Has BYU FB team improved (2010 vs 2011)

Don't have the stats to back up my impressions but I believe we have improved noticeably in the following areas:



D-line: Fangupo, Fuga and Manumaleuna are great run stuffers and tie up the linemen quite well.

LB: KVN, Kaveinga, Hadley, Frazier can really bring it.

DB/Safeties: Love the new scheme (2-4-5 with Sampson at Nickle-back). We have 11 best athletes on the field and with speed.



QB: we are fortunate to have 2 good QBs - each with different talents but the ability to take advantage of opposing team's weaknesses.

OL: skilled players but still in need of physicality on a consistent basis - questionable ability to dominate good teams.

TE: many options and good hands (Matthews and Holt have dramatically improved).

RB: improvement of Alisa coupled with JJ, Kariya, Juice provides some nice balance of differing skills. Many options.

FB: Mendenhall is a beast when blocking - not as good running and pass catching skills. We really missed Iona and his talent.

WR: Hoffman is playing lights out, Apo is a good option - gaining confidence each game after concussion, Falslev is fearless and dependable, Jacobsen disappears too often.

Special teams: love our KO/Punt return team - however, FG-punter are too inconsistent.



In summary, I think our D has made great strides and imroved dramatically. The offense has improved but my expectations were higher after watching UTEP Bowl game blowout and hearing hype about OL, RB, QB and WR.



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Tough call. Last year was the tale of two halves defensively. So the stats should be considerably better this year bc of consistency. We have also not seen the more productive if not prolific qbs and offenses this year. But overall, improved D and the O, I suspect, is a wash year over year statistically speaking.

Some statistical average comparisons. The number listed first is for 2011, second for 2010.



First some offensive numbers:

First Downs: 23.6 21.8

Points Scored: 28.4 26.2

Yards per Game: 399.2 366.5

Rushing Yards: 165.3 168.1

Passing Touchdowns (total): 18 17

PER: 123.81 115.09

3rd Down Conversion: .529 .460

Plays of 20 or more yards (total): 41 43



Now some defensive numbers:

First downs: 16.4 17.6

Points Scored: 21.7 21.6

Yards per Game: 325.9 330.8

Rushing Yards: 132.4 138.6

Passing Touchdowns (total): 7 19

PER: 109.01 116.05

3rd Down Conversion: .358 .403

Plays of 20 or more yards (total): 34 54



Wins: 7 7



I think the team has gotten better on both sides of the ball.

My biggest complaint with our D has been the big running plays they have given up at times. All seem to be on sweeps, so teams get the edge of us, which is not good.



Other than that, I think we are a better team this year. Just hard to see it because the competition is slightly worse than last year.

Do you really think it's that much worse though? The bottom dwellers of the MWC may have had better overall records then the some of the lesser teams we have played this year, but they got those wins over teams playing some fairly easy schedules. Ol' Miss may be lacking, but they can claim they play in the SEC. We're also looking at the possibility of ending the season with 10 wins if we win out. 2011>2010 imho.

PER and 3rd down conversions (both for O and D) are dramatic. The passing TDs allowed this year on D - indicate that D backfield has improved immensely - have some quality athleticism.



Throw out the UT and TCU meltdown games and we have shown significant improvement.

Well QB play has been significantly better than last year so yea the team is better. We had a true freshman last year.

The sky high expectations and 3 heatbreaks make it hard to see, but 2011 is much better than 2010.

I think we were playing better at the end of 2010 than we are right now. Don't really have much to base that on...just my opinion and going from memory.

Y12 wrote:
The sky high expectations and 3 heatbreaks make it hard to see, but 2011 is much better than 2010.

Yep.



In terms of making some noise this year and being a force to be reckoned with, I gave up on that after the Utah loss. But assuming we win 9 or (especially) 10 games this season, I'm happy with how this season will look on record books for people who don't really go in and do their homework regarding SOS or how those games were won.



I'd love for Bronco to have a "5 out of 7 seasons with 10+ wins" blurb next year.

Y 4 Ever wrote:
I think we were playing better at the end of 2010 than we are right now. Don't really have much to base that on...just my opinion and going from memory.

I would agree with this. Having said that, last year we had an Ocoordinator that had been calling plays for 6 years. Compare where Doman is calling plays to where Anae was at this same point in 2005 and I think you have a significant improvement in coordinators. In 2005 the utah game could have been won by BYU in regulation if Anae hadn't gone away from the run on the last BYU drive of the game.

The defense has been awesome this year, but they have allowed the big plays from time to time in crucial games.