2014 Football Season Retrospective

Now that the dust has settled, I can look back at the 2014 football season in its entirety, and I have to sum this up as the season of "what might have been." Not the season of "what might have been if Taysom Hill and others had stayed healthy," but the season of "what might have been had Bronco kept the reins as Defensive Coordinator."



In BYU's five losses, the defense allowed 35, 31, 42, 55, and 55 points, which is entirely too many points to be giving up to USU (with a 2nd stringer), UCF, UNR, Boise, and Memphis. For some perspective, that's +9, +3, +13, +16, and +19 points over the respective scoring averages of the #80, #71, #66, #9, and #21 scoring offenses.



Conversely, the offense put up 20, 24, 35, 30, and 48 points in those losses. That's +1, +5, +8, +4, and +28 over the defenses' season averages.



In short, other than in the USU game, the offense did everything it needed to do to get the win while the defense flailed away aimlessly. That's not to say the offense was without it's shortcomings--it needs to maintain performance rather that just hanging 28 in a quarter and mailing it in the other 3 quarters, they need to have the backup QB ready to go in and win games like the USU game rather than sending out a sacrificial lamb that it takes 3 weeks to get up to snuff.



On the other hand, the defense should have been the strength of this team. Instead, we let a "prodigy" learn on the job at the expense of at least 4 losses that I believe we win if Bronco keeps the DC mantle. I don't think there are any staffing/position changes on the defensive coaching staff, but I have to believe Howell is informed in no uncertain terms that he is on the world's shortest leash in 2015. No gimmicks, no "defensive shadows" scheming, and no NFL-prospect Dlinemen playing outside linebacker where a decoy TE can take him out of nearly each and every play. Imagine how different this defense could have performed with Fua at OLB on top of Kaufusi at DE all season long a'la Van Noy and Ansah. Van Noy was not nearly as good in 2013 without Ansah as he was in 2012 with him, and Fua and Kaufusi could have both had special years this year if put in the right place. Instead, Howell isolated both of them.



I honestly believe that Howell as DC cost us a 12-1 season at worst, even with all the injuries. If Bronco didn't want that job, that's fine, but there needs to be marked improvement and improved oversight of what Howell is doing. Otherwise, Bronco's going to find himself being forced by Howell's ineptitude to take that job back anyway like he had to when Jaime Hill went off the rails.

Wholeheartedly agree. Good to see BYU football scoring quickly and often again. Too bad that seems to always be coupled with a poor BYU defense.



Really wish Bronco had kept duties at DC this year.

I agree 100%, This offense averaged 36pts per game with a backup QB running the show for 9 games, the offense and the offensive staff did a great job this year. This offense averaged the second most points per game under bronco (a statistical tie with the 2006 team). If the defense had played even close to how good it has been since Bronco took it over in 2010, we are 12-1 at worst and probably have a shot to beat BSU as well. Like I said right after the bowl debacle. priority #1 in the off season is to fix the defense. If that requires the firing of Howell, I am all for it.

I'm concerned with Bronco's defense of Nick Howell---not that I think it's wrong for a head coach to defend his staff---or that I expect him to throw Coach Howell under the bus to the media (although I wouldn't have blamed him for a mid-season firing either). What really concerns me is that he seems to really believe that Coach Howell is doing the best he can. Bronco took over the play calling in the Boise State (I think?) game, seemingly just to prove to fans that the defense being bad isn't Coach Howell's fault. It seems to me that the play-calling is only half of the problem with the current DC. And blaming it on the talent we have or their effort is not helpful: managing that is still a coaching issue that Bronco has done pretty well with every year, except maybe 2005.

Sammich wrote:
I'm concerned with Bronco's defense of Nick Howell---not that I think it's wrong for a head coach to defend his staff---or that I expect him to throw Coach Howell under the bus to the media (although I wouldn't have blamed him for a mid-season firing either). What really concerns me is that he seems to really believe that Coach Howell is doing the best he can. Bronco took over the play calling in the Boise State (I think?) game, seemingly just to prove to fans that the defense being bad isn't Coach Howell's fault. It seems to me that the play-calling is only half of the problem with the current DC. And blaming it on the talent we have or their effort is not helpful: managing that is still a coaching issue that Bronco has done pretty well with every year, except maybe 2005.

Exactly right, especially when you have guys like Harvey Jackson, Leavitt (when healthy), and Kai Nacua that all looked impressive at the safety position. People say that Jackson was held out because he was out of shape. He looked plenty in shape to me when he was out there making plays in the third and fourth quarter in rare appearances.



Just the stupid idea of taking legit NFL talent (and one of the only things working right from a rushing the passer perspective) and moving him to a different position where he is out covering slot receivers and decoy TEs like Sno mentioned... that is an egregious and fireable offense in my book. BYU had a real chance this year. The schedule had some big name appeal with actual torrid SOS, so we had a chance to be in the middle of the ENTIRE discussion. Bronco, Anae, Howell, they messed up bigtime. BYU is less and less a destination school for even middle LDS talent. If I had a kid with aspirations to go pro and lived in Utah, I'm not sure I'm going to send him to BYU to get buried behind some walkon RM that went through a rigorous fitness course by the coaches brother, or a DC that makes some of the absolute dumbest and most obviously wrong personnel decisions, or an OC that is more concerned with gimmicky football and breaking weird statistics like number of plays run per game. Do you think the OC at Oregon or Texas Tech cares about breaking the plays per game barrier, or about scoring and winning primarily?



BYU messed up big time. They burned all their transfers but Leslie, burned a year at a wrong position for one of their only projecting NFL Draft picks, and is - by definition - one of the worst coached teams in the nation where discipline is considered. This season is an abject failure, and change must happen, as season tickets further slide and BYU becomes less and less relevant from a nationap and local standpoint.



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Bronco finally succeeded in making a total and complete team. This team won each game as a team and lost each game as a team.



Sure, they gave up 6 more points against UCF than UCF normally scored and 11.6 more points to Nevada and 20.3 more points to Memphis. But those three games were team losses.



In each of those games, the offense had a chance to seal those games. The offense fumbled in the blue zone against UCF that could have put BYU up 21. They had two 2nd half fumbles against Nevada that could have sealed the game with points following those drives. Against Memphis, they had the ball with four minutes to go and a first down or two could have ended the game there as well.



In all three, the offense choked away leads and game sealing opportunities. And the exact same can be said for the defense and special teams. In those three games, the defense and special teams made plays to keep BYU in the game and in the end to lose them.



Bronco finally got rid of team divisions. This 2014 Cougar team won and lost as a complete unit. This was true when Taysom was playing as well.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Bronco finally succeeded in making a total and complete team. This team won each game as a team and lost each game as a team.



Sure, they gave up 6 more points against UCF than UCF normally scored and 11.6 more points to Nevada and 20.3 more points to Memphis. But those three games were team losses.



In each of those games, the offense had a chance to seal those games. The offense fumbled in the blue zone against UCF that could have put BYU up 21. They had two 2nd half fumbles against Nevada that could have sealed the game with points following those drives. Against Memphis, they had the ball with four minutes to go and a first down or two could have ended the game there as well.



In all three, the offense choked away leads and game sealing opportunities. And the exact same can be said for the defense and special teams. In those three games, the defense and special teams made plays to keep BYU in the game and in the end to lose them.



Bronco finally got rid of team divisions. This 2014 Cougar team won and lost as a complete unit. This was true when Taysom was playing as well.

All you've done is recite platitudes to shift some of the blame from the defense onto the rest of the team. Mistakes and all, the offense played well enough to win all but maybe the USU game. How many of our losses can you honestly look at and say, "Geez, the defense played well enough to win, but the offense...." None. On the other hand, you can look at every game and say "Geez, the offense played well enough to win, but that defense must've been borrowed from Payson High School (where they haven't had a winning season since the '70s)."



To point out the offense failing to score against Memphis when they'd already put up 40 points as a reason to somehow say the offense didn't do enough to win the game is laughable. If the defense did half of what was expected, the Memphis game is over long before the offense was asked to try and break the 50 point barrier to seal a win.



The defense was an abject disappointment nearly all season. If it continues into next season and Howell isn't demoted or fired quickly thereafter, I'll join the chorus of those calling for a change at HC.

Based on how the offense played against UCF, Nevada and Memphis the defense DID play well enough to win - as demonstrated by the OFFENSE having the opportunity to seal EACH of those victories and then FAILING to seal the wins.



The defense did fail on the season overall. And I didn't lay ANY loss solely at the feet of the offense. I did lay EVERY loss at the feet of the entire team. EACH side of the ball could have played better in every loss that could have changed the outcome of those games.



And the offense didn't need to score against to win that game. They just needed to get a first down or two.

I agree with both Sno and Spiff, even though their arguments seem opposites.



In the Utah State game, BYU had 13 (THRITEEN) injuries, including our QB and running back, and still had 3 trips to the red zone come up empty in the 2nd half (lost by 15). We throw this game away as an outlier where crazy stuff happened.



In the UCF game, the offense was good for about 8 minutes of the 3rd quarter. BYU's defense and punting kept the game close in the first half, despite poor offense and poor field position. TO's by the offense is what I would put this loss on.



In the Nevada game, I would almost completely blame the defense for the breakdown in the 2nd half...however, there were some major turnovers there too.



In the Boise game, BYU was down 20 points before the offense got a first down. That can't happen. I actually place quite a bit of blame in the Boise game on the poor offense to start.



The Memphis game was an offensive battle. Double OT artificially inflates the score (although not by much). Defense made huge plays to keep BYU in the game, just like the offense did. Poor field position was worse than the defensive issues in this game, in my opinion.