Optimism?

Is there anything good to be taken from this game?



Harvey's 100+ yd running game vs. a stout run defense? TCU's return game being a non-factor against our suspect special teams?



Even after the Florida State loss I had some optimism, because Florida State's O played so perfectly they would have beaten anyone and because our offense looked great in spite of some costly mistakes, but I'm not coming up with anything after this loss. And I missed Bronco's comments in the KSL coaches show, I like hearing his explanation of the type of mistakes they made and how they would address them in the future. I hate feeling like I did after the TCU loss last year, again.

Depends. In earlier years, lessons were taken from losses like AZ and BC, and strengthened the team later in the year. The team will not face anyone as good as TCU the rest of the year, and can still salvage a good looking year, particularly if it includes a win against Utah and a low-satisfaction bowl. 11-2 Erases many bad memories and begins to look as good as Detmer's junior year?

How much of Unga's success is due to TCU shifting to a more pass heavy defense in the second quarter? I mean, when you're winning by 21 and can pretty much move the ball at will on offense, how much energy do you need to waste on run defense?

CAFB_04-12 wrote:
How much of Unga's success is due to TCU shifting to a more pass heavy defense in the second quarter? I mean, when you're winning by 21 and can pretty much move the ball at will on offense, how much energy do you need to waste on run defense?

Why single out the second half?



From our very first drive, Unga was averaging up around 5-6 yards per carry. He's hands down the top RB in the MWC, and not a single defense - including TCU's - can stop him.

Now if only our offensive coordinators could figure that out, and start realizing that THIS year, our offense is a RUSHING offense, NOT a passing offense...

I guess I'd say "We're still BYU, and they are not," and that's something that makes me optimistic. I still think our players are classy, upstanding, deep people who conduct themselves well on and off the field. I didn't see that from TCU last night, it's probably the only thing we did better than them, but at least there's something.

Schmoe wrote:
I guess I'd say "We're still BYU, and they are not," and that's something that makes me optimistic. I still think our players are classy, upstanding, deep people who conduct themselves well on and off the field. I didn't see that from TCU last night, it's probably the only thing we did better than them, but at least there's something.

And I guess it means something that every team is giving us the best game of their year, including BCS-hopeful TCU. It's only unfortunate that with teams like SDSU, CSU, etc, their best game wasn't good enough, but with TCU and FSU it was.

Here is my optimism after the game FWIW:



1. I don't mind losing to TCU when they are clearly the better team and with an unblemmished record will represent our conference the best. If we can't keep from being embarrassed by TCU, we certainly don't belong in a BCS bowl.



2. The FSU game and both the last two TCU games are now understood as not flukes. I think even Bronco bought into the idea that last year's TCU game was a fluke to some degree and that player's attitudes had a lot to do with that. This outcome puts that malarky to rest. BYU doesn't simply go emotionless for big games, there are certain game plans that simply don't work in big-game situations. "Just out-execute our opponent," is apparently one of them, but it has taken all three of these losses to overcome Bronco's bias on that (which is still left over, I believe, from the 38-8 win over Oregon).



So perhaps this game will convince Bronco that he must simply prepare differently for faster, better teams.



3. I still think BYU can beat Utah and play in the LV Bowl (a much cheaper ticket than a BCS bowl). A convincing win there will tell us that Bronco has possibly learned something for the seasons to come. VERY CRITICAL to be certain we don't waste a great recruiting class like 2010.



4. I'm less and less afraid for our prospects next year with every down I see Riley Nelson play. Here's hoping he gets a couple quarters against Wyoming.

Unga



Special teams coverage



Overall rush defense (although there were a couple times when we could have stopped them and gotten the ball back but didn't, but we kept them about 100 below their average)



We won't play a team as good as TCU for the rest of the year



Hall has hopefully gotten over his propensity for throwing to the other team



I still believe in an 11-2 season