Another tale of two halves

Okay... I am going to preface this in that I am glad we won this game, and Riley was the right player to be on the field as QB.



Now.. WHAT THE FREAK HAPPENED IN THE SECOND HALF!!!!



23 first half points. 6 second half points.



170 Passing yards in the first half. 49 in the in the second half, all in the 4th quarter.



And if my calculations are correct:

BYU PER in the first half: 229.86. BYU PER in the second half: 61.16.



This offense still has a lot of issues to sort out. They still had 3 turnovers, and many stalled drives, especially in the second half. What the heck happened?



Riley was 10-14 for 170 yards and 3 TD's in the first half with one INT.

He went 4-10 for 49 yards, 0 TD's and one INT in the second half.



Why is it so difficult for this team to put together two good halves of football?

This is every game Riley Nelson has ever started. Looks good early, can't sustain it. We played a bad defensive team tonight, and they were able to make the adjustments to him. The scary thing is, I don't have any reason to believe that it would have been any better with Heaps (although I think he's back starting by the end of the year).



Can we go out and recruit a JC guy for next year (partially TIC).

I think I'll take a page out of the commander in chief's book and deflect problems to the previous regime. This is all Anae's fault. He always relaxed in the second half and tried to run the clock out, no matter how big or small BYU's lead was. This philosophy has infected even the great Doman.

The offensive game calling was great. The failure has nothing to do with Doman, imo.



SJSU made Riley Nelson throw the ball under pressure, and took away his run. This is what happens when you do that. You can look at any of his first half, to second half statistics and they will show you this. Sometimes teams adjust quicker, but they seem to get there by the half, at least.



Riley Nelson first half - 7 rushes for 47 yards

2nd half - 2 rushes for 12 yards

I think Doman had a few play calling difficulties in the 2nd half. We would be moving the ball well when he'd get a little greedy and want more than we were ready to give off. Also, I think the Cougars went into eat up the clock mode fairly early in the 2nd half.



Clearly we're still working to get a full game put together, but this was by far the best offensive performance we've seen to date.

hawkwing wrote:
I think Doman had a few play calling difficulties in the 2nd half. We would be moving the ball well when he'd get a little greedy and want more than we were ready to give off. Also, I think the Cougars went into eat up the clock mode fairly early in the 2nd half.



Clearly we're still working to get a full game put together, but this was by far the best offensive performance we've seen to date.

exactly. Nelson wasn't throwing much in the second half period so it wasn't as simple as SJSU forcing him to throw. BYU seemed content to simply run the ball a lot. It got predictable.



Blue is Better, your stats don't make sense. According to you SJSU was forcing Riley to throw BUT Riley was still averaging 6 yards/carry in the second half. Sounds like Doman should have let him run MORE.

It's the best our offense has played all season, and I'll take it.

But yes, BYU needs to figure out how to play two halves in a game.



I still like the fact that Riley and the offense were able to 1) get points on their second to last drive (a FG that pushed the lead back to 3 possessions) and 2) get a few first downs on their last drive to seal the win.



In previous weeks, when counted on in the 2nd half to do either of those things the offense struggled.

Doman needs to figure out 2nd half play calling. The first drive of the third quarter is way too early to go into power rushing, ground out the clock, prevent offense. You don't take the foot off the pedal until ... well never.

declocoug wrote:
exactly. Nelson wasn't throwing much in the second half period so it wasn't as simple as SJSU forcing him to throw. BYU seemed content to simply run the ball a lot. It got predictable.

BYU threw the ball less in the 3rd quarter, but all in all only threw 4 fewer passes in the second half than the first. in the first half, 10/14. Second half, 4/10. Nelson clearly wasn't as sharp on his passes in the second half. I hope this team learns how to put together a full game.



Also remember, BYU had no passing yards in the 3rd quarter. This is a problem...

SpiffCoug wrote:
Doman needs to figure out 2nd half play calling. The first drive of the third quarter is way too early to go into power rushing, ground out the clock, prevent offense. You don't take the foot off the pedal until ... well never.

Amen, again it seemed like Doman was content with the lead and was ready for clock burning play calls. It wasnt until the 1st drive in the fourth quarter that he opened the play book and actually threw the ball. I am confussed as to his thinking. Why would he not try and keep the pressure on? Why is he thinking about the game clock, if you watched Nelson would stand over center until there was almost no time left in the play clock. And that was on there 1st drive of the 3rd quarter. Yes BYU won but they look extremly dull in the second half, like the offense had done there job in the 1st half and was up 40 points and was just working on getting the game over as fast as possible.



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declocoug wrote:

I think Doman had a few play calling difficulties in the 2nd half. We would be moving the ball well when he'd get a little greedy and want more than we were ready to give off. Also, I think the Cougars went into eat up the clock mode fairly early in the 2nd half.



Clearly we're still working to get a full game put together, but this was by far the best offensive performance we've seen to date.

exactly. Nelson wasn't throwing much in the second half period so it wasn't as simple as SJSU forcing him to throw. BYU seemed content to simply run the ball a lot. It got predictable.



Blue is Better, your stats don't make sense. According to you SJSU was forcing Riley to throw BUT Riley was still averaging 6 yards/carry in the second half. Sounds like Doman should have let him run MORE.

This. Doman called a pretty good game, but late in the first half, why were we throwing deep? I imagine Doman was trying to break SJSU's back and finish them off - but no need to take that risk in that situation - they had not shown any ability to stop us. It may bore some of you, but running, draws, screens, short play-acton passes would haven etted us a field goal or a TD and left no time on the clock for SJSU to get that field goal late in the half and gain momentum for the 2nd half.



Same thing applies to the 2nd half interception.



But given that those plays were called, Nelson needs to learn that sometimes it is not there and trying to make a big play and take the risk to force something may make all kind of sense when coming from behind with time running out, but make no sense at all when ahead of th eopponent.



Even then - I cut Doman and Nelson a little slack - Nelson's two interceptions had roughly the affect of a really good "quick Kick". We got a safety and great field position out of the fumble. The first Int cost us a field goal. The defense should not have allowed SJSU to rip off a 15 or 20 yard gain on 1st down from inside their five yard line and then march 95 yards for a TD.

Ungoy wrote:

exactly. Nelson wasn't throwing much in the second half period so it wasn't as simple as SJSU forcing him to throw. BYU seemed content to simply run the ball a lot. It got predictable.

BYU threw the ball less in the 3rd quarter, but all in all only threw 4 fewer passes in the second half than the first. in the first half, 10/14. Second half, 4/10. Nelson clearly wasn't as sharp on his passes in the second half. I hope this team learns how to put together a full game.



Also remember, BYU had no passing yards in the 3rd quarter. This is a problem...

Don't panic too much over the 4/10. One of those pass attempts was a throw away - turned out better than a sack would have. It was a rediculous throw away - but not an indication that suddenly Nelson was not accurate. Then there was the drop of a pass that hit the receiver in stride - both hands - uncovered - absolutely should have been caught. That would have meant 5/9.



Also keep in mind - BYU could have easily scored at the end of the game. They were well within field goal range when they started taking a knee.



Just before the game started, I bumped my BYU score prediction up to 34 points. I wish BYU had kicked that field goal or played more conservative at the end of the first half and gotten at least a field goal there.



Not much has been said here - but we caught a big break when SJSU stud RB could not go.

Cougarbib2 wrote:

declocoug wrote:
exactly. Nelson wasn't throwing much in the second half period so it wasn't as simple as SJSU forcing him to throw. BYU seemed content to simply run the ball a lot. It got predictable.

BYU threw the ball less in the 3rd quarter, but all in all only threw 4 fewer passes in the second half than the first. in the first half, 10/14. Second half, 4/10. Nelson clearly wasn't as sharp on his passes in the second half. I hope this team learns how to put together a full game.



Also remember, BYU had no passing yards in the 3rd quarter. This is a problem...

Don't panic too much over the 4/10. One of those pass attempts was a throw away - turned out better than a sack would have. It was a rediculous throw away - but not an indication that suddenly Nelson was not accurate. Then there was the drop of a pass that hit the receiver in stride - both hands - uncovered - absolutely should have been caught. That would have meant 5/9.



Also keep in mind - BYU could have easily scored at the end of the game. They were well within field goal range when they started taking a knee.



Just before the game started, I bumped my BYU score prediction up to 34 points. I wish BYU had kicked that field goal or played more conservative at the end of the first half and gotten at least a field goal there.



Not much has been said here - but we caught a big break when SJSU stud RB could not go.

If you are counting all of those, then you better count the pick six dropped for a TD.



(That was for you, Sno. :) )



Just bringing what you guys like to call "fairness" to the table.

BlueIsBetter wrote:

Ungoy wrote:

exactly. Nelson wasn't throwing much in the second half period so it wasn't as simple as SJSU forcing him to throw. BYU seemed content to simply run the ball a lot. It got predictable.

BYU threw the ball less in the 3rd quarter, but all in all only threw 4 fewer passes in the second half than the first. in the first half, 10/14. Second half, 4/10. Nelson clearly wasn't as sharp on his passes in the second half. I hope this team learns how to put together a full game.



Also remember, BYU had no passing yards in the 3rd quarter. This is a problem...

Don't panic too much over the 4/10. One of those pass attempts was a throw away - turned out better than a sack would have. It was a rediculous throw away - but not an indication that suddenly Nelson was not accurate. Then there was the drop of a pass that hit the receiver in stride - both hands - uncovered - absolutely should have been caught. That would have meant 5/9.



Also keep in mind - BYU could have easily scored at the end of the game. They were well within field goal range when they started taking a knee.



Just before the game started, I bumped my BYU score prediction up to 34 points. I wish BYU had kicked that field goal or played more conservative at the end of the first half and gotten at least a field goal there.



Not much has been said here - but we caught a big break when SJSU stud RB could not go.

If you are counting all of those, then you better count the pick six dropped for a TD.



(That was for you, Sno. :) )



Just bringing what you guys like to call "fairness" to the table.

You'll notice that I'm not making excuses for the second half. I'm rather enjoying watching everyone wearing the opposite shoes this AM. Heaps fans making the arguments they were fighting off a week ago, and the Nelson fans adopting what were Heaps arguments last week.



My take--the common denominator in our second half woes = Brandon Doman. Apologies to Heaps to the extent I over-attributed them to him.

snoscythe wrote:

If you are counting all of those, then you better count the pick six dropped for a TD.



(That was for you, Sno. :) )



Just bringing what you guys like to call "fairness" to the table.

You'll notice that I'm not making excuses for the second half. I'm rather enjoying watching everyone wearing the opposite shoes this AM. Heaps fans making the arguments they were fighting off a week ago, and the Nelson fans adopting what were Heaps arguments last week.



My take--the common denominator in our second half woes = Brandon Doman. Apologies to Heaps to the extent I over-attributed them to him.

I know, right? It's funny how perspective and individual life-experience can lead you down different roads.



Nelson looked absolutely phenomenal at times, and beyond terrible at times (that throw straight up in the air getting dragged down? I mean, how do you do that?)



I will contact my brother, Jake Heaps, to let him know you apologize. I mean, errr... where is the edit button. ;)

snoscythe wrote:
You'll notice that I'm not making excuses for the second half. I'm rather enjoying watching everyone wearing the opposite shoes this AM. Heaps fans making the arguments they were fighting off a week ago, and the Nelson fans adopting what were Heaps arguments last week.



My take--the common denominator in our second half woes = Brandon Doman. Apologies to Heaps to the extent I over-attributed them to him.

Thanks for saying this Sno.



Again, I don't want people to think I brought this up in order to spin Heaps vs. Riley. That's not why I started this thread. I started this thread to outline an ongoing problem this season for BYU, and that is that second half football has generally been piss poor, and yesterday's game was no exception.



Great that we got the win. Now figure out how to play two good halves of football on the same day.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Doman needs to figure out 2nd half play calling. The first drive of the third quarter is way too early to go into power rushing, ground out the clock, prevent offense. You don't take the foot off the pedal until ... well never.

This is Anae's offensive (no killer instinct) philosophy in a nutshell and it pisses me off to no end to see that it is continuing.