My Thoughts Following the Michigan Game

1. I am glad we shut out Michigan in the second half. It seemed that Bronco was able to inspire the defense to play with pride the second half, but it was too little, too late. Harbough did pump the brakes, but not right away, so kudos to the defense for at least showing up at half time.



2. I am disappointed in the offense. I can't put my finger on it, but to get zero points and not figure out how to move the ball at all...very disappointing. Would Taysom have made a difference? Well, I think we would have at least scored, because once they covered our receivers...and they were well covered all game, Taysom would have moved the ball. But being as worn out as we were, I still don't know if we would have come away with a victory.



3. I recant what I previously posted about JWilliams. He was a much better RB than anyone we have in the stable, and that is because of his quick first step and his vision. We do miss him greatly.



4. Again we missed an opportunity to develop the back-up QB. I have no idea why you have Tanner Mangum in there in the 4th quarter. You put your back up QBs in when you are blowing out the other team and when you are getting blown out. Mangum clearly couldn't move the ball. Why make him suffer through one more quarter? Give Hoge some experience and see if his mobility becomes a spark. Give other back-ups a chance to play in the big house. You aren't winning the game if you are down 31 in the fourth quarter anyway. To me this was a little boneheaded, frankly.



5. BYU lacks depth. If we had all of our starters, maybe this game is more competitive and we win it. Once our first string goes down, we have a big drop off that has to be schemed around. Utah looks like their depth has improved since being part of the PAC 12. If BYU finishes out and wins the bowl game (and Michigan and UCLA win out or close to it), this will still be a very good 11-2 season. That may be enticing to the Big 12. And if BYU gets into the Big 12, I think its depth improves after a few years a la Utah and TCU. We may not get all the four and five stars, but we will get more good LDS kids and more good non-lds kids looking for that unique environment that want to play in the Big 12, which should build depth. Hence, we will still have to have our A+ game to beat the top teams, but we should also not wear out as quickly, and truly be able to have competition for every position.



6. Don't lay this loss on Mangum. Yes, he looked less than ordinary, but he is a freshman. The offensive play calling was not necessarily a recipe for success either. It seemed like everyone had an off day--coaching and players. Mangum is still a very good QB and will continue to improve.



7. An 11-2 season, considering losing Taysom, JWill, and Tuiloma would be an outstanding year. I am not part of the church of the 11-2 season (but watch out for East Carolina--they look a little dangerous despite what their record might show).

Didn't want to start another post so...My thoughts AFTER the fireside:



Remington Peck (I think that's who spoke) boldly declared that "BYU is God's team." I wanted to protest and tell him to sit his @rse down. No wonder people hate BYU. What he should've said was something like - God approves and is pleased with the standards we live by (or for some of us, try to live by). Christ is indeed the Head of this church, PERIOD.

birdie702 wrote:
Didn't want to start another post so...My thoughts AFTER the fireside:



Remington Peck (I think that's who spoke) boldly declared that "BYU is God's team." I wanted to protest and tell him to sit his @rse down. No wonder people hate BYU. What he should've said was something like - God approves and is pleased with the standards we live by (or for some of us, try to live by). Christ is indeed the Head of this church, PERIOD.

His children make up all of the football players and coaches on all teams. Does He not consider them His as well? These kind of us vs. them statements are not very helpful. BYU is a special place because it provides a unique environment to go to school. I am glad I got to experience it as an undergraduate. But, BYU is not the only educational institution where someone may feel prompted to attend. In fact, had I gone to law school at BYU instead of the University of Florida, I would not have the job I have today nor be where I am today.

About point #6 on Mangum. You are right that his lack of experience showed in this game and we should be patient. But your point about the play calling can't be isolated from the fact that Mangum is limited right now by how much he knows the offense only 3 months removed from the mission. It's not like the coaches can suddenly call plays to counteract what the defense was doing if Mangum doesn't know how to run the plays that would have worked. This will get better.

BlueK wrote:
About point #6 on Mangum. You are right that his lack of experience showed in this game and we should be patient. But your point about the play calling can't be isolated from the fact that Mangum is limited right now by how much he knows the offense only 3 months removed from the mission. It's not like the coaches can suddenly call plays to counteract what the defense was doing if Mangum doesn't know how to run the plays that would have worked. This will get better.

True. I am sure his play book is limited by Mangum's lack of experience. But I see teams all around the country call plays for new QBs that are at least somewhat successful. That's why I put this up as a total negative effort on the offense. Mangum was off. And the plays called didn't necessarily help. And even when Mangum did happen to get the ball in the right place, receivers weren't making plays for him. It was a total bust of an effort on offense. These things will improve with time (and with much easier opponents against which to work out the kinks). If our game plan does not pick up some good screens, passes to backs when WR have cleared an area, and/or some TE passing, we are always going to have problems because Michigan has shown that our WRs can be shut down, even though they are tall, and they can get pressure on the QB. Shoot, even when we had stud O-lines, we still had plays that allowed the offense to take advantage of aggressive defenses. I guess I just haven't identified Anae doing that. He may be doing it. I just haven't noticed it.

BlueK wrote:
About point #6 on Mangum. You are right that his lack of experience showed in this game and we should be patient. But your point about the play calling can't be isolated from the fact that Mangum is limited right now by how much he knows the offense only 3 months removed from the mission. It's not like the coaches can suddenly call plays to counteract what the defense was doing if Mangum doesn't know how to run the plays that would have worked. This will get better.

Except that Taysom was using the exact same 8-10 plays that Mangum was using that seems to make up the BYU's offensive play book right now. I blame the the crappy and overly predictable playcalling by Anae for the fact that Michigan knew exactly what play BYU was was going to call and when they were going to call it, than I do Mangum's lack of experience.

BlueK wrote:
Mangum is limited right now by how much he knows the offense only 3 months removed from the mission.

Mangum enrolled at BYU as a part-time student in the fall before his mission and "greyshirted". He got a playbook and got to essentially "audit" the football program--he could attend and watch, but not participate in practices, workouts, or meals. He then participated in Spring ball before his mission as a full-fledged member of the team. He then had summer and fall this year prior to the season, taking (per Ben Criddle) about 40% of the meaningful snaps, the other 60% to Taysom.



Mangum may be a true freshman, but he's been around the team and had the playbook for over a year now.

Michigan saw some things:

1. Wideouts could not handle press coverage by good athletes and Mangum is not yet able to take advantage of the size advantage.

2. You can play off the slot guy, because we never throw to him, and he almost never cuts inside.

3. You can bring up to six on pass rush, because we never run screens or much in the way of passing to backs since Brown dropped the 4th down throw in Lincoln.

4. BYU will run a deep "GO" route to a wideout on first down many times a game, followed almost invariably with a run up the gut.



On no. 4, has someone seen them complete this pass in practice? Because I haven't seen a close one recently!!

cougarapologist wrote:
Michigan saw some things:

1. Wideouts could not handle press coverage by good athletes and Mangum is not yet able to take advantage of the size advantage.

2. You can play off the slot guy, because we never throw to him, and he almost never cuts inside.

3. You can bring up to six on pass rush, because we never run screens or much in the way of passing to backs since Brown dropped the 4th down throw in Lincoln.

4. BYU will run a deep "GO" route to a wideout on first down many times a game, followed almost invariably with a run up the gut.



On no. 4, has someone seen them complete this pass in practice? Because I haven't seen a close one recently!!

You are probably right on points 1-3 but point 4 is erronious as BYU's tendency is to run up the middle on firsrt down virtually every first down. In the Michigan game BYU only had 4 plays on first down in which they didn't call a running play.

TheDean wrote:

You are probably right on points 1-3 but point 4 is erronious as BYU's tendency is to run up the middle on firsrt down virtually every first down.

You continue to spout this nonsense after other posters have proven it's patently false. Find a new drum to beat or at least a dead horse that's not imaginary.