska had two tackles on the DLine who will play on Sunday. Koroma was a beast in pass protection, but BYU never really did anything to try to establish the run game even on the outside where the Huskers are vulnerable. If this was the extent of our run game, it could be looong season.

5) Is GFGH dead? Even in the two minute drill I never saw BYU run the HUNH/Nitro/GFGH or whatever they are calling it these days. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing (especially with how gassed our D was looking late in the third quarter and throughout the 4th). Just curious if that experiment has passed or not.

What am I missing?

[dank80]

You've put together a great list. I would like to see better use of timeouts. All too often at the end of the game we don't have as many as we could have because they were unnecessarily wasted earlier in the game.

[BroncoBot]

Hopefully with Nacua and Mike Davis back this is addressed in personnel changes.
What am I missing?

Well, for starters, you missed that Mike Davis was T-2nd highest total in tackles for the game and had the most solo tackles of anyone. Can't count on things being better when he gets back if he's already back...

[BroncoBot]

Just have to say, props to the coaches for finally getting Kaufusi back on the D-line. He was a difference maker there.

[scott715]

Predator needs to heal up. Nacua's return will help as well as Tatiaka.

[snoscythe]

Hopefully with Nacua and Mike Davis back this is addressed in personnel changes.
What am I missing?

Well, for starters, you missed that Mike Davis was T-2nd highest total in tackles for the game and had the most solo tackles of anyone. Can't count on things being better when he gets back if he's already back...

[Cougs_Rule]

Great points Sno. I posted similarly in another thread.
Micah H-- nailed it. Athletic kid, but overmatched and will be every QBs favorite target. Help?
Langi--yikes. I trust he is correctable and will be a huge contributor.
Illegal Forms--Nebraska had more than we did. New rule? Who knows but It's fixable.
RB--no fixes here. Magnum PI will be slinging it 40-60x per game. The only hope is Trey Dye and he is likely to catch out of backfield. Hopefully Algie can figure out how to catch a throw that hits him right in the hands with an open field for a TD. Hine needs space to get going. Anae was smart to avoid the absolute strength of that D. Credit him for not being so stubborn that he tried forcing that. Got a payoff late in game with Draw to Hine.
GFGH Dead? Who knows. Maybe. In that sweltering heat, it was probably a good thing we weren't. We looked slow enough and tired enough as it was. And last year it definitely seemed that BYU would fade toward end of games, out of gas. My guess, is it's mostly over, and will only come out occassionally to catch teams off guard.
Great to see decrease in penalties!! This hasnt been mentioned in press during camp so I'm assuming it was a priority the hind closed doors. But whatever it showed!!
Do we really want Micah H back receiving punts when we are so thin at DB? Shouldn't he be saving his strength and sparing him from high risk behaviors?
Hopefully Nacua can bring an Andrew Rich influence to this D. Sure seemed missing vs Neb.
On another note, RB blocking seemed decent. Protecting THill sure seemed like a priority. I know the Oline was mostly good, but they also got blown up sometimes in fourth.
But, so much learned with first game.
And credit Bronco for cutting loose on his post game sprint and locker room celebration. You want to win hearts of players, do what he did, including funeral services for THill. Although saying he has never loved a player more seems a bit disingenuous. Riley must be feeling really jilted.
Go Cougs Kick those damn Donks!!
Show up Cougar fans!!! Don't be lam-ohs and stay home!!

[SpiffCoug]

Langi tackled much better after the first quarter. It was almost like he wasn't quite ready for game speed and took a while to adjust.

[frdbtr]

When Nacua gets back, we will see Preator start where Hanneman was. I also thought Hanneman looked like he was over matched out there. Even when he was in the right spot to make a play, he didn't even look strong enough to tackle the receiver he was on, looked like he struggled with it. I think the defense will improve with the suspensions being over, but losing Tuiloma is freaking huge. Nebraska ran the ball right up our gut after he went out.

Also, I will be interested to see how Mangum plays when he is the known starter. It is one thing to go in when you weren't expecting it, it is another thing to prepare all week and have those nerves. I think he is very talented and showed it but he is still a freshman.

[MesaCougFan]

If we play as well as we played on Saturday and BSU plays the way they did on Friday, I think we win. TT's loss was devistating! We had a gaping hole up the gut w/o TT, Takitaki & Nacua. With that being said, I expect Takitaki and Nacua to more than compensate for the loss of TT. I thought Hanneman looked pretty good on Saturday (surprised by SNO's scalding assessment). For Tanner's sake, we need to develop a RB that can run down hill and drive the pile. I thought Algie was going to be that guy on Saturday, but he wasn't. I'm optimistic that it was more the fact that NU's D-Line was awesome! Probably their best unit, and the best that we will face all year.

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