We Are Who We Thought We Were (or NOT)

Disgusting. Threadbare. Nasty. Sickening. Frustrating.



Am I missing any other words?



I am an optimist, and still feel very positively towards BYU football...but now is the time to let the facts be the facts. We now have a streak of embarassing losses...TCU, Utah, Arizona, Florida State, TCU...it has been so bad, that I found myself wishing that we would lose by two scores for a change.



Nevertheless...I digress...for the past several months, I felt that BYU had just been out-coached...out-schemed...out-executed whenever they would lose a game. These embarrassing losses just felt so flukish, you know?



Well...it is time to man up and say it straight. It may be speed, it may be athleticism, it may be schemes...but whatever it is, BYU is third fiddle in the conference right now and there is a growing separation between us and TCU (and Utah for that matter).



There must be a reason why BYU wins almost every Saturday...but when we do lose, it is by huge - and I mean HUGE - margins. To me, this just reeks of fundamental flaws in coaching philosophy. It seems that teams with equal or better talent than BYU find it increasingly easy to scheme for the defense's relatively predictable coverages...and that they know if they can jump on BYU early, the offense will implode by its pedestrian ability to make in-game adjustments.



Lest we be too harsh...we should remember that winning 9-10 games on a "down" year is really pretty good...provided that this is actually a "down" year and not the new status quo. If we let the outcomes guide our interpretations, we have no choice but to acknowledge the pattern and conclude that BYU is the weakest of the big three.



What does it really mean if we beat the teams we are supposed to...only to get embarrassed repeatedly by our equals? It means we probably are not equal to TCU, Utah, Arizona, or Florida State.



Ouch.



For the record...I do believe in Bronco's ability to turn this thing around...but in order to do so, we have to accept things as they really are right now.



Suddenly, the Vegas bowl does not sound so bad.

I guess this loss works out well for me in the long run. I start finals on Saturday, and they run through next Friday, so between this woodshed number and the bye week, I won't be nearly as tempted to spend 8 hours a day on BYU football stuff.

I'm not willing to jump off the wagon with just two losses, one of which came to a very good football team. The TCU game was much worse overall than the FSU game. We simply got schooled from the second offensive series for TCU till the end of the game. I think in order to beat TCU next year we're going to have to take a year-long approach, like TCU does, and devote some TCU practice on the weeks we don't have a real opponent (New Mexico, for example). One week just isn't enough time anymore to be able to beat TCU.



At least this will get the team focused in order to beat Utah. If Max Hall can't recover from this beating then he'll have no chance against a much more emotional team in Utah and we'll get whipped again. Utah is his last chance to solidify his place in BYU football history.



10 win season are good. Not great, just good.



I agree we seem to be falling behind TCU and Utah in talent and prestige. Finishing behind Utah: not okay. Finishing behind a very good TCU: not as bad.



We can't forget that Hall has risen to the occasion on at least two huge games: Utah 2007 and OU 2009. I don't expect to win every single big game. Just at least one more (Utah).

A couple thoughts I've had since last night on this subject:



- I don't know if the "Blowout loss to good opponents" problem is necessarily a Bronco-team-identity thing. The only big blowout losses in Bronco's career were a few in the first season (not a good gauge in my opinion), then TCU last year, followed by Utah later in the year, then two games this year. The other losses (Arizona 2006, Boston College, UCLA 2007, Tulsa, Arizona 2008) were very close and if one or two plays go in BYU's favor in each they become wins. In fact, the blowout losses being last year and this makes me think there is just as much a possibility the problem could stem from the personnel we have. You might argue that it's still the coaches not handling the problems this personnel presents, but if it is a special dynamic between the coaches and this personell it's not necessarily going to be a permenent problem.



- Someone on CB a while back laid out the historical trend of 6-year(?) cycles between the peak performance of great BYU teams, where 2006 landed right at the peak of a cycle. If that trend is real, we're about 3 years away from the next peak, putting us at the trough where (if I remember correctly) most BYU teams were usually 6-6. If our down years are 10-win seasons, I'm excited to see what happens when we peak in a couple years.



- I know little to nothing about play-calling, but I'm reluctant to put so much blame for a loss in which the defense plays so poorly, on the shoulders of Anae. Sure, he could have helped us win in spite of our poor defense, but you can likewise argue that Max could have somehow completed a pass instead of fumbling in that sack last night. That's the problem with a complex system, it's very difficult to trace the cause of system failure, especially when you don't have an insight into Anae's reasoning or which plays were called by Max instead, or what TCU's defense was doing that caused him to make the decisions he did.

I'm sorry, but I'm having a lot of trouble thinking of any reason to defend Anea's performance last night.



I've said it before, I'll keeping saying it... when your running back is getting at least 5-6 yards per carry, you do NOT stop running the ball until the opponent fails to stop him at least once or twice



In AF's game against Utah... they rushed 40 times and passed once. Why? The running game was moving the ball for them and scoring them points



I've seen similar games with Army - where the opponent couldn't stop the run, and so Army literally would not pass the ball AT ALL



It's an impossibility that Anae could have had any logical "reasons" to put a halt to the running game last night. One example is from our opening drive. We brought it down into TCU territory - mainly from Unga's efforts - it's 1st and 10, Unga runs it for 8 yards. This brings up 2nd and 2... keep running right? Don't risk it, right?

Wrong... we call a pass play, Hall gets sacked - kills the drive that could have very well put us up 7-0 to begin the game. THAT alone there changes the game VERY DRAMATICALLY. But it never happened, because on a 2nd and 2, Anae decided to abandon the run - the run that was getting us about 5-6 yards per carry.



Then comes the beginning of the 3rd quarter, and the most important drive of the game for BYU. Unga basically single-handedly carried our offense halfway down the field - he was unstoppable. And what happens? We - for whatever assinine reasoning - construct a drive of all passing plays and, of course, are brought to 4th down and punt.



Again - there is no defending Anae on this. In fact, this complete neglect of Unga and our running game has been a repeating theme this season.

I'm sorry, but BYU is NOT a passing team this year... we are a RUSHING team, but watching one of ours games, you'd hardly be able to tell whether or not our own coaches comprehend this yet.

I just don't think you can catch up on a 21-0 deficit by running the ball all day. Pass on 2nd and 2? Bad call, no doubt.

CAFB_04-12 wrote:
I just don't think you can catch up on a 21-0 deficit by running the ball all day. Pass on 2nd and 2? Bad call, no doubt.

2nd and 2 seems like a great time to catch a defense off guard with a long pass. AT least you've got another short yardage opportunity to get a fairly easy first down. Going for 20 yards on 3rd and 6??? now I do question that, but I couldn't tell you if it was the play itself or the decision by MH though.



In any case, somewhere, somehow when the cougars get down they absolutely fall apart. I agree that BYU can't run all night if in a 3 score hole. BYU could certainly learn something from Drew Brees and the Saints strategy beating the dolphins after being down 21.

declocoug wrote:

I just don't think you can catch up on a 21-0 deficit by running the ball all day. Pass on 2nd and 2? Bad call, no doubt.

2nd and 2 seems like a great time to catch a defense off guard with a long pass.

Great point.

declocoug wrote:

I just don't think you can catch up on a 21-0 deficit by running the ball all day. Pass on 2nd and 2? Bad call, no doubt.

2nd and 2 seems like a great time to catch a defense off guard with a long pass. AT least you've got another short yardage opportunity to get a fairly easy first down. Going for 20 yards on 3rd and 6??? now I do question that, but I couldn't tell you if it was the play itself or the decision by MH though.

2nd and short is a great time to try to catch a defense looking to stop a short run, however, your offense needs to occasionally just get that first down on 2nd and short. I think BYU has consistently tried to get a home-run on 2nd and short, so now teams are game planning for it.

TCU really does have a good run defense. I don't think we could run it all night and keep drives going. The problem was TCU pass rush. The OL had their hands full.

CAFB_04-12 wrote:
I just don't think you can catch up on a 21-0 deficit by running the ball all day. Pass on 2nd and 2? Bad call, no doubt.

you can when you're averaging 6 yards a run. there was absolutely no evidence that they could stop Unga.

I'm still confident that on Nov. 22 we're second fiddle, not third. Haven't seen enough from SNOT to think otherwise.

DarkWolf wrote:
I'm still confident that on Nov. 22 we're second fiddle, not third. Haven't seen enough from SNOT to think otherwise.

You've done nothing so far to warrant any concern, but please be aware that having the word "wolf" in your name is going to cause you to be under closer watch here.

If this is wolfie - first smartass comment you make, you're gonna be gone. Just pre-warning you.



If you're not wolfie, thank God that you aren't.

Mars wrote:

It's an impossibility that Anae could have had any logical "reasons" to put a halt to the running game last night.

How about all of the ugly penalties we kept committing all game- Do you run on 1st and 15? 1st and 20? 1st and 25?

1st and 15... if you're averaging 6 yards per carry, why not?

1st and 20? How many of those did we encounter?

1st and 25... didn't see one of those.



3rd and 8? Now on THAT one, heck no.

The fluke interception caused by a ball popped 10 yards upward by the player's hands was a momentum-changer, too. How often does that even happen?

For me the biggest part of the problem is that we aren't who many thought we were. Beating OK was one of the best wins in a long time, until we realized that OK isn't as good as we hoped. Plus, we had all offseason to plan for that game, and we did things they weren't expecting.



I see two issues with this team that I was very worried about all offseason:



1. We don't have speed. Well, McKay does, but it doesn't help when he is on the bench. We will always struggle against faster teams, as any team will but we struggle to recruit speed. That could change with this next class, but not sure.



2. The coaches show continually that they don't know how to get a team ready for the big games. Every now and then they do, but it is the rare exception. OK being that rare exception this year. The Utah game will be closer than we want it to be, or should be, because we won't be as "up" for the game as Utah will.



For me the biggest issue, is that TCU is just that much better than us. They completely shut us down. What I could see from the North Endzone is that we hardly had anyone open. Ever. It was the best defense I have seen in LES in years. Not sure the last time I saw a D that good.

I wonder what it would be like to have a D-line that is as disruptive as TCUin 2008 and 2009 and Utah is 2008? I can not remember the last time BYU did. Anyone remember? Travis Hall years?

CAFB_04-12 wrote:
I just don't think you can catch up on a 21-0 deficit by running the ball all day. Pass on 2nd and 2? Bad call, no doubt.

I actually had this discussion with someone at my house while watchng the game, I felt we abandoned the run too early and he said that we would not be able to overcome that big of a deficit by running the ball. Ultimately I stated, well, in hindsight, abandoning the run didn't work, why not stay with it? Stated another way, you cannot say that you can't overcome a 21 point deficit by sticking to the run, when abandoning the run ovbiously didn't help at either. That's the reason we have 4 quarters, we only needed to outscore them once per quarter in the econd half, and we could have done that with the run (and even officiating)