Difference Between UCLA and BYU's Outcomes v. Utah?

UCLA's defenders can catch 1/2 the balls that hit them in the hands.

snoscythe wrote:
UCLA's defenders can catch 1/2 the balls that hit them in the hands.

We've had trouble getting our offensive players to hold on to the ball, too early to expect the D to start catching. ;)

BYULV wrote:

UCLA's defenders can catch 1/2 the balls that hit them in the hands.

We've had trouble getting our offensive players to hold on to the ball, too early to expect the D to start catching. ;)

I came to post that like last year, our defense has cost us 2 early losses. Glad Sno beat me to it. Before you conclude I am nuts, I realize our offense was poor both years and special teams sucked in 2012.



But our defense played conservatively early both years and did not pressure the QB enough and did not create turnovers.



Look what defensive pressure did to Wilson. 6 picks. Tipped balls on several of those.



In fairness to Utah - they are better than I thought they would be this year. They can be competitive with anyone in PAC South this year on a neutral field. Unfortunately, for them, they are competitive enough to come close but not win in most cases.



They might pick up 3 wins and go bowling. BYU is not a shoe-in to go Bowling either -



Unless the D pressures the QB like they did late last year and starts creating turnovers.



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Difference? UCLA was allowed to use our "attempting to deceive" play without drawing a penalty. I still think those officials were idiots and that was the most bogus call in sports.

Yeah, I'd have to stop well short of saying our defense cost us either the Utah or UVA games. Given the dire straits they've been put into time-after-time by our offense, they've done an A-1 bang-up job.



My point was merely that the UCLA defense caught half of Wilson's passes that were interceptable, giving their offense more shots to score with better field position. BYU's defenders just couldn't hold onto the Wilson passes that were interceptable and they weren't able to assist the offense the way UCLA was able to.



Travis Wilson simply isn't a good quarterback. He got some lucky breaks early on, so I think he and his staff got overconfident and have moved away from the "game-manager" role he was billed to fill prior to the season and have tried to make him a "game-changer," which he has done, but not in the direction Utes would hope. Unfortunately their lack of a reliable running game will force them to continue to rely upon him to keep them in games.

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snoscythe wrote:

Travis Wilson simply isn't a good quarterback. He got some lucky breaks early on, so I think he and his staff got overconfident and have moved away from the "game-manager" role he was billed to fill prior to the season and have tried to make him a "game-changer," which he has done, but not in the direction Utes would hope. Unfortunately their lack of a reliable running game will force them to continue to rely upon him to keep them in games.

I disagree. Travis Wilson looked very good for a Sophmore QB. 5 of the 6 INT's were either tipped or receivers missed the catch. The very last INT was a bad pass. Otherwise Travis managed a great game. Furthermore I thought Dennis Erickson puts him in good situations.

Max Hall had 5 turnovers in Rice Chex and we all think he was pretty good. Can't judge a QB on 1 game. Guy is very good for a Soph.

stgeorgefan wrote:

Travis Wilson simply isn't a good quarterback. He got some lucky breaks early on, so I think he and his staff got overconfident and have moved away from the "game-manager" role he was billed to fill prior to the season and have tried to make him a "game-changer," which he has done, but not in the direction Utes would hope. Unfortunately their lack of a reliable running game will force them to continue to rely upon him to keep them in games.

I disagree. Travis Wilson looked very good for a Sophmore QB. 5 of the 6 INT's were either tipped or receivers missed the catch. The very last INT was a bad pass. Otherwise Travis managed a great game. Furthermore I thought Dennis Erickson puts him in good situations.

Max Hall had 5 turnovers in Rice Chex and we all think he was pretty good. Can't judge a QB on 1 game. Guy is very good for a Soph.

I'm not quite going to agree with Sno that Travis Wilson isn't a good QB, but this year against D1 competition he does have 7 TDs and 8 picks. Even with the number of them that came from tips, it's not a great number to be at. Of course, BYU is struggling in that regard to with only 1 TD and 4 picks from Taysom.

9 picks--3 against OSU, 6 against UCLA. Should've had a few against BYU as well.

Turnovers was the difference. It is the difference in almost all football games between evenly matched (or at least puncher's chance) teams. In fact, I would say that the only time turnovers may not bite you is when your team is clearly superior, and is marching down the field practically every drive anyway, and your defense is shutting down their offense. But those kinds of games usually only happen against cellar dwellers or FCS teams. In all other games, turnovers matter a lot. I wish we would learn that someday, not just pay lip-service to it.



When you can't out-talent people, you have to win the turn-over margin, defense, and lights out special teams. Special teams is much improved. But in the past, missed/blocked field goals and turnovers have been the difference in practically every game with the Utes in the last 10 years.

snoscythe wrote:
9 picks--3 against OSU, 6 against UCLA. Should've had a few against BYU as well.

They had to play catch up in the UCLA game. I don't think we ever held a lead against them. They threw 25% more passes in the UCLA game and they were passes they had to take more risks on. Still, our D is awesome but we need to create more turnovers.

Travis wilson will be good but he is not there yet. not comfortable with speed of the game yet. i would be optimistic though if i were utah. i think next year will be a break out year for him. if they had a run game he would be dangerous. however he cannot be trusted to win the game with his arm yet.

BYU vs Utah

4th and 1 at BYU 44 in 4th quarter

BYU punts



UCLA vs Utah

4th and 1 at Utah 44 in 4th quarter

UCLA converts and scores





Yes a few more turnovers with a better secondary may have changed things, but there isn't anything you can do there, a lot of that was just luck.



Look at the run/pass play selection for the UCLA game with Hundley at QB, then look at it for Hill at QB for BYU.



Both BYU and UCLA would have won with proper coaching.

The biggest difference in these outcomes is that UCLA is a much better team than BYU right now. Much better. Utah is a better team than BYU right now. A little bit better.



Me thinks BYU has more current season upside, because our offense has been so inconsistent, how could it not improve?



UCLA is a legitimate Top 15 Team. And they came into a hostile place at altitude and won a dogfighr vs a Utah team that came to our house and beat us.



Just accept it. Utah is pretty decent this year. Their schedule will mask how good they are - hopefully keeping them from a Bowl Game again.



U will likely be even better the next two years. But their scheduling will contain them to some extent. They most likely will regret replacing BYU with Michigan.



Then comes 2016. U and Y both breaking in a new QB again. I like our chances even in SLC in that one.



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jvquarterback wrote:
BYU vs Utah

4th and 1 at BYU 44 in 4th quarter

BYU punts



UCLA vs Utah

4th and 1 at Utah 44 in 4th quarter

UCLA converts and scores





Yes a few more turnovers with a better secondary may have changed things, but there isn't anything you can do there, a lot of that was just luck.



Look at the run/pass play selection for the UCLA game with Hundley at QB, then look at it for Hill at QB for BYU.



Both BYU and UCLA would have won with proper coaching.

Agree that UCLA and U are both more aggressive on offense than BYU. UCLA went for it on 4th and goal on that opening drive too.



But Hill ain't Hundley. Hill runs better. Hundley throws much better.



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snoscythe wrote:
Yeah, I'd have to stop well short of saying our defense cost us either the Utah or UVA games. Given the dire straits they've been put into time-after-time by our offense, they've done an A-1 bang-up job.



My point was merely that the UCLA defense caught half of Wilson's passes that were interceptable, giving their offense more shots to score with better field position. BYU's defenders just couldn't hold onto the Wilson passes that were interceptable and they weren't able to assist the offense the way UCLA was able to.



Travis Wilson simply isn't a good quarterback. He got some lucky breaks early on, so I think he and his staff got overconfident and have moved away from the "game-manager" role he was billed to fill prior to the season and have tried to make him a "game-changer," which he has done, but not in the direction Utes would hope. Unfortunately their lack of a reliable running game will force them to continue to rely upon him to keep them in games.

The worst was the ricochet that landed in Peck's paddles on their 20 yard line. That drop would've perhaps won us the game (assuming some blue zone production).

mizzoucoug wrote:

Yeah, I'd have to stop well short of saying our defense cost us either the Utah or UVA games. Given the dire straits they've been put into time-after-time by our offense, they've done an A-1 bang-up job.



My point was merely that the UCLA defense caught half of Wilson's passes that were interceptable, giving their offense more shots to score with better field position. BYU's defenders just couldn't hold onto the Wilson passes that were interceptable and they weren't able to assist the offense the way UCLA was able to.



Travis Wilson simply isn't a good quarterback. He got some lucky breaks early on, so I think he and his staff got overconfident and have moved away from the "game-manager" role he was billed to fill prior to the season and have tried to make him a "game-changer," which he has done, but not in the direction Utes would hope. Unfortunately their lack of a reliable running game will force them to continue to rely upon him to keep them in games.

The worst was the ricochet that landed in Peck's paddles on their 20 yard line. That drop would've perhaps won us the game (assuming some blue zone production).

Blue zone production....thats asking a lot :sulk:

Cougarbib wrote:
The biggest difference in these outcomes is that UCLA is a much better team than BYU right now. Much better. Utah is a better team than BYU right now. A little bit better.



Me thinks BYU has more current season upside, because our offense has been so inconsistent, how could it not improve?



UCLA is a legitimate Top 15 Team. And they came into a hostile place at altitude and won a dogfighr vs a Utah team that came to our house and beat us.



Just accept it. Utah is pretty decent this year. Their schedule will mask how good they are - hopefully keeping them from a Bowl Game again.



U will likely be even better the next two years. But their scheduling will contain them to some extent. They most likely will regret replacing BYU with Michigan.



Then comes 2016. U and Y both breaking in a new QB again. I like our chances even in SLC in that one.



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I agree with everything said here. Utah is a lot better than I think anyone thought. I thought UCLA's depth and talent would help them break open the game in the 4th. Utah's defense was on the field a lot and held a high powered offense in check.

I also think the weather played a small role in the game last night. Southern Cali boys not used to cold and light rain fall.

Turnover was a big reason why we lost. Also, getting Hine's TD on the kickoff called back put a mental block on our team. We couldn't score TDs in the Blue Zone-1 TD and 2 FGs, a missed FG, and...? I forget the other one.



It was a combination of the Utes having our number and an inconsistent, jittery BYU offense.