There is one game... Virginia

I hope Bronco and others can stop talking undefeated, "special" season. The season is what it becomes... injuries, referees, weather, etc. You can't control everything.



Losing is not the end of the world and I hope fans don't act that way if we lose along this path... It's hard to go undefeated. It's hard to win on the road, and it's hard to win every coinflip (especially if you're Texas)



There is one game and one game only.... Virginia.



(btw I'm glad I don't live near Vegas. If BYU is truly still a 13.5 point favorite, I'd be tempted to unload a large # on Virginia... I expect a dogfight)

I think it was Nick Howell who tweeted out over the weekend that it's now a one-game season and the season is named Virginia. Or something to that effect

UVA just won their first ACC game since 2012 so they're pretty confident out there. Reading their boards, they're pretty shocked to see the current line. From what I have seen they have above average talent (top 30 recruiting classes every year) with some legit playmakers on D and O. They've used 2 QB's so far this season and they both look decent. My opinion is we have to blitz the crap out of their QBs--they make mistakes under pressure. If we give them all day to throw like last week they're good enough to pick us apart. They have big receivers who can go get it too. Their fans think they'll run on us, which is interesting. Their D is solid and may be the best we've seen so far.



For BYU, I wish we could get some deep passing game going, but I guess we don't have the horses to make it happen yet. And yes, I blame that mostly on Taysom. Guys have been open but he is waiting longer and longer each game to make throws. At some point teams will cheat up the safeties and shut us down. He needs to get back to throwing with confidence.



On that note, I don't see any harm in playing straight up man every down until Taysom proves the ability to go over the top. I honestly don't think he's thrown one pass all season that has traveled farther than 30 yards in the air (maybe the MM TD?). So much for the "air it out" pre-season talk (small annoyance since, yes, we are still winning without it).



UVA is a good team on an emotional high looking to upset #21 two weeks in a row. The boys need to stay hungry and show that last week's game was the fluke, and not the other two. Time for a beatdown!

I agree with your post, but I think it's worth noting that Hill started out three of nine passing against Houston. After he settled into the game, he was eighteen of twenty-five (72% completions) for the rest of the game.

UVA is also travelling across the country to elevation. Long distance travel makes playing well very difficult. Ask USC or Michigan St.

I expect this to be a tough game, UVA's defense is looking legit. I expect a close game to start and I hope that UVA gets gassed the second half.



The OP is right that BM and team should be one game at a time. No need to get cocky or excited at this point. That being said, as a fan I will always look ahead.

One game at a time, yes. But reminding the team of all that is on the line and the need for 12-0 can sharpen the focus on each new game.



BYU needs to beat Virginia, or they can kiss New Year's Day and beyond good-bye. BYU needs to beat Virginia if they ever want to be in the P5 conversation.



Next week, you just replace "Viriginia" with "USU".

I don't know where the thought of bronco and team talking undefeated comes from. Most of the interviews I have heard of players and coaches has been one game at a time. It's media and fans they keep bringing up undefeated. The team keeps saying let's just take it one game at a time. So I think they are way ahead of you on this one.



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imuakahuku wrote:
I don't know where the thought of bronco and team talking undefeated comes from. Most of the interviews I have heard of players and coaches has been one game at a time. It's media and fans they keep bringing up undefeated. The team keeps saying let's just take it one game at a time. So I think they are way ahead of you on this one.



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Bronco was talking undefeated on Jay Mohr sports just the other day... now it was in terms of getting into the playoff, but I can't believe Bronco hasn't learned about talking that way...



BTW if any of you think that talking about undefeated is essentially a good thing, then you have a very very short memory.(quest for perfection anyone?).. believing you can is fine... getting there requires laser focus and to be truthful, I don't think anyone should be getting their expectations that high.. right now the math says we have less than a 20% chance to do so and that's the best of anyone in the country... 1 in 5 is our best odds by the math... which means 4 out of 5 times we don't... the odds are much greater that we don't go undefeated, and I'm not even going to allow myself to think it's a let down if we lose 2-3 games this year.. that's still a tremendous season.



Who in their right mind thought that Virginia wasn't a gimmee before the season? Let the season play out and I hope the team is taking every opponent as serious. I'm not sure they all took Houston that serious and there were some points where I felt they let off the gas a little... which is very dangerous if you don't want a blemish on your record; ask Louisville.....

Back when we ranked all opponents, I expected UCONN to be about how they were. Expected Texas to be better, but who could have foreseen the suspensions and injuries. I expected Houston to be about like they were. I expected Virginia to be improved. Now they seem even more improved than that. I always felt we had 8 games that could go the wrong way. Still do. But we have played 3 of them and are about to play the 4th.



UVA, UCF, BSU, USU, and CAL. And I do not expect UNLV, Nevada, or MTSU to just roll over.



BYU merely needs to remember 1984 to remember how close Wyoming and Hawaii came to spoiling the dream season. Or look at Doman / Staley after Staley was injured. Or any of our 1 loss seasons. It generally was not a juggernaut that spoiled those seasons.



I agree with Craig. If this team loses a game or two or even three, we do not need to fire anyone over it.

The coaches and players have only been responding to questions. You don't hear them out there taking any of them for granted except maybe savannah st. They always come back to taking it one game at a time. I seriously doubt that if they lose a game it was because they just figured they were going undefeated and took teams lightly. Against Houston some players admitted to relaxing a bit because it was so easy. I think it was a lesson to not let up and to stay focused. The good news is that Houston was only in it because of mental lapses that I think will not be repeated by so many players.



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UVA has a crappy offense just for the record. They had all sorts of short fields vs UL and still had lots of 3 and outs and field goal drives. BYU is turning the ball over in every game so unfortunately we will give up a short field at some point. So the D will need to hold them to field goals. Although I would love to see a shutout! This would be the week to pitch one.



UVA plays legit D, but nobody can shut us down all game. We'll get 3 TD's at least on them.

craigoscarson wrote:
I hope Bronco and others can stop talking undefeated, "special" season. The season is what it becomes... injuries, referees, weather, etc. You can't control everything.



Losing is not the end of the world and I hope fans don't act that way if we lose along this path... It's hard to go undefeated. It's hard to win on the road, and it's hard to win every coinflip (especially if you're Texas)



There is one game and one game only.... Virginia.



(btw I'm glad I don't live near Vegas. If BYU is truly still a 13.5 point favorite, I'd be tempted to unload a large # on Virginia... I expect a dogfight)

Agreed. The difference between 1984 and 1985 was that every ball that bounced the right way in '84 bounced the wrong way in '85. I still think the '85 team was a better team than the '84 team--better in the sense that I'd favor the '85 team in a mythical head-to-head matchup--it's just the '85 team didn't have the luck or the health to post as good of a record.

Bam. Health. 1985.



You are only as good as the players on the field. Health is a huge part of the equation. iirc, the 1985 team lost to an otherwise winless UTEP team. Belini and Kozloski were both held out with nagging injuries.



Even bigger, Bosco was playing with an injury to his throwing shoulder that had not been disclosed.



UTEP put up an extremely unusual and unexpected defensive scheme and Bosco never got in rhythm. When he had a chance to throw deep for the win, he floated a short, lame, duck, and it was picked.



Similar float of a deep pass in two other losses.



So, unless you want to rewrite history and adjust every team for injuries like Gordon Hudson, for example, you have to realize that depth or lack of it is part of the "greatness equation" as is luck.



If Belini, Koz, and Bosco had all been healthy all season, back to back undefeated would have been a real possibility.



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UTEP cheated.

Schmoe wrote:
UTEP cheated.

I heard that rumor. Never saw substantiation. If it ever was substantiated, it would be ruled a win by forfeit.



Nonetheless, BYU had injured players and Bosco could no longer throw the deep ball.



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Cougarbib wrote:

UTEP cheated.

I heard that rumor. Never saw substantiation. If it ever was substantiated, it would be ruled a win by forfeit.



Nonetheless, BYU had injured players and Bosco could no longer throw the deep ball.



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BYU has taken their own sidelines communications systems to road games ever since.

There are a ton of articles about this game. In particular I found a 2010 Deseret News article just before we played them in the Bowl game that year. It addresses the rumor and the injuries, especially if you read the fan comments at the end.



UTEP AD says their communication system was tamper proof - hard wired in under ground conduit. Then said you did not need to tap BYU because everyone knew what they were doing - you just could not stop it.



Nothing is tamper proof, but the injuries are a better explanation and the fact that UTEP was giving BYU the run by rushing only 2 men and dropping 9 into coverage. But BYU went away from the run and just kept trying to throw it.



A reader commented that the Bosco injury was the worst kept secret in Provo, but Holmgren kept playing Bosco even though everyone knew he could not throw it more than 20 yards.



A reader also commented that the 3 losses all involved a pick 6 on a similar pass that won the game.



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Cougarbib wrote:
There are a ton of articles about this game. In particular I found a 2010 Deseret News article just before we played them in the Bowl game that year. It addresses the rumor and the injuries, especially if you read the fan comments at the end.



UTEP AD says their communication system was tamper proof - hard wired in under ground conduit. Then said you did not need to tap BYU because everyone knew what they were doing - you just could not stop it.



Nothing is tamper proof, but the injuries are a better explanation and the fact that UTEP was giving BYU the run by rushing only 2 men and dropping 9 into coverage. But BYU went away from the run and just kept trying to throw it.



A reader commented that the Bosco injury was the worst kept secret in Provo, but Holmgren kept playing Bosco even though everyone knew he could not throw it more than 20 yards.



A reader also commented that the 3 losses all involved a pick 6 on a similar pass that won the game.



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Here's your article.



http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700090915/BYU-footballs-worst-upset-2-1985-loss-to-UTEP.html?pg=all" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



All I know is Lavell didn't buy what the UTEP AD was saying. He was suspicious enough to spend a small fortune in new comms and never use opponent's comms again.

I agree with LaVell. Even then, in this wireless age - I might even create a secret code in case they tapped in.



see the AD comment about steal in signals from a baseball catcher. By the time you get them the ball is already across the plate.



maybe that is the hidden advantage of gfgh.



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