Mid-season Report Card

2011 football season is half over. Position by position grades for the first half.



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I wouldn't normally comment on subjective ratings but these are way off. What have these guys been watching this season?



Offense: D- - They are terrible on a national level

QB's: D - Do I really need to explain?

RB's: I agree

O-Line: I'll give them a LOL for a grade. Overrated as usual because they can't run block. This year they can't even pass block very well. B? Hilarious.

D-Line: A- They are the reason our defense is good.

Linebackers: A- These have been our only playmakers on O or D all season. They should get more props.



Secondary: C- Responsible for countless blunders and big plays. If not for the front 7's general dominance they'd be even more exposed.



Coaching: D- Bit too generous again on that one. Where to begin? Early cancellation of practice. Heaps' regression. RB regression. No play calls to get our stud (?) WR's in the game early. Allowing the Ghost of Anae to call prevent offense. Another QB controversy? Halftime testimony meetings.



Did I miss anything?

It is so interesting to watch the BYU coaches. Last year, they suckered into the two QB thing. This year I think they suckered into the Heaps is great thing and just left him in. Other schools most likely would have jerked Heaps out in about the second or third game. I'm willing to give Nelson a chance, but somehow I'm unconvinced he can lead BYU to the promised land. Why has Lark not been given a look?



If I had a "great" QB, as Heaps is supposed to be, and he misses his receivers by five and ten yards, and can't throw a nice little floater to Austin Hold who is behind the entire defense; I'd have Heaps on the bench early in the season and see what the other QBs can do. If I had the receivers BYU has, and my QB can't get the ball to them, the QB would be on the bench.



I believe part of the problem is we have a bunch of new offensive coaches this year, and this year may change the way they coach. I'm not sure what the deal is with our "great" offensive line, but the QB still has to put the ball where the receivers have a chance to catch it. Heaps isn't doing that, not sure Nelson can do that either. Nelson's had a game and a half, Saturday will be his Third game. If he doesn't show some passing skills and success, I'd put Lark in for a half.

mizzoucoug wrote:
I wouldn't normally comment on subjective ratings but these are way off. What have these guys been watching this season?



Offense: D- - They are terrible on a national level

QB's: D - Do I really need to explain?

RB's: I agree

O-Line: I'll give them a LOL for a grade. Overrated as usual because they can't run block. This year they can't even pass block very well. B? Hilarious.

D-Line: A- They are the reason our defense is good.

Linebackers: A- These have been our only playmakers on O or D all season. They should get more props.



Secondary: C- Responsible for countless blunders and big plays. If not for the front 7's general dominance they'd be even more exposed.



Coaching: D- Bit too generous again on that one. Where to begin? Early cancellation of practice. Heaps' regression. RB regression. No play calls to get our stud (?) WR's in the game early. Allowing the Ghost of Anae to call prevent offense. Another QB controversy? Halftime testimony meetings.



Did I miss anything?

Yes. Coaches deserve an F. They hyped this team all off season and through fall camp, to the point of taking days off. They didn't even know that our best RB wasn't on the field, until Saturday.



Complete failure on the coaches part to this point.

I find it amusing that everyone loves our run D, and gets mad at our pass D. Yet our Pass D ranks higher nationally than our run D does. Spiff can back me up on this. Pass D ranks 35th. Run D ranks not as high.

Lawboy wrote:
I find it amusing that everyone loves our run D, and gets mad at our pass D. Yet our Pass D ranks higher nationally than our run D does. Spiff can back me up on this. Pass D ranks 35th. Run D ranks not as high.

I've noticed this as well. THIS is one of the better pass defenses (statistically) BYU has had for years.

northerncougar wrote:

I wouldn't normally comment on subjective ratings but these are way off. What have these guys been watching this season?



Offense: D- - They are terrible on a national level

QB's: D - Do I really need to explain?

RB's: I agree

O-Line: I'll give them a LOL for a grade. Overrated as usual because they can't run block. This year they can't even pass block very well. B? Hilarious.

D-Line: A- They are the reason our defense is good.

Linebackers: A- These have been our only playmakers on O or D all season. They should get more props.



Secondary: C- Responsible for countless blunders and big plays. If not for the front 7's general dominance they'd be even more exposed.



Coaching: D- Bit too generous again on that one. Where to begin? Early cancellation of practice. Heaps' regression. RB regression. No play calls to get our stud (?) WR's in the game early. Allowing the Ghost of Anae to call prevent offense. Another QB controversy? Halftime testimony meetings.



Did I miss anything?

Yes. Coaches deserve an F. They hyped this team all off season and through fall camp, to the point of taking days off. They didn't even know that our best RB wasn't on the field, until Saturday.



Complete failure on the coaches part to this point.

Just a reminder, we are 4-2 against the hard portion of the schedule. Sure, it hasn't been pretty, but there have been some good things.



QB

Heaps did have a good half in each of the first 3 games. Nelson has a passer rating of 162.



Coaching

Give Mendenhall credit for making the call on defense that resulted in Van Noy scoring the winning TD.

Give Doman credit for a good game plan in the first half of the Texas game, including calling plays on a 97-yard TD drive.

Give Doman credit for making it a point to get Hoffman involved.

Give Doman credit for sitting Heaps against USU< and then making the right choice to start Nelson the next week.

My problem is mostly with the coaches.

declocoug wrote:

I find it amusing that everyone loves our run D, and gets mad at our pass D. Yet our Pass D ranks higher nationally than our run D does. Spiff can back me up on this. Pass D ranks 35th. Run D ranks not as high.

I've noticed this as well. THIS is one of the better pass defenses (statistically) BYU has had for years.

Don't let the statistics fool you. We've played mostly awful passing teams:

Ole Miss: 108th

USU: 105th

Texas, Utah, UCF and San Jose all the in upper 70's.



But we have played some good running teams:

USU: 5th

UCF: 28th

Texas: 45th

Lawboy wrote:
I find it amusing that everyone loves our run D, and gets mad at our pass D. Yet our Pass D ranks higher nationally than our run D does. Spiff can back me up on this. Pass D ranks 35th. Run D ranks not as high.

Come on Law you're smarter than that. We have been forcing offenses into 3rd and long situations all year because the run D has been stout. That makes for much easier pass defense situations.



Look I think they've done fine this season, but their good stats are due to the fact that they are heavily propped up by a front 7 that is nationally "great" imo.

Our passing efficiency defense is ranked #34 at 119.35. Whether we've played good passing teams or not, teams have had trouble throwing efficiently against us.



Offensive PERs we've faced and (how they did against BYU):

#22 Utah St 155.75 (114.80)

#40 Texas 146.68 (91.66)

#50 UCF 139.81 (147.46)

#78 Utah 122.26 (131.21)

#108 San Jose St 108.44 (121.20)

#114 Ole Miss 102.18 (96.77)



So teams with a PER higher than what we allowed have an even higher PER if you eliminate the BYU game. Teams with a lower PER than what we allowed have a lower PER if you eliminate the BYU game.



So we held USU, Texas, San Jose St and Ole Miss well below their average PER (maybe well below is too strong a word for Ole Miss.) The only teams to throw better than us were Utah (who now stinks at QB) and San Jose St who wasn't really in the game and their 121 is still not a greaet PER. Only one team has met the BYU standard.

What this also shows is that even an effective running game doesn't necessarily equate to an efficient passing game. You throw efficiently to set up the run. You don't throw efficiently, you lose.



It should be pointed out that Texas had a much better PER after they benched Gilbert.